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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Marcia Gay Harden


Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in The First Wives Club (1996) which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber (1997) and Meet Joe Black (1998). She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lee Krasner in Pollock(2000). She has starred in a string of successful mainstream and independent movies, some of which are Space Cowboys (2000), Into the Wild (2007) and The Mist (2007). More recently, she starred in Whip It (2009).
In 2009, Harden received a Tony Award for the Broadway play God of Carnage. She has been nominated for an Emmy Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award two times.

Early life

Harden, one of five children, was born in La JollaSan DiegoCalifornia, the daughter of Beverly (née Bushfield), a housewife, and Thaddeus Harold Harden, a Texas native who was an officer in the United States Navy. One of Harden's siblings is named Thaddeus, as is her spouse. Harden's family frequently moved because of her father's job, living in JapanGermanyGreece, California and Maryland. She graduated from Surrattsville High School in Clinton, Maryland in 1977, the University of Texas at Austin with aBA in theatre, and the graduate theatre program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts.


Career

Marcia Gay Harden's first film role was in a 1979 student-produced movie at the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in several television programs, including Simon & SimonKojak, and CBS Summer Playhouse. She appeared in the Coen brothers'Miller's Crossing (1990), a 1930s mobster drama in which she first gained wide exposure. In 1992, she played actress Ava Gardner alongsidePhilip Casnoff as Frank Sinatra in the made for TV miniseries Sinatra. Throughout the 1990s, she continued to appear in films and television. Notable film roles include The Imagemaker (1986), her first screen role, in which she played a stage manager; the Disney sci-fi comedyFlubber (1997), a popular hit in which she co-starred with Robin Williams; the supernatural drama Meet Joe Black (1998); Labor of Love(1998), a Lifetime Television movie in which she starred with David Marshall Grant; and Space Cowboys (2000), an all-star adventure-drama of aging astronauts.
In 1993, Harden debuted on Broadway in the role of Harper Pitt (and others) in Tony Kushner's Angels in America. The role earned her critical acclaim and she received a Tony Award nomination (Best Featured Actress in a Play). The winner in that category was Debra Monk inRedwood Curtain.
Harden was awarded the 2000 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of painter Lee Krasner in Pollock (2000). In 2003, she was again nominated in the same category for Mystic River.
Harden guest-starred as FBI undercover agent Dana Lewis posing as a white-supremacist in "Raw", an episode of the popular crime dramaLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2007, this role earned Harden her first Emmy Award nomination for best guest actress in a drama series. She reprised the role in the series' eighth season premiere and again in the twelfth season episode "Penetration" as a rape victim (aired Nov. 10, 2010).
In 2007, Harden appeared in several films, including Sean Penn's critically acclaimed Into the Wild, and Frank Darabont's The Mist, based on the novella by Stephen King. Also in 2007 she shared joint top billing with Kevin Bacon in Rails & Ties, the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood.
In 2008, she appeared in Home playing a woman who has had a mastectomy. One central scene called for her to bare her breasts, with the missing breast "removed" using computer-generated imagery. In Home, her co-stars include her daughter, Eulala Scheel. Harden starred in the Christmas Cottage (2008), a story of the early artistic beginnings of the Painter of Light, Thomas Kinkade. In 2009, she appeared as a regular on the critically-acclaimed FX series Damages as a shrewd corporate attorney, opposite Glenn Close and William Hurt. Harden also played in the comedy The Maiden Heist (2009) with Christopher Walken and Morgan Freeman. Harden received a 2009 Emmy Awardnomination for her role in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a TV film also starring Oscar winner Anna Paquin. She was a Best Supporting Actress in a TV Movie/Miniseries nominee, and lost to Shohreh Aghdashloo. If she had won this Emmy, Marcia Gay Harden would have entered the elite group of 'triple-crown' actors; actors who have won the three acting awards of the highest honor: the Academy Award (film), the Tony Award (stage) and the Emmy Award (television). She has yet to win an Emmy.
In 2009, Harden co-starred with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore in Whip It. The film was a critical success. It was also in this year that Harden returned to Broadway in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage. She starred with James GandolfiniHope Davis and Jeff Daniels. Each lead actor was nominated for the Tony Award and on June 8, Harden won Best Actress in a Play.
Together, Harden's films have grossed $724,487,920 domestically and $1,128,784,661 worldwide.
She currently has three films in development, Noah's Ark: The New Beginning (2010), The No Game (2010) and If I Were You (2011).
It was announced that she will be joining the cast of Royal Pains in a multi-episode arc for season 2 starting June 3, 2010. She will play Dr. Elizabeth Blair, a surgeon and a board member of Hamptons Heritage Hospital who is a "mentor-turned-adversary to Jill".


Personal life

Harden is married to Thaddaeus Scheel, with whom she worked on The Spitfire Grill (1996), and the couple have three children: a daughter,Eulala Grace Scheel, and twins Julitta Dee Scheel and Hudson Harden Scheel. The family lives in Harlem, New York. On December 14, 2003, her young nephew Sander Waring Harden and niece Audrey Gay Harden died with her former sister-in-law Rebecca Harden as a result of a tragic fire in their Queens, New York, apartment. Rebecca Harden was divorced from the children's father, Thaddeus Harden, who is Marcia Gay Harden's brother.[citation needed] On May 22, 2010, Harden delivered the 127th Spring Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin.


Filmography

YearFilmRoleNotes
1979Not Only Strangers
1986The ImagemakerStage Manager
1990Miller's CrossingVerna Bernbaum
1991FeverLacyTV film
Late for DinnerJoy Husband
1992CrushLaneEntered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
SinatraAva GardnerTV film
Used PeopleNorma
1993Geoffrey Beene 30Woman
1994Safe PassageCynthia
1996The Spitfire GrillShelby Goddard
The DaytrippersLibby
The First Wives ClubDr. Leslie Rosen
Far HarborArabella
Spy HardMiss Cheevus
1997FlubberDr. Sara Jean Reynolds
1998Desperate MeasuresDr. Samantha Hawkins
Meet Joe BlackAllison Parrish
Labor of LoveAnnie PinesTV film
1999Curtain CallMichelle Tippet
2000Space CowboysSara Holland
PollockLee Krasner
2001Gaudi AfternoonFrankie Stevens
2003Mystic RiverCeleste Boyle
Just Like Mona
Casa de los BabysNan
Mona Lisa SmileNancy Abbey
2004Welcome to MooseportGrace Sutherland
P.S.Missy Goldberg
She's Too YoungTrish VogulLifetime movie
2005Bad News BearsLiz Whitewood
American GunJanet Huttenson
Felicity: An American Girl AdventureMrs. Martha Merriman
2006American DreamzFirst Lady
The Dead GirlMelora
The HoaxEdith Irving
CanvasMary Marino
In From the NightMeloraTV film
2007The InvisibleDiane Powell
The MistMrs. Carmody
Into the WildBillie McCandless
Rails & TiesMegan Stark
2008HomeInga
Thomas Kinkade's Home for ChristmasMaryanne Kinkade
2009The Courageous Heart of Irena SendlerJanina Sendler
The Maiden HeistRoseLimited release
Whip ItBrooke Cavendar
2010Noah's Ark: The New BeginningAamah (Voice)Post-production
2011If I Were YouMadelynPost-production
DetachmentPrincipal Carol DeardenFilming
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to YouMarjorie DunfourFilming


Television

YearShowRoleNotes
2001The Education of Max BickfordAndrea Haskell"I Never Schlunged My Father" (1x13)
2002King of TexasSusannah Lear
2005Felicity: An American Girl AdventureMrs. Martha MerrimanHer daughter, Eulala Scheel acted as Nan Merriman, one of her daughters in this TV film
2005-10Law & Order: Special Victims UnitFBI Special Agent Dana Lewis3 Episodes – "Raw" (7x06), "Informed" (8x01), "Penetration" (12x08)
2006DriftCheryl
2009DamagesClaire Maddox7 Episodes – "Burn It, Shred It, I Don't Care" (2x02), "I Knew Your Pig" (2x03), "Hey! Mr. Pibb!" (2x04), "A Pretty Girl in a Leotard" (2x06), "New York Sucks" (2x07), "Uh Oh, Out Come the Skeletons" (2x10), "London, Of Course" (2x11); credited in "I Lied, Too." (2x01); "I Agree, It Wasn't Funny" (2x05), "They Had to Tweeze That Out of My Kidney" (2x08), "You Got Your Prom Date Pregnant" (2x09), "Look What He Dug Up This Time" (2x10), "Trust Me" (2x13)
2010Royal PainsDr. Elizabeth Blair3 Episodes – "Spacticity" (2x01), "Frenemies" (2x09), "Big Whoop" (2x11); credited in "Lovesick" (2x02)


Awards and nominations


Film/Television

YearAwardCategoryNominated WorkResult
1996National Board of Review of Motion PicturesBest Acting by an EnsembleThe First Wives ClubWon
2000New York Film Critics Circle AwardBest Supporting ActressPollockWon
2001Academy AwardBest Supporting ActressWon
Independent Spirit AwardBest Supporting FemaleNominated
2003Boston Society of Film Critics AwardBest Ensemble CastMystic RiverWon
Satellite AwardBest Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for TelevisionKing of TexasNominated
Seattle Film Critics AwardsBest Supporting ActressMystic RiverWon
Western Heritage AwardTelevision Feature FilmKing of TexasWon
2004Academy AwardBest Supporting ActressMystic RiverNominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardBest Supporting ActressNominated
Central Ohio Film Critics AssociationBest Supporting ActressWon
Chicago Film Critics Association AwardBest Supporting ActressNominated
Satellite AwardBest Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, DramaNominated
Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNominated
2007Emmy AwardOutstanding Guest Actress in a Drama SeriesLaw & Order: Special Victims UnitNominated
Independent Spirit AwardBest Supporting FemaleAmerican GunNominated
2008Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest Supporting ActressThe MistWon
Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureInto the WildNominated
2009Emmy AwardOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or MovieThe Courageous Heart of Irena SendlerNominated


Theatre

YearAwardCategoryNominated WorkResult
1993Drama Desk AwardOutstanding Featured Actress in a PlayAngels in America: Millennium ApproachesNominated
Theatre World AwardDistinguished PerformanceWon
Tony AwardBest Featured Actress in a PlayNominated
1994Drama Desk AwardOutstanding Supporting Actress in a PlayAngels in America: PerestroikaNominated
2009Drama Desk AwardOutstanding Actress in a PlayGod of CarnageNominated
Tony AwardBest Actress in a PlayWon

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