Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell is a two-time Oscar(r)-nominated actress, recognized for her portrayals of characters in both contemporary and period screen roles, as well as the long list of stage and film roles. Mary Eileen McDonnell was born on the 28th of April 1952, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Eileen (Mundy) and John McDonnell, a computer consultant, both from Irish descent. She was born in Ithaca, New York and graduated from Fredonia State University of New York. After that, she went to drama school , and was accepted into the well-known Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast. Her first film role came in Dances with Wolves (1990) by Kevin Costner. She played the role of "Stands with a Fist" as a Sioux Indian-born white woman. The first time she received an Academy Award nomination was for this role. McDonnell's film credits also include Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) & Mumford (1999) in which she starred alongside veteran actors such as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier and Ben Kingsley; Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); the popular art house cult hit Donnie Darko (192001) as well as Margin Call (2011). It earned her the Robert Altman Awards at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. On the smaller screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons of Syfy Network's award-winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her highly acclaimed role as President Laura Roslin. McDonnell was nominated for an Emmy for her frequent guest appearance on the tv show ER (1994). TNT's acclaimed drama series Major Crimes (2012) stars her as Captain Sharon Raydor. It is McDonnell's first series and she received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy(r). For her role as a paraplegic soap-opera actress in John Sayles’s critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992), she was awarded the Best Actress Academy Award(r), nomination, and a Golden Globe nomination.