Mariel Hemingway Bio
Mariel Hemingway (born November 22, 1961) is an American actress, writer, television presenter, and mental health advocate. She first gained attention as a teenager with her debut in the drama film Lipstick (1976) and went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979). Over the following decades, she built a career spanning independent film, network television, and documentary work.
Beyond acting, Hemingway has become a prominent voice on mental health, addiction, and recovery, drawing on her own family history to raise awareness. She is the granddaughter of the Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway and the daughter of actor Jack Hemingway, and she has written memoirs including Finding My Balance (2002) and Out Came the Sun (2015). She lives in Beverly Hills, California.
Early Life and Background
Mariel Hemingway was born on November 22, 1961, in Mill Valley, California. She is the daughter of Jack Hemingway and Byra Louise Whittlesey, known as Puck. Her paternal grandparents were the novelist Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, while Grace Hall Hemingway was her paternal great-grandmother. Growing up in such a literary family gave her a connection to one of the most recognized names in twentieth-century American letters.
Hemingway spent a portion of her childhood in Sun Valley, Idaho, living the life of a typical teenager away from the pressures of show business. She took on odd jobs around the community, including babysitting for local residents. She has described those years as grounding, providing a sense of normalcy that contrasted with the public attention that came later in her life.
Hemingway later attended Boston University, where she continued her education while beginning to explore professional opportunities in the entertainment industry. The combination of an unusual family background and a relatively ordinary upbringing helped shape her approach to both her acting work and her later advocacy.
Path to Acting
Hemingway’s entry into film came at the age of fourteen when she was cast in the 1976 drama Lipstick alongside her older sister Margaux Hemingway. The film marked the screen debut for both sisters, who played fictional sisters in the story. Her performance drew notice from critics and earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Newcomer, signaling a strong start to her career.
Over the next several years, she balanced her studies at Boston University with growing acting opportunities. By the time she was cast in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979), she had enough experience to take on a prominent supporting role. The film’s success and the praise for her work as Tracy opened the door to more substantial dramatic projects and helped establish her reputation in Hollywood.
Her early achievements, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Manhattan, gave her credibility within the industry and positioned her for a series of leading roles in the 1980s.
Mariel Hemingway Career
Early Career (1976-1980)
Hemingway’s first major role came in Lipstick (1976), where she appeared with her sister Margaux in a story that explored the aftermath of an assault. Her work earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Newcomer, an unusual distinction for a teenage performer. The film provided early visibility and led directly to her casting in higher-profile productions.
She continued to take on challenging work with Personal Best (1982), in which she played a bisexual track-and-field athlete. The film drew attention for its honest depiction of same-sex relationships and earned Hemingway critical praise. The same year, she appeared on the cover of Playboy in connection with the role, further raising her public profile.
Breakthrough (1979-1993)
Hemingway’s most celebrated early performance came in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979), in which she played Tracy, a high school student involved with Allen’s character. The role earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and remains the performance most closely associated with her name. She was only seventeen at the time of the film’s release, making the recognition especially notable.
She followed that success with the lead role of Dorothy Stratten in Star 80 (1983), a biographical drama about the Playboy model’s murder. Hemingway took on the demanding part opposite Eric Roberts, and the film remains a point of reference in discussions of her dramatic range. She also appeared in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) as Lacy Warfield, broadening her work into the blockbuster arena.
In 1991, Hemingway took on the leading role in the ABC legal drama Civil Wars, a series that ran through 1993. Her performance earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film, demonstrating her versatility across formats. She also starred opposite John Mellencamp in Falling from Grace (1991) and later played the lead in the British television movie September (1996).
Notable Works and Milestones
Hemingway’s signature films include Lipstick (1976), Manhattan (1979), Personal Best (1982), and Star 80 (1983), each representing a different stage of her early career. Her television work on Civil Wars (1991-1993) further cemented her reputation as a dramatic actress. She has also appeared in several productions featuring lesbian or bisexual characters, including episodes of Roseanne and Crossing Jordan, and has said she formed a strong connection with the LGBT community through these roles.
Mariel Hemingway Award Nominations
Throughout her career, Mariel Hemingway has received nominations from some of the most respected institutions in film and television. She earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Manhattan (1979), a Golden Globe nomination as Best Newcomer for Lipstick (1976), and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for Civil Wars. These nominations reflect the consistent critical attention her work has received since her teenage debut.
Mariel Hemingway Awards Won
Hemingway has been recognized for her contributions beyond acting, particularly in the area of mental health advocacy. In October 2013, she received a Humanitarian Award from the San Diego Film Festival for her role in the documentary Running from Crazy, directed by Barbara Kopple and produced for the Oprah Winfrey Network. The award acknowledged her efforts to raise awareness about suicide, substance abuse, and mental illness within her own family and beyond.
| Award | Wins | Year |
|---|---|---|
| San Diego Film Festival Humanitarian Award | 1 | 2013 |
Mariel Hemingway Family
Mariel Hemingway comes from one of the most recognizable families in American literary history. Her father, Jack Hemingway, was a writer and outdoorsman, and her paternal grandfather was the novelist and Nobel Prize laureate Ernest Hemingway. Her grandmother was Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, and her great-grandmother was Grace Hall Hemingway.
She had two sisters, Joan, known as Muffet, and Margaux Hemingway, a model and actress who died in 1996 at the age of 42 from a barbiturate overdose. Margaux’s death was the fifth suicide in four generations of the Hemingway family, a history that has deeply shaped Mariel’s advocacy work. Hemingway has spoken publicly about how her family background influences her commitment to mental health awareness.
Personal Life
Hemingway married Stephen Crisman in 1984, and the couple had two daughters, Dree Hemingway and Langley Fox, both of whom have pursued careers in modeling and acting. She and Crisman separated in 2008 and divorced the following year. In early 2011, she began a relationship with former stuntman Bobby Williams, with whom she has co-authored a self-help book.
Hemingway practices Transcendental Meditation and has written about the benefits of yoga and holistic living. Her 2002 memoir Finding My Balance focused on those interests, and her 2015 memoir Out Came the Sun addressed her family’s history with mental illness as well as her own experiences in Hollywood. She has continued to use her platform to speak about recovery and resilience.