Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell, a two-time Oscar(r),-nominated actress, is well known for her performances on screen in contemporary and historical roles. She also has a long list of roles on stage as well as screen. Mary Eileen McDonnell was born on April 28, 1952, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Eileen (Mundy) and John McDonnell, a computer consultant Both of Irish origin. She was raised in Ithaca and attended Fredonia State University of New York. She then attended the drama school and was later accepted into Long Wharf Theatre Company (East Coast). After a few decades she was offered her first film role in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990) in which she played "Stands with a Fist" who is a white woman raised by the Sioux Indians. The first time she received an Academy Award nomination was for the role. McDonnell's film credits also include Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) & Mumford (1999), opposite 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 television series Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her highly acclaimed role as President Laura Roslin. McDonnell received an Emmy for her regular guest appearance on the tv series ER (1994). She is the lead character of Captain Sharon Raydor on the TNT's top drama show Major Crimes (2012), the sequel to The Closer (2005), where McDonnell originated the role and earned an Emmy(r) nomination for Primetime. Emmy(r) nomination. She garnered a Best Actress Academy Award(r) nomination as well as an Golden Globe nomination for her performance as an actor with paraplegia on soap opera in John Sayles's critically-acclaimed film, Passion Fish (1992).