Holly Twyford is a Washington, D.C.–based American stage actress and director.[1] She is a ten-time nominee and a four-time winner of the Helen Hayes Award.[2]

Holly Twyford
NationalityAmerican
EducationBoston University's School of Theatre Arts
OccupationStage actress / director

Early life and career

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Twyford grew up in Great Falls, Virginia.[3] She attended the School of Theatre Arts at Boston University's School of Theatre Arts before returning to the D.C. area to pursue acting.[4] Before her theatre career was established, she worked as a bartender and in the costume department of the renowned Arena Stage, where she would later star.[3]

Twyford has appeared in over thirty productions for organizations including Arena Stage, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Source Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Theatre J, Olney Theatre, Round House Theatre and the now-defunct Consenting Adults Theater Company, where she earned her first Helen Hayes Award nomination in 1993.[2][4][5] She commonly collaborates with director Joe Banno on offbeat productions of Shakespeare plays, including a 1999 version of Hamlet at the Folger in which Twyford, along with three others, portrayed the protagonist as a fractured personality.[4]

Twyford's film and television appearances include Out of Season, Pecker, Falling to Peaces and a 1997 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.[6]

Twyford is a lesbian and has been out for her entire career.[7] She had been with her partner, an environmentalist, since 1992.[4][7][8]

In a 2005 group interview with director Delia Taylor and playwright Jeanette Buck for Metro Weekly, she said that she didn't feel her homosexuality had hindered her career, but that the necessity of coming out to coworkers when starting a new job "gets to be real tiring".[7] In the same interview, she and her colleagues also discussed the paucity of female roles and the need for more female directors, playwrights and producers in both the theatre industry and Hollywood.[7]

Helen Hayes Awards

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1993 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Musical
Her Aching Heart, Consenting Adults Theatre Company Nomination
1998 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Romeo and Juliet, Folger Shakespeare Library Award Recipient
1999 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Much Ado About Nothing, Folger Shakespeare Library Nomination
1999 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
Steward of Christendom, The Studio Theatre Nomination
2000 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Desk Set, The Studio Theatre Nomination
2001 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Chesapeake, Source Theatre Nomination
2003 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Oleanna, Source Theatre Nomination
2003 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
The Shape of Things, The Studio Theatre Award Recipient
2005 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Folger Shakespeare Library Award Recipient
2009 Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Play
The Road to Mecca, The Studio Theatre Nomination
2010 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Arcadia, The Folger Theatre Nomination
2010 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
The Little Dog Laughed, Signature Theatre Award Recipient
2010 Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Play
Lost in Yonkers, Theater J Nomination

References

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  1. ^ Pressley, Nelson (16 December 2013). "Review: 'Edgar & Annabel' at Studio Theatre". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  2. ^ a b Helen Hayes Awards
  3. ^ a b Horwitz, Jane (May 25, 1999). [Backstage]. Page C.05. Publisher: The Washington Post
  4. ^ a b c d Tischler, Gary (January 26, 2003). Performance. Publisher: The Georgetowner
  5. ^ (December 29, 2004). Holly Twyford and Matthew Montelongo Together Again in Black Milk Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Publisher: Studio Theatre
  6. ^ Holly Twyford. Publisher: Internet Movie Database
  7. ^ a b c d Shulman, Randy (April 7, 2005). Stage Presence: Theatrical Bonds. Publisher: Metro Weekly
  8. ^ Publisher: Metro Weekly.
  • Horwitz, Jane. "Backstage." The Washington Post 25 May 1999, sec. Style: c05.
  • Shulman, Randy. "Stage Presence: Theatrical Bonds." Metro Weekly 7 Apr. 2005. 9 July 2007.
  • Tischler, Gary. "Performance." The GeorgeTowner. 26 Jan. 2003. 9 July 2007.