Amy Adams has Range

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Amy Adams has Range

Amy Adams is having a big year. Within the last 12 months, she's been a nun, a crime-scene cleaner, she's soon to be in a Julia Child biopic, and next week she'll be playing Amelia Earhart.

Better yet, her coworkers can't say enough good things about her.

Shawn Levy, who directed her performance as Earhart in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," says he doesn't think there's a better actress in her generation.

Her castmates are similarly effusive. Ben Stiller said she couldn't have been better.

Meryl Streep, her costar in both "Doubt" and the upcoming "Julie & Julia" (the Julia Child biopic) calls Adams "the real thing."

For her part, Adams is very modest. Of Levy's remarks, she said "Awww, he's the best." She called him "amazing to work with."

Although she started out in fringe movies and TV before making a big splash in "Junebug." She followed that up starring in "Enchanted."

After playing two sweeter-than-sweet characters, she could have found herself typecast, but instead, she followed that with "Doubt."

In "Smithsonian," she finds herself in a sassier role-Levy describes her part as "Amelia Earhart, by way of Katharine Hepburn."

Adams says the saucier role fits her own personality better than the sweet and saintly roles that have marked the other movies.

Maybe so, but she plays all of them beautifully.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Virginia Madsen Wouldn't Give Up

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Virginia Madsen Wouldn't Give Up

Struggling as an actress (and single mother) over 40, Virginia Madsen heard some people tell her she was done working.

Despite that, she never considered leaving acting. "It's part of my soul," she explained.

She worried about losing her house, but she stuck with it.

It finally paid off when she got into "Sideways" in 2004, receiving a best supporting actress nomination for her performance there.

Since then, she's been making up for the time she lost during the early part of her career. After "Sideways," she was immediately approached by Robert Altman for a part in "A Prairie Home Companion."

She's currently appearing in "The Haunting in Connecticut" and will soon be in "Amelia," a biography of Amelia Earhart starring Hillary Swank and featuring Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor.

Although there were times when she feared her career was over, but clearly hanging on has really paid off for her.

Gina Wilhelm Actress