Frances McDormand Biography

Frances McDormand

An intelligent, versatile character actress who virtually disappears into each role, Frances McDormand earned a Best Actress Academy Award as Marge Gunderson, the pregnant deputy sheriff of the Coen brothers’ “Fargo” (1996), her third film with husband Joel and brother-in-law Ethan. After graduating from Yale Drama School, McDormand hit NYC, appearing in several plays, notably “Painting Churches” and “Awake and Sing!” (both 1984). She also entered features as the dim, violent tart whose cuckold husband hires a hit man to kill her and her lover in “Blood Simple” (1984), the debut film of the Coen brothers. She then appeared as a nun in Sam Raimi’s “Crimewave” (1985), a slapstick crime comedy co-written by the Coens and Raimi, and reunited with the former pair to play a shrill, swinging Southern wife who offers Holly Hunter child-rearing advice in their broad-as-a-barn kidnapping comedy “Raising Arizona” (1987).

McDormand was still virtually an unknown when she won an Oscar nomination playing a meek Southern woman abused by her Klansman husband in Alan Parker’s “Mississippi Burning” (1988). Her character’s unconsummated relationship with Gene Hackman’s FBI agent produced scenes that were a stunning tutorial on how to express emotion without words. She played one of her few up-market characters–a lawyer–to Liam Neeson’s comic-book vigilante in Raimi’s “Dark Man” and won the admiration of Ken Loach for her turn as an American human rights activist in his political thriller set against the battleground of Northern Ireland, “Hidden Agenda” (both 1990), prompting the august British director to tell her as she was leaving, “Not only have you changed my opinion of actors, you’ve changed my opinion of Americans.” She also offered tense comic relief as the ex-wife of Peter Gallagher and lover of Tim Robbins in Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” (1993).

McDormand admits now that she took roles in the failed Hollywood comedies “The Butcher’s Wife” (1991) and “Passed Away” (1992) “to prove that I could be funny” and her lackluster part as Patricia Arquette’s sister in “Beyond Rangoon” (1995) so that she could travel to Malaysia. After “Fargo”, Hollywood needs no further proof that she can be funny. McDormand’s likable, reality-based performance as the deputy investigating a series of killings made the Coens’ chilling bit of madness safe for decent folk to laugh at and brought her much-deserved stardom along with practically every acting prize. She also delivered acclaimed turns that year as the alcoholic hooker June in the heist comedy “Palookaville,” a football-crazed divorcee in friend John Sayles’ underrated Western “Lone Star” and a psychiatrist interviewing a potential killer in the courtroom thriller “Primal Fear”.

McDormand flirted briefly with television in the 80s, acting in the 1985 TV-movie “Scandal Sheet” (ABC) and as a regular in the short-lived detective drama “Leg Work” (CBS, 1987), but her work for the small screen in the 90s has been more inspiring. She rejoined fellow Yale grad and NYC roommate Holly Hunter for Martha Coolidge’s “Crazy in Love” (TNT, 1992) and joined first-time directors Kathy Bates for the monologue drama “Talking With” (PBS) and Tommy Lee Jones for TNT’s “The Good Old Boys” (both 1995). She also turned up as Gus, a tough-talking mechanic, in HBO’s acclaimed look at the working poor, “Hidden in America” (1996), starring Beau Bridges. Her return to the stage as Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire” netted her a Tony nomination in 1988, and after performing at Yale Repertory in “A Moon for the Misbegotten” (1990-91), she was back on the Great White Way in Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Sisters Rosensweig” in 1992, followed by a turn in “The Swan” (1993) at NYC’s Public Theatre.

Since portraying a German Jewish doctor incarcerated by the Japanese during World War II in “Paradise Road” (1997), which she filmed prior to receiving her Oscar, McDormand has been very selective in her projects. In Dublin she courageously essayed the role of Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1998), and though the famous neurotic was a reach for her, one had to applaud her risk-taking. On film that year, she donned the habit as Miss Clavell, the headmistress of the boarding school girls of “Madeline”, based on the books of Ludwig Bemelmans, and she also returned to the New York stage in a modern adaptation of “Oedipus”. Teaming with director Curtis Hanson for his first foray into comedy, “Wonder Boys” (2000), McDormand excelled in the quiet, understated part as a college chancellor, revealing new facets of her screen persona. She next surfaced amidst the huge ensemble of Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” comedy-drama (2000), playing the overprotective, unintentionally funny mother of the young journalist (Patrick Fugit) drawn from Crowe’s experiences as a teenager writing for Rolling Stone. In 2002, McDormand stood by her man as husband Robert DeNiro realizes that the killer he has been searching for is his son in the crime drama “City By The Sea.”

The following year, she portrayed a entirely different kind of mother from her “Fargo” and “Almost Famous” roles in the indie feature “Laurel Canyon,” a drama that also co-starred Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale. Although the film was lackluster, it was invigorated by McDormand’s fresh and fearless performance as a sexually confident record producer in her 40s who sketchy personal choices and innate desire to stay youthful, hip and edgy has alienated from her son (Bale) and intrigued her future daughter-in-law (Beckinsale). McDormand was equally appealing in her too-brief turn as Diane Keaton’s tell-it-like-is sister in the romantic comedy “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003).

After a supporting role in the blockbuster bomb, “Aeon Flux” (2005), McDormand again appeared with her “Flux” co-star Charlize Theron in the far more competent and emotionally involving “North Country” (2005). She played a smiling, but tart-tongued truck driver at an iron mine who helps her friend Josey (Theron) speak out against the poor treatment of female employees by their male counterparts. McDormand earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by An Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. She also got a nod from the Academy Awards, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

• Also Credited As:
  Fran McDormand
• Born:
  on 06/23/1957 in Illinois
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Brother-in-law: Ethan Coen.
• Father: Vernon McDormand. member of the Disciples of Christ denomination; Canadian by birth
• Mother: Noreen McDormand. Canadian
• Son: Pedro McDormand Coen. adopted; born c. November 1994 in Paraguay

Significant Others

• Husband: Joel Coen. directed McDormand in films “Blood Simple” and “Fargo”; together from 1984; married c. 1994; his second marriage

Education

• School of Drama, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, drama, 1982

Milestones

• 1980 Made stage acting debut in “Winterset: Four New American Plays” at Yale Repertory Theater
• 1984 Film acting debut, “Blood Simple”; first collaboration with the Coen brothers
• 1984 New York stage debut, Tina Howe’s “Painting Churches”
• 1985 Credited as Fran McDormand for Sam Raimi’s “Crimewave”
• 1985 TV-movie acting debut, “Scandal Sheet” (ABC)
• 1987 Co-starred in TV series, “Leg Work” (CBS)
• 1987 Reteamed with the Coen brothers for “Raising Arizona”, playing a shrill vulgarian offering Holly Hunter’s character child-rearing advice
• 1988 Earned a Tony nomination as Lead Actress in a Play for her turn as Stella Kowalski in a Broadway revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” starring Blythe Danner and Aidan Quinn
• 1988 Won substantial acclaim and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her emotive turn opposite Gene Hackman in “Mississippi Burning”
• 1990 Appeared uncredited in a bit part as a secretary in the Coens’ “Miller’s Crossing”
• 1990 Co-starred in Ken Loach’s controversial political thriller “Hidden Agenda”
• 1990 Reteamed with Raimi on “Darkman”
• 1992 Played Pfeni, the youngest of three sisters, in the original Broadway production of Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Sisters Rosenzweig”
• 1993 Had featured role as Tim Robbins’ girlfriend in Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts”
• 1995 Acted in Tommy Lee Jones’ critically-acclaimed writing-directing debut, “The Good Old Boys” (TNT), playing Jones’ hardened wife Eve
• 1995 Portrayed Patricia Arquette’s sister in John Boorman’s “Beyond Rangoon”
• 1996 Delivered a gem of a turn as Gus, a tough mechanic, in HBO’s acclaimed “Hidden in America”, a look into the lives of the working poor
• 1996 Earned critical praise and numerous accolades including a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as the pregnant police chief investigating a murder in the Coen brothers’ “Fargo”
• 1997 Cast as a German doctor forced into an internment camp with other European women in Bruce Beresford’s “Paradise Road”
• 1998 Played Miss Clavell in “Madeline”, a film adaptation stitching together elements from four of Ludwig Bemelmans’ illustrated children’s books about a plucky girl at a small French boarding school
• 1998 Returned to the New York stage co-starring with Billy Crudup in an Off-Broadway production of “Oedipus”
• 1998 Starred as Blanche Du Bois in an Irish production of “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• 2000 Co-starred as Michael Douglas’ lover, a college chancellor, in “Wonder Boys”
• 2000 Reteamed with Crudup for Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous”, an autobiographical film about a teenage rock journalist; received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination
• 2001 Played a straying spouse in the Coen brothers’ modern noir “The Man Who Wasn’t There”
• 2001 Served as off-screen narrator for the Fox Family Channel series “State of Grace”
• 2002 Co-starred in the crime drama “City By The Sea”
• 2002 Co-starred in the drama “Laurel Canyon”; received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best supporting female
• 2002 Returned to the NYC stage opposite Willem Dafoe in “To You, the Birdie!”, an adaptation of Racine’s “Phedre” performed by the Wooster Group
• 2003 Featured in the Comedy “Something’s Gotta Give”
• 2005 Cast in “North Country” a fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States; earned Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Supporting Actress
• 2005 Portrayed the Handler in the feature adaptation of the MTV cartoon “Aeon Flux,” starring Charlize Theron in the title role
• 2006 Co-starred with Joan Cusack, Jennifer Aniston and Catherine Keener in “Friends with Money”
• Before age eight, moved frequently with family, living in Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennesse before finally settling in Pennsylvania
• First professional job, acting in Trinidad in a play written by Jamaican poet Derek Walcott and funded by his MacArthur Grant
• Involved in a terrible auto mishap on way to auditioning for the Yale School of Drama; all passengers were clear of the vehicle when it was demolished by a truck
• Moved to NYC, initially sharing a Bronx apartment with friend and fellow Yale graduate Holly Hunter, through whom she heard about Joel and Ethan Coen, two brothers who were planning to produce and direct a low-budget thriller
• Took a role as a department store clerk in a “Sesame Street” video for children, “Big Bird Gets Lost”