Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell, a two-time Oscar(r),-nominated actress, is most well famous for her performance on screen in historical and modern roles. She has also had a long line of roles on stage as well as screen. Mary Eileen McDonnell was the daughter of John McDonnell (a computer consultant) and Eileen (Mundy) who was an Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania native. She was born in Ithaca and then graduated from Fredonia State University of New York. Later, she attended the drama school and was accepted into the highly regarded Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast. In the following two decades she was offered her first film role, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990), playing "Stands with a Fist" as a white woman born to the Sioux Indians. The first time she received an Academy Award nomination was for this role. McDonnell's film credits include Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) & Mumford (1999) in which she starred alongside veteran actors like 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); and Margin Call (2011). It earned her the Robert Altman Awards at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. On the small screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons of Syfy Network's award-winning show Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her highly acclaimed role as President Laura Roslin. McDonnell was nominated for an Emmy for her recurring guest appearance on the television 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). Her performance as a paraplegic soap opera in John Sayles' critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992) earned her a Best Actress Academy Award (r) nomination as well as a Golden Globe nod.