It’s difficult to believe, but Diane Lane has been a star for over four decades now, having first appeared on the cover of Time Magazine at age 14 for her performance in George Roy Hill‘s “A Little Romance.” Since then, Lane has shone in dramas, romances and even a biker musical!
Beginning her career as a romantic lead, Lane eventually matured as a serious, critically-acclaimed actress, earning an Oscar nomination, a Golden Globe nom and a Screen Actors Award nomination for her performance in 2002’s “Unfaithful,” as well as a second Globe bid for “Under the Tuscan Sun” and a second SAG nomination as part of the ensemble cast of 2015’s “Trumbo.”
Tour our photo gallery includes these mentioned films as well as “Secretariat,” “The Outsiders” and “A Walk on the Moon.”
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12. NIGHTS IN RODANTHE (2008)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: George C. Wolfe. Writers: Ann Peacock, John Romano, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis.
Sure, it’s based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, but it’s Richard Gere and Diane Lane, people! Their chemistry helps to elevate the Sparks plot about Adrienne (Lane), whose estranged husband Jack (Christopher Meloni) wants to be forgiven for his infidelity. A reflective Adrienne retreats to Rodanthe NC, where she tends to a friend’s B&B and meets conflicted surgeon Paul (Gere) to whom she is immediately attracted. As the couple grows closer while knowing the the match is likely not to work out, Adrienne is committed to make sure that she can get the most out of this relationship as she can.
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11. THE PERFECT STORM (2000)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Wolfgang Petersen. Writer: William D. Wittliff. Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
“The Perfect Storm” provides Lane with another girlfriend role, this time as Chris Cotter, the romantic partner of Bobby Shatford (Mark Wahlberg), to whom she has expressed many times her concerns about Bobby heading out to an increasingly dangerous sea. In this case, it turns out, she is absolutely right. In the hands of another actress, the role of Chris might be a cliche, but Lane gives Chris just the right amount of grit to make her relationship with Bobby believable.
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10. RUMBLE FISH (1983)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Francis Ford Coppola. Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, S.E. Hinton, based on Hinton’s novel. Starring Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Vincent Spano, Diane Lane.
In Francis Ford Coppola’s film version of the S. E. Hinton novel, shot at the same time and with much of the same cast as “The Outsiders,” Lane portrays Patty, the girlfriend of Rusty James (Matt Dillon) who is the younger brother of the legendary “Motorcycle Boy” (Mickey Rourke). As Rusty gets more and more into motorcycle-gang life, he begins to sleep around with another woman, prompting Patty to drop him. Although it’s another girlfriend role for Lane, her Patty is a girlfriend with a backbone.
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9. TRUMBO (2015)
Image Credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Groundswell Prods/Shivhav/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Jay Roach. Writer: John McNamara. Starring Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg.
In Jay Roach’s “Trumbo,” which focuses on the career of blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), Lane plays Cleo Fincher who marries the talented writer and must endure the financial hardship of no work for a blacklisted writer at that time in Hollywood. Despite her love for her husband and his principled stand against the bullying tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Lane’s Cleo represents the practical side of the Trumbo relationship, pitching in whenever she can to help her husband maintain his crusade to fight the blacklist. As part of the ensemble cast of “Trumbo,” Lane was nominated for her second Screen Actors Guild Award.
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8. THE COTTON CLUB (1984)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Francis Ford Coppola. Writers: William Kennedy, Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Nicolas Cage, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins, James Remar.
Lane goes period in her third collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola as gun moll Vera Cicero, the girlfriend of notorious mobster Dutch Schultz (James Remar) who has financed her new nightclub. Vera, however, has fallen in love with musician Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere), which makes Dutch none too happy. Gere and Lane have a believable chemistry together, as they will team up romantically in several films to come.
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7. STREETS OF FIRE (1984)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Director: Walter Hill. Writers: Walter Hill, Larry Gross. Starring Michael Paré, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan, Willem Dafoe, Stoney Jackson.
Walter Hill’s rock and roll musical is one of the great guilty pleasures of my life — I saw it twice in 70mm in three days — and an enormous part of that pleasure is the performance of Diane Lane as Ellen Aim, a hard rocker who is kidnapped by Raven, the leader of a biker gang (Willem Dafoe) against whom Ellen fights back. Ellen is finally rescued by her ex-boyfriend, mercenary Tom Cody (Michael Paré) and, once free, embraces Tom as the rain falls. Over-the-top music and choreography, plus bikers and Diane Lane…what’s not to love?
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6. THE OUTSIDERS (1983)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Francis Ford Coppola. Writer: Kathleen Rowell, based on the novel by S.E. Hinton. Starring C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane, Tom Cruise.
This Francis Ford Coppola film from the S.E. Hinton novel was beloved by young audiences in the 1980s, and although it’s primarily an all-male gang film, Lane made an impression as one of the girlfriends in the film who sets out to be a peacemaker between the gangs. “The Outsiders” (along with “Rumble Fish,” which was filmed back-to-back and used much of the same cast and crew) marked an important step in Lane’s career in that the young girl from “A Little Romance” was now officially part of Young Hollywood’s club, which would serve her well in her career.
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5. A WALK ON THE MOON (1999)
Image Credit: Jonathan Wenk/Village Roadshow/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Tony Goldwyn. Writer: Pamela Gray. Starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber, Anna Paquin.
Lane received wide critical praise (and earned her first Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress) for her performance as Pearl Kantrowitz, a young mother in 1969 who, feeling lonely with the continued absence of her TV repairman husband Marty (Liev Schreiber), embarks on an affair with a new friend, Walker Jerome (Viggo Mortensen), as the community prepares to watch the moon landing on television. “A Walk on the Moon” marked a depth and subtlety to Lane’s acting that will prove to serve her well in the years following.
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4. SECRETARIAT (2010)
Image Credit: Disney/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Randall Wallace. Writers: Mike Rich, Sheldon Turner. Starring Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Margo Martindale, James Cromwell.
In Randall Wallace’s film about one of the great race horses of all time, Lane is front and center as Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery, who takes over the operation of her ailing father’s horse farm, despite little knowledge about how the horse-racing world works. With the help of shrewd trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), Penny makes her way through this male-dominated world thanks to her tenacity aided by a powerhouse of a horse who makes racing history by becoming the first winner of the Triple Crown in 25 years.
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3. A LITTLE ROMANCE (1979)
Image Credit: Orion/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: George Roy Hill. Writers: Allan Burns, George Roy Hill. Starring Laurence Olivier, Diane Lane, Thelonious Bernard.
At the age of 14, Lane became one of the youngest people to appear on the cover of Time Magazine for her performance in George Roy Hill’s romantic comedy (in which she co-starred with Sir Laurence Olivier) as American teenager Lauren King who now lives in Paris. Lauren is smitten with French teen Daniel Michon (Thelonious Bernard), as well as becoming fascinated with the life stories of eccentric Frenchman Julius Santorin (Olivier), who winds up directing the young teens’ new romance in unexpected ways.
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2. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (2003)
Image Credit: Touchstone/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Writer/Director: Audrey Wells, based on the memoir by Frances Mayes. Starring Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan.
Lane earned her second Best Actress Golden Globe nomination for her performance as San Francisco-based writer Frances Mayes who, now divorced, follows her dream and purchases a villa in Tuscany. Once the romance of her buying an Italian villa wears off, Frances has to get down with the process of restoring her new home, but in the process, she finds new friends and a new love. Lane’s performance as Mayes is relaxed but still on point as a woman who realizes that there is still a lot of work ahead to realize the happiness that she so desperately wants.
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1. UNFAITHFUL (2002)
Image Credit: Barry Wetcher/New Regency/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Adrian Lyne. Writers: Alvin Sargent, William Broyles Jr., based on the Claude Chabrol film “Le Femme Infidele.” Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez.
Lane received the best reviews of her career in Adrian Lyne’s remake of Claude Chabrol’s classic film “Le Femme Infidele” in which Connie Sumner (Lane), bored in her marriage to husband Edward (Richard Gere), finds herself attracted to sexy stranger Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez), a liaison that leads to tragic consequences. For her performance as Connie, Lane was nominated for her first Academy Award, her first Golden Globe Award and her first Screen Actors Guild Award.
