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Prepare for some batshit crazy. If American Horror Story: Coven is anything like the past seasons, we're guaranteed countless of unforgettable "oh shit!" moments. Creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have truly mastered the art of scaring us to death and enteratining us at the same time, which is why we can't wait to tune into tonight's premiere, at 10 p.m. on FX. And with this year's shtick being witches, it's safe to assume we're in for a spellbinding season.
But sleepless nights and paranoid ticks aren't the only thing the series gifts us. It's also got a history of introducing—or in most cases, reintroducing—us to our new favorite actors. From seasoned veteran Jessica Lange to newcomer Taissa Farmiga, get to know the cast of American Horror Story: Coven.
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Jessica Lange as Fiona Goode
After traveling the world brushing elbows with the rich and famous, Fiona Goode returns to Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies Academy in New Orleans with intentions of rebuilding her Coven and restoring her relationship with her estranged daughter Cordelia Foxx. As the Supreme, the leader of the Coven, Fiona is a demanding witch who is used to getting her way. She possesses telekinesis, necromancy, clairvoyance, and an fixation with eternal youth. This season of AHS revolves around Fiona with flashbacks to her past.
Jessica Lange
As a child, Lange moved with her family over a dozen times around Minnesota due to her father's profession as a traveling salesman with a penchant for drinking and an "extreme personality." Before graduating college, where she studied art and photography, she married Spanish photographer Franscico Grande and the two travelled throughout the United States and Mexico in a pickup truck.
While waitressing at a Lion's Head Tavern in Greenwich Village and working as a model for Wilhemina Modelling Agency, Lange was cast in a remake of King Kong. After a slew of negative reviews for her breakout role as Dawn in the 1976 film almost killed her career, Lange laid low for three years before resurfacing and gaining recognition in Bob Rafelson's The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982).
Fiona Goode will be Lange's third major role in the American Horror Story anthology. According to the series' co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, Lange's character Constance Langdon, who appeared in the first season, was only a supporting character, but because of Lange's incredible acting and on-screen presence, they expanded the role.
Sarah Paulson as Cordelia Foxx
Sarah Paulson will be inhabiting the character of Cordelia Foxx, a peaceful mistress at Miss Robichaux's Academy. She's the polar opposite of her violent mother, Fiona, whose dark influence at the school will be a severe test of Foxx's ability to protect her students.
Sarah Paulson
Paulson broke into the acting world right out of high school as Amy Ryan's understudy for the play The Sisters Rosenweig during its run on Broadway. She would go on to play a variety of diverse roles before landing on anthology series American Horror Story and being paired with the person who inspired her to become an actress: Jessica Lange.
Ironically, AHS: Coven isn't the first time Paulson is getting to play Lange's child. They played mother and daughter in the Tennesse Williams play Glass Menagerie on Broadway nearly a decade earlier. Moreover, she has a small role in the upcoming Steve McQueen film, Twelve Years a Slave.
Taissa Farmiga as Zoe Benson
Zoe Benson is in for a rude awakening. Formerly a sweet and innocent girl-next-door, Benson's true lineage as a witch is revealed during a fling with a boytoy gone horribly wrong. She's then ripped from her normal life and sent to Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies in Coven, where she must learn to grapple with her powers.
Taissa Farmiga
The younger sister of actress Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), the 19-year-old starlet is an AHS veteran, having played the ghostly Violet Harmon in the first season, American Horror Story: Murder House. But she was thisclose to never entering showbiz. Taissa admits she only considered an acting career after Vera cast Taissa to play her character's teenage counterpart in her directing debut, Higher Ground (2011). Taissa was 17 years old at the time.
Since her big television debut, she landed a role in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, a critically divided film about an actual group of teen burglars in Hollywood, which was an official Cannes 2013 selection.
Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie
Mathlete extraordinaire Queenie joins Miss Robinchaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies as one of four enrolled students. Growing up in a foster care system has left Queenie with tough skin, which might help her later in the season as she deals with the other witches and the impending threat of voodoo witches that want to exterminate the school.
Gabourey Sidibe
After feeling first-hand the financial insecurities that come with a career in the performing arts (her mother quit her job to become a street singer), Sidibe decided at an early age to pursue her education to secure a steady 9-to-5 desk job. Ironically, skipping class to audition for the title role of Claireece "Precious" Jones would be her best career move yet.
Despite Joan Cusack's disparaging remark that Sidibe should quit the "image conscious" entertainment industry, Sidibe garnered critical acclaim, receiving several awards and nominations for her breakout role in Precious. And evidently, Sidibe has found her place in Hollywood in and out of the spotlight. She unexpectedly pranked Jimmy Kimmel on his wedding day by showing up in a wedding dress (don't worry, she brought a change of post-prank clothes).
After joining the cast of the third season of American Horror Story, Sidibe admitted she knew nothing about the plot and hadn't even read the script, but noted, "I hope I don't die first."
Kathy Bates as Delphine LaLaurie
Though only loosely based on the notorious New Orleans aristocrat, Bates' character sounds just as terrifying as the actual Madame Delphine LaLaurie. LaLaurie masquerades as a high society hostess, throwing lavish dinner parties for Louisiana's elite while hiding her distasteful appetite for torturing and murdering slaves. The real LaLaurie was eventually driven out of town by an outraged mob, but Bates will meet her end at the hand of Marie Laveau, though it is certainly not the end of her story.
Kathy Bates
Bates starred alongside Christopher Walken in Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky (1970). The show's success brought it to New York's off-Broadway Playhouse Theatre, but unfortunately left Bates behind. Her start in movies was equally rocky. She was billed in her first film Taking Off (1971) as "Bobo Bates" and was consistently passed over by producers casting movie adaptations for the same award-winning roles she brought to life on stage.
According to Bates, it was because she was never pretty enough to play the ingénue. It wasn't until the Stephen King-inspired thriller Misery (1990), in which Bates played psychopath Annie Wilkes, that she finally gained well-deserved recognition. She was the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a horror/thriller.
In 2003, Bates was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and in 2012, she announced over Twitter that she had undergone a double mastectomy and is currently battling breast cancer. While studying for her role as Madame LaLaurie for the upcoming season of AHS, Bates realized that her great-great grandfather emigrated to Ireland and lived on the plantation as the personal physician to Andrew Jackson coincidentally right next door to the actual LaLaurie.
Evan Peters as Kyle Spencer
New Orleans' native from the Ninth Ward, Kyle Spencer has been supporting his single mother since Hurricane Katrina. The charismatic frat boy at Tulane University has a crush on Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga) but it's very Romeo and Juliet, a love that can never be since any character Zoe has sex with dies.
Evan Peters
Though he is best known for his roles as Tate Langdon and Kit Walker in the first two seasons of American Horror Story, Peters has also starred in many TV commercials such as Sony PlayStation, Progressive Insurance, Moviefone, Sour Patch Kids, Papa John's Pizza, and Kelloggs. He has guest starred in shows such as The Office (Michael Scott's nephew), The Mentalist, House, and Monk. Up next, he will star in the blockbuster X-Men: Days of Future Past as Pietro Maximoff, also known as Quicksilver.
Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau
In preparing for the role of Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Bassett met with actual voodoo experts and practioners. She even visited the tomb of Marie Laveau, the beloved historical figure who drove fear into the heart of New Orleans during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Though Laveau is not directly part of the ongoing plot, she will appear in a series of flashbacks that expand on Fiona and Cordelia's past.
To add authenticity to the role, Bassett has been brushing up on her French and spending a lot of time chatting with the New Orleans lobbyists to pick up a bit of Louisiana drawl.
Angela Bassett
Since her first televised appearance as a prostitute for the TV movie Doubletake (1985), Bassett has made a name for herself through her portrayals of prominent black women of the 20th century. She is recognized for her award winning-performance as Tina Turner/Anna Mae Bullock in the 1993 classic What's Love Got to Do With It? and Stella Payne in How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Bassett attributes her graceful aging to power walks with girlfriends around the Rose Bowl, eating raw food, and avoiding microwaves.
Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery
Self-indulegent Hollywood starlet Madison Montgomery is a part-time actress, a part-time party girl, and a part-time witch. Her telekinetic abilities earn her a spot at the Academy. According to Roberts, Madison adds a bit of humor to the show.
Emma Roberts
Roberts rocketed to teen idol status after taking on the role of Addie Singer in Nickelodeon's television sitcom Unfabulous. Transitioning into more mature roles, Roberts has starred in indie dramedy romances such as It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), The Art of Getting By (2011), and Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012).
In 2011, Roberts enrolled in Sarah Lawrence Colege to study English Literature but later deferred because of work commitments. Roberts is no stranger to tabloid headlines, so we're waiting to see how she brings her wicked streak to this season of AHS.
Patti LuPone as Joan Ramsey
Joan Ramsey is the fundamentalist Christian next door. But considering next door is not your average white house and picket fence situation, this bodes for some nasty tension between Joan and the Academy. After losing her husband to mysterious circumstances, Joan butts heads with Fiona (Jessica Lange) and Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) as she strives to protect herself and her son from the heretics.
Patti LuPone
In an interview with Alec Baldwin on Here's The Thing, Lupone revealed that she auditioned for a spot in Julliard's newly established Drama Division on a whim. She originally moved to the city to "be in musicals and hang out in New York City and party." She trained as a classical actress and, at the end of her fourth year, was surprised she was never cut from the program. Only 17 out of the original 36 enrolled in her division made it to graduation. She recalls realizing by her third year that her teachers did not like her personality and were trying to throw her out of school.
Since Julliard, Lupone has secured a spot as a Broadway icon strutting the stage with iconic portrayals of Eva Perón (Evita!), Fantine (Les Mis), and Mama Rose (Gypsy). Recently, Lupone announced that after five years of diligently answering fan mail, she will put Ask Patti on the back-burner. We're not psychic, but it probably has something to do with her role as Joan Ramsey on American Horror Story.
Denis O'Hare as Spalding
Mum's the word on Spalding, and not just because he's mute. All that's known is that he's been the butler of Miss Robacheaux's Academy for decades, and he's harboring tragic ties to the Coven and the school.
Denis O'Hare
Hailing from the Midwest, O'Hare grew up playing the church organ and acting in community theater musicals. His first role was a pig in a grade school play. He told Interview Magazine he hated being a fat kid playing a pig because he was required to wear pink tights and a stuffed belly.
O'Hare came out as gay while a student at a Roman Catholic all-boys college prep school. After leaving Michigan, O'Hare attended Northwestern University to study theater. His lengthy monologues in Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out (2003) won him a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.
After his boyfriend was detained as a terrorist suspect at a Viriginia airport in 2005, the Irish-American citizen, born in Missouri, threatened to leave the U.S. for good. Thankfully he did not follow through and has amassed small roles in movies like Baby Mama, Charlie Wilson's War, and Milk. He is most recognized for his reoccuring role as the Vampire King of Louisiana, Russell Edgington, in HBO's hit series True Blood.
Lily Rabe as Misty Day
If Misty Day had an eHarmony profile it would read: "One out of town necromancer (reppin' the Louisiana backwoods) looking for a new Coven. I'm often misunderstood and sometimes feared by my community. I enjoy long walks through swamps and listening to Stevie Nicks."
Lily Rabe
In college Rabe focused on fiction writing but was "so intimidated" that she shifted her attention to acting. In 2010, her portrayal of Portia opposite Al Pacino's Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in Shakespeare in the Park earned her a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Play. She is slated to play Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games two-part final installment Mockingjay, which follows Catching Fire. Like Lange, Rabe is a true AHS veteran, having appeared in all three seasons.
Frances Conroy as Myrtle Snow
After graduating Miss Robichaux's Academy, Myrtle Snow rose to power as the Head of Witches the Council. Given that she's got a closer relationship to Cordelia than Fiona does, tensions will inevitably bubble between the two.
Frances Conroy
Frances Conroy is an American Horror Story lifer, having played immortal maid Moira O'Hara in the first season, the Angel of Death Shachath in season two, and the mysterious Myrtle Snow in Coven.
Prior to marking her legacy with the show, the Julliard-trained entertainer was best known was the Golden Globe-winning star of Six Feet Under. But she started acting long before the hit HBO series. One of her first roles was in Woody Allen's 1979 classic, Manhattan. Most notably, she was a personal friend to playwright Arthur Miller, which earned her the opportunity to act in a number of his productions.