Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall on January 5, 1946, in Los Angeles, and is the oldest of four children. She had two inspirations for wanting to become an actress – one was witnessing her mother compete for the title of Mrs. Los Angeles, and the other was acclaimed actress Katharine Hepburn. In various singing and acting clubs throughout her school years, Keaton left college to pursue acting more in depth at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.

Cast by Woody Allen on Broadway in Play It Again, Sam, Keaton enjoyed her first success. She then became romantically involved with Allen, and began appearing in many of his films. Her next Allen film was Sleeper, a futuristic comedy, starring with Allen once again. Keaton’s biggest Allen film was Annie Hall, a movie he wrote about his life with Keaton. With Hall being Keaton’s original last name before she changed it to join the Screen Actors Guild, and Annie being her nickname, the title role wasn’t too much of a stretch for her. The film brought Keaton great success, setting a fashion trend for wearing men’s suits, and also brought her the Best Actress Academy Award.

While she was appearing in Allen movies, Keaton was also appearing in Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy, playing Michael Corleone’s girlfriend, and later wife. Starring the first time with Marlon Brandon, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, Keaton was hesitant to reprise the role for the first sequel, but reading the script she found the character had so evolved from the first movie, it led her to accept the offer and take the role again.

Shortly after Annie Hall, Keaton filmed Looking for Mr. Goodbar about a teacher that cruises the bars at night looking for love and happiness. She stars in the movie with Tuesday Weld, Richard Gere, and Tom Berenger. Keaton then filmed another Allen movie, Manhattan, along with Allen, Mariel Hemingway, and Meryl Streep, but the personal relationship between Keaton and Allen soon ended.

Keaton fell in love with actor/director Warren Beaty, and he cast her in the female lead in Reds, opposite him, as journalist Louise Bryant. Despite receiving several nominations prior to this appearance, it was this role that finally brought Keaton an Academy Award as best actress. She followed this movie starring with Mel Gibson in Mrs. Soffel, and starring with other notable actresses as Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek in Crimes of the Heart. Keaton starred in one last movie with Allen called Radio Days.

A change began in Keaton’s career when the acting roles she was being offered slowed down, and she declared that she would be happy not having a man in her life. The never married actress supplemented her career directing music videos and television shows, and appeared in movies that spoke more to her newfound independence. In Baby Boom she starred as a woman who gains a baby through a distant relative’s will, becoming a single mother. Around this time the real life Keaton adopted two children on her own.

Keaton appeared in two remakes of the Father of the Bride movies with Steve Martin. Then she took on a movie about the older first wives fighting back, First Wives Club, with Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn. This was followed with an appearance with Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro in Marvin’s Room, a film that earned the actress yet another Academy Award nomination. Keaton’s biggest notoriety since those earlier years with Allen, Beaty, and Coppola has been in Something’s Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson. Well into her fifties at this point, Keaton had a nude scene in the film, but figured it didn’t matter, as instead of people thinking deviant thoughts of her naked body, they would only be grateful that it was intact.

In 2003 Keaton starred in The Family Stone, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Dylan Mulroney, Rachel McAdams, Craig T Nelson, and Luke Wilson. And in 2007, she played a starring role in Because I Said So, with Mandy Moore, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham, Gabriel Macht, and Piper Perabo. Keaton currently has films in production, including Mama's Boy and Smother.

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