Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell is a two-time Oscar(r)-nominated actress who is known for her character performances in both contemporary and period screen roles, and the long list of screen and stage roles. Mary Eileen McDonnell was the daughter of John McDonnell (a computer consultant) and Eileen (Mundy) is an Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania native. Raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Fredonia. She went on to the drama school and was later accepted into the Long Wharf Theatre Company (East Coast). She was 22 years old when she got her first movie part in Dances with Wolves (1990) in which she was "Stands with a Fist", a Sioux Indian woman who is white. McDonnell received her first Academy Award nomination for the part. McDonnell's film credits also include Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) & Mumford (1999), opposite veteran actors such as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier and Ben Kingsley; Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); the famous art house cult film Donnie Darko (192001); and Margin Call (2011). The film won her the Robert Altman Awards at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. McDonnell was a star in the Syfy Network's award-winning show Battlestar Galactica (2004), where she was praised for her portrayal of the President Laura Roslin. Her regular guest role as host on the tv show ER (1994) was rewarded with an Emmy nomination. TNT's hit drama series Major Crimes (2012) features McDonnell as Captain Sharon Raydor. This is the sequel to The Closer (2005) in which McDonnell developed the role. The show was nominated for a Primetime Emmy(r). As a paraplegic soap-opera star in John Sayles’s critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992), she won a Best Actress Academy Award(r) nomination, nomination, and Golden Globe nomination.