Kathy Bates as Agnes Mary Winstead in AHS: Roanoke | FX

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 is in pre-production on Netflix’s new series, Disjointed, a pot-themed workplace comedy with Chuck Lorre and David Javerbaun writing and executive producing. Bates plays a lifelong advocate for legalization who’s finally living her dream as the owner of an L.A.-area cannabis dispensary. 

Bates was last seen in the fifth installment of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Hotel on FX. Her most recent role in the series lead 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. Kelly’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 Emmy® Award in 2003 playing “Ghost of Charlie Harper” in Two and a Half Men. 

In film, Bates appeared alongside Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon and Danny Glover in the Josh Marston directed drama Complete Unknown. Bates also starred in the comedy sequel Bad Santa 2 alongside Billy Bob Thornton. She also appeared 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.

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. 

Recently, Bates was seen in 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. 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 & Molly and The Office.

Bates has also been honored for her work behind the camera as a director. She helmed the A&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.