Elaine May

From Grokipedia

Elaine May (born Elaine Iva Berlin, April 21, 1932) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and film director celebrated for her sharp improvisational comedy, pioneering role as one of Hollywood's first prominent female directors, and contributions to satirical theater and cinema. Born in Philadelphia to Jewish parents, with her father Jack Berlin a Yiddish theater actor and director, May made her stage debut at age three in her family's traveling troupe. Following her father's death when she was 11, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother and briefly attended the University of Chicago before pursuing performance.

May rose to prominence in the mid-1950s as part of the improvisational comedy scene in Chicago, joining the Compass Players improv troupe in 1955 where she met and partnered with Mike Nichols. Their duo, Nichols and May, became a sensation for their intelligent, satirical sketches examining human relationships and societal norms, culminating in the Broadway production An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1960–1961), which earned them a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1962 and a nomination in 1963. The partnership dissolved in 1961, but it established May as a key figure in American comedy, influencing generations with her emphasis on spontaneity and intellectual wit.

Transitioning to film, May acted in roles such as in Enter Laughing (1967) and later in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks (2000), but she gained acclaim as a director with her debut A New Leaf (1971), which she also wrote and starred in, followed by The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Mikey and Nicky (1976), and Ishtar (1987). Her screenwriting credits include co-writing Heaven Can Wait (1978), earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America Award, and Tootsie (1982), for which she received another Oscar nomination.

In her later career, May returned to theater with a Tony Award-winning performance as Gladys Green in Kenneth Lonergan's The Waverly Gallery (2019), marking her first Tony after decades away from Broadway and making her, at 87, one of the oldest recipients of the Best Actress in a Play honor. She also received the National Medal of Arts in 2013 from President Barack Obama and the Writers Guild of America West's Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 2016. In 2022, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her an Honorary Oscar for her "bold, uncompromising approach to filmmaking." May's daughter, actress Jeannie Berlin, born from her brief marriage to Marvin May at age 16, has collaborated with her professionally.

In brief

Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and director. She first gained fame in the 1950s for her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols before going on to write and direct several critically acclaimed films. She has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award.

She was honored with the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2022. In 1955, May moved to Chicago and became a founding member of the Compass Players, an improvisational theater group. She began working alongside Nichols and in 1957, they both quit the group to form their own stage act, Nichols and May.