Mary-Louise Parker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mary-Louise Parker | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | August 2, 1964 Fort Jackson, South Carolina, United States |
| Years active | 1975-present |
| Domestic partner(s) | Billy Crudup(1996–2003) Jeffrey Dean Morgan (2006–2008) |
Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is an American Tony-, Emmy - and Golden Globe-winning actress. Some of her better known works include Fried Green Tomatoes, Boys on the Side, Proof, The West Wing, Angels in America, and her current role on Showtime's television series Weeds.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life & 1980s
Parker was born in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Her mother was Swedish and her father was a judge and served in the U.S. Army.[1][2] Parker majored in drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She then got her start in a bit part on the soap opera Ryan's Hope. In the late 1980s, Parker moved to New York, where she got a job measuring feet at ECCO. After a few minor roles, she made her Broadway debut in a 1990 production of Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, playing the lead role of Rita. She won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance and was nominated for a Tony Award. Parker also briefly dated her co-star Timothy Hutton during this time.
That same year, Parker was noticed by critics when she appeared in the movie adaptation of another Lucas play, Longtime Companion, one of the first movies to confront AIDS in the public arena. This role was followed by her appearance in 1991's Grand Canyon, which also starred Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard and Kevin Kline. Parker's next film was Fried Green Tomatoes, alongside Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kathy Bates and Cicely Tyson.
[edit] 1990s
Parker maintained a strong theater presence in the early 1990s, but also built her reputation on the big screen, starring with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in The Client (1994); with John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway (1994); and with Drew Barrymore and Whoopi Goldberg in Boys on the Side (1995), as a woman with AIDS. Her next role was in a movie adaptation of yet another Craig Lucas play, Reckless (1995), alongside Mia Farrow, followed by Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady (1996), which also starred Nicole Kidman, Viggo Mortensen, Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. In addition, she appeared alongside Matthew Modine in Tim Hunter's The Maker (1997).
Parker's theater career continued when she appeared in Paula Vogel's 1997 critical smash How I Learned To Drive, with David Morse. After several independent film releases, she appeared in Let The Devil Wear Black and then a much-lauded[citation needed] role in The Five Senses (1999).
[edit] 2001 – 2003
In 2001, Parker appeared alongside Larry Bryggman in David Auburn's Proof on Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award. However, Parker again lost out when the play was made into a film and the role was given to Gwyneth Paltrow. During this period, she left the theater for three years to look for other roles: among them, Red Dragon and Pipe Dream (2002).
Next was a guest role on the NBC drama, The West Wing, as women's rights activist Amelia "Amy" Gardner, which soon became a recurring role as a love interest for Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman and later becoming Chief of Staff to the First Lady. For this role, Parker was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. During the fifth season, however, Parker became pregnant and her character was written out of the series after appearing in four episodes.
On December 7, 2003, HBO aired an epic six-and-a-half hour adaptation of Tony Kushner's acclaimed Broadway play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols. The miniseries — about a group of lost souls in New York during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s — was hailed with international critical acclaim. Parker played Harper Pitt, the Mormon Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer. For her performance, Parker received Golden Globe and Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries.
[edit] 2004 – 2006
In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy Saved!, and a TV movie called Miracle Run, based on the true story of a mother of two sons with autism, as well as appearing in Craig Lucas' Reckless on Broadway. Parker took the lead role that had been Mia Farrow's on screen. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, earned Parker another nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in 2005.
Parker returned to The West Wing in several guest appearances in 2005 and 2006, the show's final season, portraying the Director of Legislative Affairs under the President-elect Matt Santos. She also starred with Tom Skerritt in the CBS television film Vinegar Hill as a down-on-her-luck schoolteacher who, with her family, moves in with her in-laws only to discover their bitter, loveless relationship.
In 2005, Parker took on the lead role in the television series Weeds, a Showtime comedy-drama. Parker's character, Nancy Botwin, is a suburban mother who, following the death of her husband, decides to sell marijuana to make money, while also attempting to maintain her community reputation. She stars alongside Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, her Saved! co-star Martin Donovan, and her Angels in America co-star Justin Kirk. The show's first season aired in 2005, with the second airing in 2006, and the third airing in 2007. As of November 2007, a fourth season has been picked up, and is scheduled to premiere June 16, 2008.[3]
In November 2005, Parker was honored with an exhibition of her career at Boston University, where memorabilia from her career were donated to the University's library. Parker received the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, for her lead role in Weeds. In that category, she defeated the four leads of Desperate Housewives. She dedicated the award to the late John Spencer, best known for his work as Leo McGarry on The West Wing. After receiving the award, Parker stated: "I'm really in favor of legalizing marijuana. I don't think it's that controversial."[4]
[edit] 2007 - 2008
In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the TV film The Robber Bride. Her next role, Zerelda Mimms, in the Andrew Dominik film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, opened in cinemas in September 2007. Parker appeared alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell and Garret Dillahunt. In August 2007, Parker continued her role in the third season of Weeds. In July 2007, Parker was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for playing Zenia Arden in The Robber Bride and the other for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds.
In August 2007, she posed nude for an ad for the third season of Weeds. In the ad, she appears as Eve in the Garden of Eden, with a snake draped around her body and a cannabis leaf behind her ear.[5]
On November 9, 2007, Parker was honored as the Entertainer of the Year by Out Magazine at the Out 100 Awards, which were celebrated in New York City.[6]
Parker appeared in 2008's The Spiderwick Chronicles and in off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons in the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new play by Sarah Ruhl, alongside Drama Desk Award Winner Kathleen Chalfant.[7]
[edit] Personal life
On January 7, 2004, Parker gave birth to her first child, William Atticus Parker. The boy's father is actor Billy Crudup, whom Parker met when they co-starred in a 1996 revival of the William Inge play Bus Stop. After nearly eight years together, the couple split when the actress was seven months pregnant, amid rumors that Crudup was seeing Claire Danes. Parker has also dated Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Timothy Hutton.[8]
In December 2006, Parker began dating actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whom she met on the set of Weeds.[9] In March 2007, Parker stated that the relationship was "going great."[10] The two briefly split in June 2007, but later reconciled.[9] On February 12, 2008, Parker and Morgan announced their engagement only to break up again in April 2008.[11]
In September 2007, Parker adopted a baby girl, Caroline "Ash" Aberash Parker, from Africa.[12][13]
[edit] Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
| 1983 | Trading Places | Girl waiting for payphone | |
| 1989 | Signs of Life | Charlotte | |
| 1990 | Longtime Companion | Lisa | |
| 1991 | Fried Green Tomatoes | Ruth Jamison | |
| Grand Canyon | Dee | ||
| 1993 | Mr. Wonderful | Rita | |
| Naked in New York | Joanne White | ||
| 1994 | Bullets Over Broadway | Ellen | |
| The Client | Dianne Sway | ||
| 1995 | Reckless | Pooty | |
| Boys on the Side | Robin | ||
| 1996 | The Portrait of a Lady | Henrietta Stackpole | |
| 1997 | Murder in Mind | Caroline Walker | |
| The Maker | Officer Emily Peck | ||
| 1998 | Goodbye Lover | Peggy Blane | |
| 1999 | Let the Devil Wear Black | Julia Hirsch | |
| The Five Senses | Rona | Nominated - Genie Award | |
| 2002 | Red Dragon | Molly Graham | |
| The Quality of Mercy | Sarah Richardson | ||
| Pipe Dream | Toni Edelman | ||
| 2004 | Saved! | Lillian | |
| The Best Thief in the World | Sue Zaidman | ||
| 2006 | Romance & Cigarettes | Constance Murder | |
| 2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Zee James | |
| 2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Helen Grace | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1975 | Ryan's Hope | ||
| 1988 | Too Young the Hero | Pearl Spencer | |
| 1994 | A Place for Annie | Linda | |
| 1995 | Sugartime | Phyllis McGuire | |
| 1998 | Saint Maybe | Lucy Dean Bedloe | |
| Legalese | Rica Martin | ||
| 1999 | The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn | Dr. Valerie Crane | |
| 2000 | Cupid & Cate | Cate DeAngelo | |
| 2001-2006 | The West Wing | Amy Gardner | Emmy Award (nominated) SAG Award (nominated) |
| 2002 | Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story | Bonnie Hanssen | |
| 2003 | Angels in America | Harper Pitt | Emmy Award (won) Golden Globe Award (won) Satellite Award (nominated) SAG Award (nominated) |
| 2004 | Miracle Run | Corrine Morgan-Thomas | |
| 2005 | Vinegar Hill | Ellen Grier | |
| 2005-present | Weeds | Nancy Botwin | Emmy Award (nominated) Golden Globe Award (won-1) (nominated-1) Satellite Award (won-1) (nominated-1) SAG Award (nominated-3) |
| 2007 | The Robber Bride | Zenia | Emmy Award (nominated) Gemini Award (won) |
[edit] Awards and nominations
- 2004 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Angels in America)
- 2001 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Proof)
- 2004 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Angels in America)
- 2006 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Weeds)
- 2005 - Outstanding Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical (Weeds)
- 2004 - Artistic Achievement Award
Out Magazine's Out 100 Awards
- 2007 - Entertainer of the Year
High Times Stony Awards
- 2007 - Best Actress
- Nominations
- 2007 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Weeds)
- 2003 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (The West Wing)
- 2004 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Angels in America)
- 2006 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
- 2007 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
- 2007 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
- 2004 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Angels in America)
- 2002 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (The West Wing)
- 2007 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
- 2007 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie (The Robber Bride)
- 2000 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (The Five Senses)
- 1990 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Prelude to a Kiss)
- 2005 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Reckless)
[edit] References
- ^ Mary-Louise Parker Biography (1964-). Film Reference.com.
- ^ Today's Profile. 2006 Biography from Current Biography.
- ^ Showtime deals 'Weeds' a fourth green light. HollywoodReporter.com.
- ^ Parker: 'Legalise Cannabis' . Contact Music.com. 17 January 2006.
- ^ Mary-Louise Parker "Weeds" the garden of Eden. AfterEllen.com.
- ^ "The 100 Men and Women who Rocked 2007." Out.com.
- ^ Main Stage Theater. Playwrights Horizons.org.
- ^ Topel, Fred. Mary Louise Parker's re-up. CraveOnline.com.
- ^ a b Weeds Star's Relationship Hasn't Gone To Pot (December 10, 2007).
- ^ Lopez, Molly. "Mary-Louise Parker & Grey's Hunk: Going Strong". People. 3 March 2007.
- ^ Mary-Louise Parker and Jeffrey Dean Morgan Engaged. The New York Daily News.
- ^ Jones, . "Mary-Louise Parker Adopts a Child from Africa." People.com. 17 September 2007.
- ^ Reading is a favorite activity for Mary-Louise Parker and her kids, Celebrity Baby Blog, February 15, 2008, last accessed May 12, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Mary-Louise Parker at the Internet Movie Database
- Mary-Louise Parker at the Internet Broadway Database
- Mary-Louise Parker at the TCM Movie Database
- Mary-Louise Parker at Yahoo! Movies
- Mary-Louise Parker News and Blogs
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Eileen Heckart for The Waverly Gallery |
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play 2000-2001 for Proof |
Succeeded by Lindsay Duncan for Private Lives |
| Preceded by Kim Cattrall for Sex and the City |
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television 2004 for Angels in America |
Succeeded by Anjelica Huston for Iron Jawed Angels |
| Preceded by Teri Hatcher for Desperate Housewives |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Comedy or Musical 2006 for Weeds |
Succeeded by America Ferrera for Ugly Betty |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Parker, Mary-Louise |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 2, 1964 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fort Jackson, South Carolina, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
