Portal:Louisiana/Selected biography/7

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Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. Clarkson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Jackie Clarkson (a prominent local New Orleans politician and councilwoman) and Arthur Clarkson, a school administrator who worked at the Department of Medicine of Louisiana State University.

Clarkson starred in a series of high-profile films in her early career, including The Dead Pool, Rocket Gibraltar and Everybody's All-American. She starred in the short-run television series Davis Rules, and in the miniseries Alex Haley's Queen. Other television appearances have included the role of "Aunt Sarah" in Six Feet Under, for which she won two Emmy Awards.

In 1999, she appeared in The Green Mile, and in 2002 in Far from Heaven. In 2003, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Pieces of April, in which she plays an acerbic mother dying of cancer. Clarkson garnered critical acclaim for her work in The Station Agent (2003). Some film enthusiasts note her talent as a character actor. (read more . . . )