Elaine May is an American comedian, writer, director, producer and actor. Known for her work on stage and screen she has received various accolades including a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, a Tony Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award as well as nominations for a competitive Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. She has received several honors including the National Medal of Arts in 2013, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 2016, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2021.
May began her career as a improvisational comedian where she was a founding member of the Compass Players. She often collaborated with Mike Nichols during the 1960s and together, they performed onstage from clubs in Greenwich Village to the Broadway stage. They released several comedy albums and won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1962). They were also Grammy-nominated for their comedy albums Improvisations to Music (1958) and Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1961).
On film, she started her career as a comedic actress in a string of films including her black comedy film A New Leaf (1971) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture â Musical or Comedy. She expanded her career as a writer and director and later received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for her work on Warren Beatty's fantasy comedy-drama Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Mike Nichols' political satire Primary Colors (1998), the later of which earned the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 2016 and the Academy Honorary Award in 2021.
On the Broadway stage, she portrayed an elderly woman with dementia in the revival of the Kenneth Lonergan memory play The Waverly Gallery (2019) for which she earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play as well as a nomination for the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. As a playwright and director, she previously won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright and two Outer Critics Circle Awards for Special Theatrical Production and Best Direction for her play Adaptation (1969).
She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2013 from President Barack Obama in a ceremony in The White House. She was awarded for her "groundbreaking wit and a keen understanding of how humor can illuminate our lives, Ms. May has evoked untold joy, challenged expectations, and elevated spirits across our Nation." May was awarded the In 2019, May's film A New Leaf was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".