Frances Mcdormand
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
McDormand continues her active involvement with the 52nd Street Project, a non-profit group that brings members of New York's theatrical world together with children ages 8 though 18 from Hell's Kitchen. She began her long connection with the organization when she met founder Willie Reale in 1985, working on a production for Ensemble Studio Theater (also located on 52nd St). She became a member of its board of directors in 1992 and its chairwoman in 1997.
"I'm a character actress, plain and simple . . . Who can worry about a career? Have a life. Movie stars have careers--actors work, and then they don't work, and then they work again." --Frances McDormand, quoted in Movieline, April 1996
Biography
As the good-natured, but sharp-minded sheriff on the trail of two murderers in her breakout film, "Fargo" (1996), actress Frances McDormand made a significant mark as an actress, playing one of the more unique, homespun characters in cinema history. Prior to her award-winning performance, McDormand essayed a variety of roles, but mainly focused on put-upon wives or classic femme fatales in films like "Blood Simple" (1984) and "Mississippi Burning" (1988). Later in her career, she branched off into more diverse leading and supporting roles for "Lone Star" (1996), "Wonder Boys" (2000) and "Almost Famous" (2000), though she continued to make her strongest appearances in husband Joel Coens' darkly comic noirs, including "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001). By the time she received her third Academy Award nomination for her supporting performance in "North Country" (2005), it was well established that McDormand was a gifted actress in both comedy and drama and whose best work never failed to impress critics and fans alike.
Born June 13, 1957 in Gibson City, IL, McDormand was raised by her adoptive parents, Vernon, a minister for Disciples of Christ, and Noreen, a registered nurse. Her father specialized in restoring failed congregations across the country, which forced the family to move around small towns in Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky before finally settling in Pittsburgh, PA. While going to high school in Monessing, PA, McDormand was taken under the wing of her English teacher, who saw her student's interest in Shakespeare and encouraged her to participate in school theater productions. After high school, McDormand attended Bethany College, a small Disciples of Christ in West Virginia, and graduated with her bachelor's in theater. She spent the next three years earning her master's in drama at Yale University, where she was awarded the Carol Dye Award for Excellence. With her degree in hand, McDormand moved to New York City and waited tables to make ends meet, while struggling to jumpstart her acting career. Joining her in the struggle was fellow up-and-comer, Holly Hunter, with whom she shared an apartment in the Bronx.
McDormand began making strides, appearing in several plays, notably "Painting Churches" (1984) and "Awake and Sing!" (1984). But she made her first substantial impression on film, starring in the darkly comic and hyper-violent neo-noir, "Blood Simple" (1984), the first feature directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Originally, Hunter earned the leading role, but ran into a scheduling conflict which prompted her to suggest her roommate as a replacement. Without any film experience, McDormand was scared to death of acting in front of a camera, but nonetheless delivered a solid performance as the cheating wife of a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires an unscrupulous private eye (M. Emmett Walsh) to murder her and her lover (John Getz). Aside from making her big screen debut, McDormand developed a romantic relationship with director Joel Coen, whom she married that same year. After dipping her toe into television waters with the made-for-television showbiz drama "Scandal Sheet" (ABC, 1985), she appeared as a nun in Sam Raimi's slapstick noir, "Crimewave" (1985), then played a shrill, swinging Southern wife who offers a baby-napping couple (Hunter and Nicolas Cage) child-rearing advice in the Coen Brothers' wildly funny "Raising Arizona" (1987).
After a regular role on the short-lived cop drama "Leg Work" (CBS, 1987-88), McDormand remained a virtual unknown until she earned an Academy Award nomination for playing a meek Southern woman abused by her Klansman husband (Brad Dourif) in Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning" (1988). Her character's unconsummated relationship with Gene Hackman's FBI agent produced scenes that were a stunning tutorial on how to express emotion without words. She played one of her few up-market characters - a lawyer - to Liam Neeson's comic-book vigilante in Raimi's "Dark Man" (1990), then won the admiration of Ken Loach for her turn as an American human rights activist in his political thriller set against the battleground of Northern Ireland, "Hidden Agenda" (1990). The British director was prompted to tell her as she was wrapped from the production, "Not only have you changed my opinion of actors, you've changed my opinion of Americans." After reuniting with Holly Hunter in the made-for-television movie "Crazy in Love" (TNT, 1992), she offered tense comic relief as the ex-wife of Peter Gallagher and lover of Tim Robbins in Robert Altman's classic "Short Cuts" (1993).
McDormand endured her share of failure early in her career, namely with failed comedies like "The Butcher's Wife" (1991) and "Passed Away" (1992), roles she chose to play "to prove that I could be funny." After a lackluster performance as Patricia Arquette's sister in "Beyond Rangoon" (1995), McDormand returned to form as the alcoholic hooker June in the heist comedy "Palookaville" (1996), a football-crazed divorcee in John Sayles' acclaimed "Lone Star" (1996), and a psychiatrist interviewing a potential killer in the courtroom thriller "Primal Fear" (1996). But it was her turn as Marge Gunderson, the pregnant small town deputy sheriff tracking down the murder of a highway patrolman in the Coen brothers' "Fargo" (1996) that earned McDormand her spot in cinema history. Both folksy and sharp as a razor, Marge tracks the murder to a pair of thugs (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) hired by a desperate car salesman (William H. Macy) who concocts a phony kidnapping involving his wife (Kristen Rudrud) in order to take the ransom to pay off his embezzlements from the dealership. As the moral center of an immoral universe, McDormand imbued Marge with sunny optimism and astute detective skills, deservedly earning an Academy Award for Best Leading Actress.
After her Oscar win, McDormand turned up as Gus, a tough-talking mechanic in the acclaimed drama about the working poor, "Hidden in America" (Showtime, 1996). Back on the big screen, she portrayed a German Jewish doctor incarcerated by the Japanese during World War II in "Paradise Road" (1997), before courageously essaying the role of Blanche in a Dublin production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1998). Back on film, she donned the habit as Miss Clavell, the headmistress of an all-female boarding school, in the family musical, "Madeline" (1998), which was adapted from the children's books of Ludwig Bemelmans. After returning to the New York stage in a modern adaptation of "Oedipus," McDormand teamed with acclaimed director Curtis Hanson for his first foray into comedy, "Wonder Boys" (2000), an adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel of the same name. McDormand excelled in the quiet, understated part as a college chancellor who carries on an affair with an author (Michael Douglas) struggling to finish a novel. She next surfaced amidst the huge ensemble of Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000), playing the overprotective, unintentionally funny mother of a 15-year-old journalist (Patrick Fugit) traveling with a famous rock band who writes for Rolling Stone.
McDormand joined forces with her husband and brother-in-law once again for the Coen Brothers' ode to film noir, "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001), playing the hard-drinking, cheating wife of a dour barber (Billy Bob Thornton) who hatches a blackmail scheme in retaliation for her infidelity, only to see his plan spiral out of control and end in murder. McDormand then played the downstairs neighbor of a New York City cop (Robert DeNiro) who realizes that the killer he has been searching for is his son in the crime drama "City by the Sea" (2002). The following year, she portrayed an entirely different kind of mother from her "Fargo" and "Almost Famous" roles in the indie feature "Laurel Canyon" (2003), a lackluster drama that was ignited by McDormand's fresh and fearless performance as a sexually confident, 40-something record producer whose sketchy personal choices and innate desire to stay youthful, hip and edgy has alienated her son (Christian Bale) and intrigued her future daughter-in-law (Kate Beckinsale). McDormand followed with an equally appealing performance, but all-too-brief turn as Diane Keaton's tell-it-like-is sister in the romantic comedy hit, "Something's Gotta Give" (2003).
After a supporting role in the blockbuster bomb, "Aeon Flux" (2005), McDormand again appeared with her "Flux" co-star Charlize Theron in the far more competent and emotionally involving "North Country" (2005). She played a smiling, but tart-tongued truck driver at an iron mine who helps her friend Josey (Theron) speak out against the poor treatment of female employees by their male counterparts. McDormand earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by An Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. She also received a nod from the Academy Awards, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Following a supporting turn as a dissatisfied wife married to her business partner (Simon McBurney) in the charming ensemble drama, "Friends With Money" (2006), McDormand starred in the period high comedy, "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day" (2008), playing a seasoned governess who gets a taste of the more glamorous side of life when she is tasked with working for a nightclub performer (Amy Adams) plagued by numerous unseemly affairs. She then teamed up with Joel and Ethan for "Burn After Reading" (2008), a slapstick comedy about two dimwitted gym trainers (Brad Pitt and McDormand) who blackmail a CIA agent (John Malkovich) after finding a top secret CD he left behind in a locker. After a brief hiatus, McDormand returned to the screen in the quirky comedy-drama "This Must Be the Place" (2011), followed by a small supporting role in Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011). A highly-acclaimed co-starring role in Wes Anderson's childlike fable "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012) was followed by a voice role in the animated hit "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" (2012) and a key role in ecological drama "Promised Land" (2012). Two years later, she gave an unsentimental performance as a flinty rural New Englander in "Olive Kittridge" (HBO 2014), for which she won an Emmy in 2015.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Misc. Crew (Special)
Life Events
1980
Made stage acting debut in "Winterset: Four New American Plays" at Yale Repertory Theater
1982
Performed first professional stage role in "Trinidad"; written by Jamaican poet Derek Walcott
1983
Made New York stage debut in Tina Howe's "Painting Churches"
1984
Film acting debut, "Blood Simple"; first collaboration with the Coen brothers
1985
Made TV-movie acting debut in "Scandal Sheet" (ABC)
1985
Credited as Fran McDormand for Sam Raimi's "Crimewave"
1987
Co-starred on the CBS drama series "Leg Work"
1987
Re-teamed with the Coen brothers for "Raising Arizona"; starred former roommate Holly Hunter
1988
Earned a Tony nomination for her turn as Stella Kowalski in a Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire"
1988
Co-starred in civil rights drama "Mississippi Burning"
1990
Appeared uncredited in a bit part as a secretary in the Coens' "Miller's Crossing"
1990
Co-starred in Ken Loach's controversial political thriller "Hidden Agenda"
1990
Reteamed with Raimi in "Darkman"
1992
Played Pfeni, the youngest of three sisters, in the original Broadway production of "The Sisters Rosenzweig"
1993
Cast in featured role as Tim Robbins' girlfriend in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts"
1995
Portrayed Patricia Arquette's sister in John Boorman's "Beyond Rangoon"
1995
Acted in Tommy Lee Jones' critically acclaimed writing-directing debut "The Good Old Boys" (TNT)
1996
Co-starred as Gus, a tough mechanic, in HBO's acclaimed "Hidden in America"
1996
Starred as the pregnant police chief in the Coen brothers' "Fargo"
1997
Cast as a German doctor forced into an internment camp with other European women in Bruce Beresford's "Paradise Road"
1998
Starred as Blanche Du Bois in an Irish production of "A Streetcar Named Desire"
1998
Portrayed Miss Clavell in "Madeline," the adaptation of a children's book series written by Ludwig Bemelmans
1998
Returned to the New York stage, co-starring with Billy Crudup in off-Broadway production of "Oedipus"
2000
Protrayed an eccentric, overprotective mother in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous"
2000
Co-starred as Michael Douglas' lover, a college chancellor, in "Wonder Boys"
2001
Played a straying spouse in the Coen brothers' modern noir "The Man Who Wasn't There"
2002
Co-starred in the drama "Laurel Canyon"
2002
Returned to the NYC stage opposite Willem Dafoe in "To You, the Birdie!"
2003
Played Diane Keaton's sister in Nancy Meyers' "Something's Gotta Give"
2005
Co-starred with Charlize Theron in "North Country," a fictionalized account of the first successful sexual harassment case in the U.S.
2005
Re-teamed with Charlize Theron for the feature adaptation of MTV's cartoon "Aeon Flux"
2006
Co-starred with Joan Cusack, Jennifer Aniston, and Catherine Keener in director Nicole Holofcener's "Friends with Money"
2008
Joined an ensemble cast for the Coen's brothers' "Burn After Reading"
2008
Played the title role in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"
2011
Returned to the stage in the David Lindsay-Abaire play "Good People"; earned a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
2011
Appeared in the third installment of the franchise "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
2012
Voiced character of Captain Chantel DuBois in "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted"
2012
Co-starred with Matt Damon as corporate salespersons in "Promised Land," directed by Gus van Sant; film co-written by Damon and John Krasinski
2012
Cast as the mother of a preteen runaway in Wes Anderson's romantic adventure "Moonrise Kingdom"
2014
Starred in the title role of HBO miniseries "Olive Kitteridge"
2015
Provided the voice of Mama in the animated feature "The Good Dinosaur"
2016
Re-teamed with the Coens for a minor role in Hollywood-themed dark comedy "Hail, Caesar!"
2017
Played a mother-on-a-mission in the drama "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Videos
Movie Clip
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
McDormand continues her active involvement with the 52nd Street Project, a non-profit group that brings members of New York's theatrical world together with children ages 8 though 18 from Hell's Kitchen. She began her long connection with the organization when she met founder Willie Reale in 1985, working on a production for Ensemble Studio Theater (also located on 52nd St). She became a member of its board of directors in 1992 and its chairwoman in 1997.
"I'm a character actress, plain and simple . . . Who can worry about a career? Have a life. Movie stars have careers--actors work, and then they don't work, and then they work again." --Frances McDormand, quoted in Movieline, April 1996
On working with Gene Hackman in "Mississippi Burning": "He had an amazing capacity for not giving away any part of himself [in read-throughs]. But the minute we got on the set, little blinds on his eyes flipped up and everything was available. It was mesmerizing. He's really believable, and it was like a basic acting lesson. I think that's the thing I do most in film, I listen. Which is hard if you don't believe the person talking to you. But if you truly listen to the other characters, then something happens to your face. Enough happens to your face, and you don't have to project it in any way, you can just let it happen." --McDormand to Willem Dafoe in Bomb, Spring 1996
About getting cast by the Coens in "Blood Simple": "They told me later that I was the only actor who had read the scene in the way they had envisioned when they wrote it. After the audition, they asked me to come back later in the day, at four. But I had this friend who had got his first job on a soap opera and I was going to watch him at that time. They were both, like, 'Doesn't she realise that we want her to play Abby? What do you mean she's got to watch a soap opera? Well, can you come back at five?'" --McDormand quoted in Empire, June 1996
"The only control I have is to choose to do the work I want to do, not to follow the Academy Award with something that's predescribed for someone who wins an Academy Award. There's always that sense of anticipation: What will she do next?""I'm trying to use the clout [of the Oscar] in my way, not someone else's prescribed way. By saying I'm a character actor and that I play supporting roles in films, I'm not being self-deprecating. That's my agenda--because character actors work until they decide not to work. Leading women can work forever on stage, but they have peaks and valleys in film work. By saying this is what I am, I have control." --McDormand to the Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1998
About working with the Coens: "It's heaven. Their sets are a nice place to be. And their scripts are like plays. You don't mess with them and you don't paraphrase. On 'Fargo', if Marge had to say 'yah' five times, I said it five times." --McDormand to the Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1998
