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American Horror Story

Kathy Bates stars as "Ms. Miriam Mead" in American Horror Story: Apocalypse.

Career Highlights

Honored numerous times for her work, Kathy Bates is an undeniable force on stage, screen and television. Bates received her star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 20, 2016 for her achievements in film and television.Bates just wrapped filming the John Lee Hancock drama The Highway Men opposite Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson and is set to star in The Laureate, a drama about British poet and novelist Robert Graves from writer-director William Nunez.On television, Bates recently starred in Netflix’s pot-themed workplace comedy series, Disjointed. The series was written and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and David Javerbaum. Bates was also seen in the sixth installment of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Roanoke on FX. Her role in the fifth installment of the series AHS: Hotel led to her receiving her 14th Emmy® nomination. Bates won rave reviews and her second Emmy Award as the deliciously evil “Madame LaLaurie” in the third installment of the series Coven. Prior to that, she starred in two seasons as “Harriet ‘Harry’ Korn,” a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer in David E. Kelley’s hit NBC television show Harry’s Law garnering her two Emmy nominations for Lead Actress in a drama series. Previously Bates was nominated seven times for Emmy Awards before winning her first in 2003 playing “Ghost of Charlie Harper” in Two and a Half Men.Upcoming in film, Bates will appear alongside Jessica Chastain and Susan Sarandon in the Xavier Dolan drama The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. The film follows an American movie star who finds his correspondence with an 11-year-old actor exposed, prompting assumptions that begin to destroy his life and career. She will also portray attorney and activist Dorothy Kenyon in the upcoming Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex.Bates won an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe® for her portrayal of obsessed fan “Annie Wilkes” in Rob Reiner’s 1990 hit Misery, based on Stephen King’s novel. In 1999, she received Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award and a Critics Choice Award for her performance in Mike Nichols’ Primary Colors. Bates more recently earned her third Oscar nomination for her role in Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt, for which she also garnered Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations and won a National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her film work has also been recognized with Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for Jon Avnet’s Fried Green Tomatoes, and she also shared in a SAG Award nomination with the ensemble cast of James Cameron’s all-time, top-grossing blockbuster Titanic as well as a nomination for the ensemble of Woody Allen’s biggest success, Midnight in Paris.Additional film credits include: Josh Marston’s Complete Unknown, Bad Santa 2 alongside Billy Bob Thornton, The Boss and Tammy with Melissa McCarthy, Boychoir with Dustin Hoffman, The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock; Stephen Frears’ period drama Cheri, in which she starred with Michelle Pfeiffer; Sam Mendes’ acclaimed drama Revolutionary Road, which reunited her with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Additional film credits include Dolores Claiborne, P.S. I Love You, Failure to Launch, Little Black Book, Dragonfly, The Waterboy, The War at Home, A Home of Our Own, Dick Tracy, Men Don’t Leave, Robert Altman’s Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Straight Time and Milos Forman’s Taking Off. Bates lent her voice to Jerry Seinfeld’s animated comedy Bee Movie, as well as Charlotte’s Web, The Golden Compass and the animated short Cadaver.On television, in addition to her current projects, Bates appeared in Syfy’s Alice, playing the “Queen of Hearts” for which she earned an Emmy Award nomination for her performance.&nbsp; She won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award and earned an Emmy Award nomination for the 1996 HBO film The Late Shift. Her television honors also include Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for her performance in the musical Annie; another SAG Award nomination for her role in the telefilm My Sister’s Keeper; and four additional Emmy Award nominations for her work on the projects 3rd Rock from the Sun, Six Feet Under, Warm Springs, and Ambulance Girl, which she also directed. She also guest starred on Mike &amp; Molly and The Office.Bates has also been honored for her work behind the camera as a director. She helmed the A&amp;E telefilm Dash and Lilly, starring Sam Shepard and Judy Davis, which earned nine Emmy nominations, including one for Bates as Best Director. She also directed five episodes of the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under, earning a Directors Guild of America Award for the episode entitled “Twilight.” Her directing credits also include episodes of such series as Oz, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street.Bates first gained the attention of critics and audiences on the New York stage. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of the suicidal daughter in the original Broadway production of Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play `night, Mother. She has been honored with an Obie Award for her performance as “Frankie” in the original Off-Broadway production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. She portrayed “Elsa Barlow” in Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca, which Bates also starred in when filmed. She began her stage career starring as “Joanne” in Jack Heifner’s Vanities one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history.Bates currently resides in Los Angeles.

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Kathy Bates stars as "Ms. Miriam Mead" in American Horror Story: Apocalypse.

Kathy Bates headshot in black top holding black leather glove in front of wooden door from AHS Apocalypse

Kathy Bates as Ms. Miriam Mead | AHS: Apocalypse on FX

American Horror Story: Apocalypse

Kathy Bates

Career Highlights

Evan Peters
as Mr. Gallant / Tate Langdon

Leslie Grossman
as Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt

Adina Porter
as Dinah Stevens

Kathy Bates as Ms. Miriam Mead | AHS: Apocalypse on FX

American Horror Story: Apocalypse

Kathy Bates

Evan Petersas Mr. Gallant / Tate Langdon

Leslie Grossmanas Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt

Adina Porteras Dinah Stevens

Evan Peters
as Mr. Gallant / Tate Langdon

Leslie Grossman
as Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt

Adina Porter
as Dinah Stevens