Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell is an actress who has been nominated for two Oscars(r). She is popular for her portrayals as characters in period and contemporary screen roles. Mary Eileen McDonnell was the daughter of John McDonnell (a computer consultant) and Eileen (Mundy) is an Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania native. She was raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. She later attended the drama school and was accepted into the highly regarded Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast. Two decades later she got her first film role, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990) as "Stands with a Fist", a white woman born to the Sioux Indians. The first time she received an Academy Award nomination was for this role. McDonnell's credits in films include Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991) and Mumford (1999) (opposite the likes of seasoned performers as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier as well as Ben Kingsley); Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); acclaimed art house cult-hit Donnie Darko (2001) as well as Margin Call (2011) (opposite Kevin Spacey), which won her the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. McDonnell was a star in the Syfy Network's award winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004), in which she was praised for her portrayal of the President Laura Roslin. Her regular guest role as host on the popular television series ER (1994) was rewarded with an Emmy nomination. She is the Captain Sharon Raydor on the TNT's popular drama series Major Crimes (2012), the sequel to The Closer (2005), where McDonnell originated the role and for which she earned an Primetime Emmy(r) nomination. For her role as a paraplegic soap-opera star in John Sayles’s critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992), she was awarded a Best Actress Academy Award(r), nomination, and a Golden Globe nomination.