Glenn Close, 79, is wrapping up the year in a big way with not one but two major projects on the way next month. The actress is not only back for season two of the female-led legal drama All's Fair, starring Kim Kardashian, but she's part of the A-list lineup for the brand new Hunger Games film instalment, Sunrise on the Reaping.
Fans know Glenn for her many iconic on-screen personas, from the villainous Cruella in 101 Dalmatians to book editor Alex in Fatal Attraction. Off-screen, fans might be surprised to learn she's a mother to a grown-up daughter who has followed in her footsteps – and played a younger version of her in two movies.
Here's all you need to know about Glenn's rarely-seen daughter she has a close on – and off-screen – bond with.
Glenn's daughter is an actress too
Glenn shares her 38-year-old daughter, Annie Starke, with her ex, filmmaker John Starke. And just like her famous mother, Annie has taken up acting.
© Corbis via Getty ImagesAnnie made her screen debut as a child in Glenn's 2001 film South Pacific. She then landed a small part in 2011's Albert Nobbs, led by Glenn, and the 2017 drama We Don't Belong Here. In 2020, she starred in Ryan Murphy's Ratched alongside Sarah Paulson, Cynthia Nixon and Sharon Stone.
But despite growing up with two parents in the film industry, Annie was hesitant to go into acting.
"I went to college fully hoping I would pursue something else because I know how tough [this industry] is," she told Grumpy Magazine in 2021. "Not only professionally but also personally – I knew the good and the bad, the crazy and the ugly. But I knew what I wanted to do my whole life. [Being an actress] was always something that I just knew.”
Annie remarked that both of her parents "are enormously passionate about what they do and they strive to be the best, and they are. They have graciously passed down to me the lessons they’ve learned."
"I’ve struggled in this town for a long time and I’m fiercely independent as one should be in any profession. I have a visceral aversion to nepotism and I would never want to be viewed as somebody who rides on coattails."
Annie played a younger version of her mother on-screen
Annie's resemblance to her mother is so uncanny, she's shared two roles with her. In the 2017 film The Wife, Annie played a younger version of her mother's character Joan in flashbacks. The film earned Glenn an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. In the same year, Annie portrayed a younger version of Glenn's character in the comedy Father Figures.
Annie recalled working on The Wife with her mother was "such a wonderful learning experience for the both of us", in an interview with Time Out.
"We very much respect each other. We also have the luxury of sharing the same inspirations for the same character, because my mum’s inspiration of her mother is my grandmother, so that inspiration literally runs through our veins. It was an incredibly collaborative effort on so many levels."
Glenn told the BBC that she "didn't want Annie to feel her mother was hovering around," when they were on set, choosing to stay away on the days Annie was filming. "It was important she worked independently of me."
"Being my daughter is something Annie has had to contend with her whole life," she told the publication. "I've always been aware of how difficult it has been for her sometimes."
"The thing that gives me great joy is that I think she'll have a phenomenal career. I've thought from when she was very little that she had a natural talent."
Annie has a son
© FilmMagicAlong with being a mother, Glenn is a grandmother to Annie's one-year-old son, Rory, who was born in February 2025.
"Rory is the luckiest to call you his grandmother," Annie gushed in a birthday post on social media for her mum last year. In another post for International Women's Day, Annie revealed they called Glenn grandma “Gi”.
