Tony Winner Cynthia Nixon to Play Emily Dickinson in Upcoming Bio Film

A rep for Cynthia Nixon has confirmed that the Tony Award-winning actress has been tapped to play poet Emily Dickinson in the upcoming bio film A Quiet Passion. British director Terence Davies will helm the movie.

The drama follows the famously reclusive Dickinsion’s transformation from a young schoolgirl to a withdrawn poet who wrote more than 1,000 poems in her lifetime, but only lived to see seven published.

Nixon most recently headlined the Broadway premiere of Wit, a performance which earned her a Tony nomination. She made her Broadway debut at age 14 in The Philadelphia Story and went on to star in ten more Broadway shows, including Angels in America, Indiscretions (which earned her a Tony nomination for Featured Actress in a Play) and Rabbit Hole (for which she won a 2006 Tony for Best Actress in a Play). She is also well-known for her Emmy-winning turn on TV's Sex and the City.