Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she studied theater at Southern Methodist University before moving to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Her other Oscar-nominated roles were as a tough political operative in Primary Colors (1998), a free spirited neighbor in About Schmidt (2002), and the mother of a bombing suspect in Richard Jewell (2019).

She has also acted in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Titanic (1997), The Waterboy (1998), Revolutionary Road (2008), The Blind Side (2009), Midnight in Paris (2011), and Are You There God?

[3] She graduated early from White Station High School (1965) and from Southern Methodist University (1969), where she studied theater and became a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.

[8] Following this, she continued to struggle to find acting roles, later claiming in an interview with The New York Times that more than one casting agent told her that she wasn't sufficiently attractive to be a successful actress: I'm not a stunning woman.

"[9]After Taking Off was released, Bates did not work on another feature film until she appeared opposite Dustin Hoffman in Straight Time (1978),[8] though she continued to perform on stage throughout the 1970s.

During this time, she also began working in television, starring in a variety of soap operas such as The Doctors, All My Children, and One Life to Live, as well as making guest appearances in episodes of prime-time series such as The Love Boat, Cagney & Lacey, and St.

She found further success on Off Broadway, in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, for which she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1988.

[16] In 1995, Bates played the title character in Dolores Claiborne, another well-received Stephen King adaptation, for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the 22nd Saturn Awards.

[17] In 1995, Bates began working behind the screen as well, as a director, on several television series; her early directing jobs include episodes of Great Performances, Homicide: Life on the Street, and NYPD Blue.

In 1996, Bates received her first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, for her performance as Jay Leno's manager Helen Kushnick in HBO's The Late Shift (1996).

[19][20] Bates gained wider recognition in 1997 when she portrayed American socialite Molly Brown in James Cameron's epic romance disaster film Titanic.

In 2002, she received her third Academy Award nomination, again in the Best Supporting Actress category, for performance as an aging free-spirited woman in About Schmidt, opposite Jack Nicholson.

A scene in the film, which features Bates completely nude entering a hot tub, was noted by critics and received significant public attention.

[25] In 2008, Bates played the matriarch Charlotte Cartwright in Tyler Perry's movie "The Family That Preys," and re-teamed with her Titanic co-stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, in the romantic drama film Revolutionary Road.

Bates received another Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, for Lifetime Television's film Ambulance Girl (2006), which she also directed.

[27] Her first lead role on a television series was in David E. Kelley's legal drama Harry's Law,[28] which began airing on NBC on January 17, 2011, but was later canceled on May 14, 2012.

[30] In 2012, Bates made a guest appearance on Two and a Half Men as the ghost of Charlie Harper on the episode "Why We Gave Up Women", which aired on April 30, 2012.

[31] In 2013, she began starring in the American Horror Story series' third season, Coven, as Delphine LaLaurie, an immortal racist New Orleans socialite who is brought back into the modern world after spending 180 years buried alive.

[37][38] In 2017, Bates starred in the Netflix television series Disjointed, in which she played the character of Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, an owner of a California medical marijuana dispensary.

The film's plot is being described as a "joyful and hilarious" journey of a group of riotous working-class women from Dublin, whose pilgrimage to Lourdes in France leads them to discover each other's friendship and their own personal miracles.

[53] Derek Malcolm of The Guardian noted that Bates emerged as a new kind of a film actress unrestrained by the necessity to be glamorous, a standard that had hitherto been expected of female screen stars.

"[54] Roger Ebert suggested that her role of Annie Wilkes is a prime example of Bates' exceptional talent for versatility, commenting that she is "uncanny in her ability to switch, in an instant, from sweet solicitude to savage scorn".

[55] In addition to commending Bates for her versatility, critics have pointed to her remarkable talent for making her characters believable, no matter how strange or unconventional their personality may be.

[56][57][58] Jacob Trussell of Film School Rejects notes how "truthful" Bates' performances are, observing that her ability to access a character's inner life enables her to "approach [them] from unique angles that can surprise even the writers who created them".

That year, Bates became a national spokesperson for lymphedema and chairperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network's (LE&RN) honorary board.