Frances McDormand extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Frances McDormand
On the set of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, May 2007
Born	Frances Louise McDormand June 23, 1957 (1957-06-23) (age 51) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Years active	1984-present
Spouse(s)	Joel Coen (1984–present)
Awards won Academy Awards Best Actress 1996 Fargo Golden Globe Awards Best Ensemble Cast 1994 Short Cuts Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture 1996 Fargo Other awards NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress 1988 Mississippi Burning NBR Award for Best Actress 1996 Fargo Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female 1996 Fargo Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female 2006 Friends with Money BSFC Award for Best Actress 1996 Fargo CFCA Award for Best Actress 1996 Fargo SDFCS Award for Best Actress 1996 Fargo SEFCA Award for Best Actress 1996 Fargo

Frances Louise McDormand¹ (born 23 June 1957) is an Academy Award-winning American film, stage, and television actress.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early life

McDormand was born in Chicago, Illinois, the adoptive daughter of Canadians Noreen, a now retired registered nurse and receptionist, and Vernon McDormand, a Disciples of Christ pastor. McDormand has said that her natural mother may have been one of the parishioners at her adoptive father's church.² McDormand has an adoptive sister, Dorothy A. McDormand, who is an ordained Disciples of Christ minister and chaplain,³ as well as two other siblings, all of whom were adopted by the McDormands, who had no natural children. As her adoptive father specialized in restoring congregations,² he frequently moved their family, and McDormand lived in several small towns in Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee,⁴ before settling in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area town of Monessen, where she graduated from high school in 1975. She attended Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia, and earned a B.A. in Theater in 1979.

In 1982, McDormand earned an M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Drama. She was roommates with Holly Hunter at the time. Her first professional acting job was in Trinidad and Tobago, performing in a play written by poet Derek Walcott and funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Career

McDormand's film debut was in Joel and Ethan Coen's first film, 1984's Blood Simple. In 1985, McDormand, the Coen brothers, Holly Hunter, and director Sam Raimi shared a house in the Bronx.

In addition to her early film roles, McDormand played Connie Chapman in the fifth season of the television police drama Hill Street Blues. In 1988, she played Stella Kowalski in a stage production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Frances McDormand is an associate member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group.

McDormand appeared in several theatrical and television roles during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. She has gained renown and critical acclaim for her dramatic work, and is a respected actress, having been nominated for Academy Awards four times. In 1988, she was nominated for a Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mississippi Burning; in 1996, she won the Academy award for Best Actress for her performance as police chief Marge Gunderson in Fargo; in 2000, she earned her second nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of a concerned mother in Almost Famous. Also for Almost Famous, she won the Best Supporting Actress nod from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, San Diego Film Critics Society, Southeastern Film Critics Association, and the Florida Film Critics Circle. For her role in Wonder Boys (2000), she won Best Supporting Actress from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

In 2006, McDormand received her third Best Supporting Actress nod for her performance in 2005's North Country, although she lost to Rachel Weisz. She also had a role in the film Friends with Money, a dark comedy co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack, and directed by Nicole Holofcener. She recently received an Independent Spirit Award for her role in Friends with Money. She also voiced the role of the lady principal Melanie Upfoot in the Simpsons episode Girls Just Want to Have Sums, which aired on April 30, 2006. McDormand has recently starred in the films Burn After Reading and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Personal life

McDormand has been married to director Joel Coen since 1984, and the two adopted a son from Paraguay, Pedro McDormand Coen, in 1994. They live in New York City. McDormand has starred in six of the Coen Brothers films, including a minor appearance in Miller's Crossing, a secondary role in Raising Arizona and lead roles in Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, Fargo, for which she won an Academy Award, and more recently Burn After Reading.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1984	Blood Simple	Abby
1985	Crimewave	Nun
1987	Raising Arizona	Dot
1988	Mississippi Burning	Mrs. Pell	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1989	Chattahoochee	Mae Foley
1990	Miller's Crossing	Mayor's secretary	uncredited
	Darkman	Julie Hastings
	Hidden Agenda	Ingrid Jessner
1991	The Butcher's Wife	Grace
1992	Passed Away	Nora Scanlan
1993	Short Cuts	Betty Weathers
1994	Bleeding Hearts	Woman on TV
1995	Palookaville	June
	Beyond Rangoon	Andy Bowma
1996	Primal Fear	Dr. Molly Arrington
	Plain Pleasures
	Fargo	Marge Gunderson	Academy Award for Best Actress; WON - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe for Best Actress, Comedy/Musical; Nominated - Screen Actors Guild for Best Actress; WON
	Lone Star	Bunny
	Hidden in America	Gus
1997	Paradise Road	Dr. Verstak
1998	Madeline	Miss Clavel
	Talk of Angels	Conlon
	Johnny Skidmarks	Alice
2000	Wonder Boys	Dean Sara Gaskell
	Almost Famous	Elaine Miller	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Nominated - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
2001	The Man Who Wasn't There	Doris Crane
	Upheaval	Anne
2002	City by the Sea	Michelle
	Laurel Canyon	Jane
	Searching for Debra Winger	Herself
2003	Something's Gotta Give	Zoe Barry
2004	Last Night	Marit Such
2005	North Country	Glory Dodge	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Nominated - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe
	Æon Flux	The Handler
2006	Friends with Money	Jane	Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
	The Simpsons	Melanie Upfoot	Voice-over performance
2008	Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day	Guinevere Pettigrew
	Burn After Reading	Linda Litzke	Nominated - Golden Globe

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking	Academy Award for Best Actress 1996 for Fargo	Succeeded by Helen Hunt for As Good as It Gets
Preceded by Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking	Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture 1996 for Fargo	Succeeded by Helen Hunt for As Good as It Gets

References

External links

• Frances McDormand at the Internet Movie Database
• Frances McDormand at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frances McDormand at TV.com

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Actress Katharine Hepburn (1981) · Meryl Streep (1982) · Shirley MacLaine (1983) · Sally Field (1984) · Geraldine Page (1985) · Marlee Matlin (1986) · Cher (1987) · Jodie Foster (1988) · Jessica Tandy (1989) · Kathy Bates (1990) · Jodie Foster (1991) · Emma Thompson (1992) · Holly Hunter (1993) · Jessica Lange (1994) · Susan Sarandon (1995) · Frances McDormand (1996) · Helen Hunt (1997) · Gwyneth Paltrow (1998) · Hilary Swank (1999) · Julia Roberts (2000) Complete list · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)

Persondata
NAME	McDormand, Frances
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	McDormand, Frances Louise
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress
DATE OF BIRTH	June 23, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chicago, Illinois, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH