MARY-LOUISE PARKER
Name: Mary-Louise Parker
Born: 2 August 1964 Fort Jackson, South Carolina, United States
Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is a Tony-, Emmy - and Golden Globe-winning
American actress. Some of her better known works include Fried Green Tomatoes,
Boys on the Side, Proof, The West Wing, Angels in America, and her current role
on Showtime's Weeds.
Parker was born in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Her mother was Swedish and her
father was a judge and served in the U.S. Army. Parker majored in drama at
the North Carolina School of the Arts. She then got her start in a bit part on
the soap opera Ryan's Hope. In the late 1980s, Parker moved to New York, where
she got a job measuring feet at ECCO. After a few minor roles, she made her
Broadway debut in a 1990 production of Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, playing
the lead role of Rita. She won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance
and was nominated for a Tony Award. Parker also briefly dated her co-star
Timothy Hutton during this time.
That same year, Parker was noticed by critics when she appeared in the movie
adaptation of another Lucas play, Longtime Companion, one of the first movies to
confront AIDS in the public arena. This role was followed by her appearance in
1991's Grand Canyon, which also starred Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard and Kevin
Kline. Parker's next film was Fried Green Tomatoes, alongside Jessica Tandy,
Mary Stuart Masterson, Kathy Bates and Cicely Tyson.
Parker maintained a strong theater presence in the early 1990s, but also built
her reputation on the big screen, starring with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee
Jones in The Client (1994); with John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway (1994);
and with Drew Barrymore and Whoopi Goldberg in Boys on the Side (1995), as a
woman with AIDS. Her next role was in a movie adaptation of yet another Craig
Lucas play, Reckless (1995), alongside Mia Farrow, followed by Jane Campion's
The Portrait of a Lady (1996), which also starred Nicole Kidman, Viggo Mortensen,
Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. In addition, she appeared
alongside Matthew Modine in Tim Hunter's The Maker (1997).
Parker's theater career continued when she appeared in Paula Vogel's 1997
critical smash How I Learned To Drive, with David Morse. After several
independent film releases, she appeared in Let The Devil Wear Black and then a
much-lauded role in The Five Senses (1999).
In 2001, Parker appeared alongside Larry Bryggman in David Auburn's Proof on
Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award. However, Parker again lost out when
the play was made into a film and the role was given to Gwyneth Paltrow. During
this period, she left the theater for three years to look for other roles: among
them, Red Dragon and Pipe Dream (2002).
Next was a guest role on the NBC drama, The West Wing, as women's rights
activist Amelia "Amy" Gardner, which soon became a recurring role. Beginning in
2001, her character became Chief of Staff to the First Lady, and became a love
interest for Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman. For this role, Parker was
nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. During the
fifth season, however, Parker became pregnant and her character was written out
of the series after appearing in four episodes.
On December 7, 2003, HBO aired an epic six-and-a-half hour adaptation of Tony
Kushner's acclaimed Broadway play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols.
The miniseries — about a group of lost souls in New York during the AIDS
epidemic of the 1980s — was hailed with international critical acclaim. Parker
played Harper Pitt, the Mormon Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer. For
her performance, Parker received Golden Globe and Emmy awards for Best
Supporting Actress in a Miniseries.
In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy Saved!, and a TV movie called Miracle Run,
based on the true story of a mother of two sons with autism, as well as
appearing in Craig Lucas' Reckless on Broadway. Parker took the lead role that
had been Mia Farrow's on screen. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, earned
Parker another nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in 2005.
Parker returned to The West Wing in several guest appearances in 2005 and 2006,
the show's final season, portraying the Director of Legislative Affairs under
the President-elect Matt Santos. She also starred with Tom Skerritt in the CBS
television film Vinegar Hill as a down-on-her-luck schoolteacher who, with her
family, moves in with her in-laws only to discover their bitter, loveless
relationship.
In 2005, Parker took on the lead role in the television series Weeds, a Showtime
comedy-drama. Parker's character, Nancy Botwin, is a suburban mother who,
following the death of her husband, decides to sell marijuana to make money,
while also attempting to maintain her community reputation. She stars alongside
Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, her Saved! co-star Martin Donovan, and her
Angels in America co-star Justin Kirk. The show's first season aired in 2005,
with the second airing in 2006, and the third airing in 2007. As of November
2007, a fourth season has been picked up.
In November 2005, Parker was honored with an exhibition of her career at Boston
University, where memorabilia from her career were donated to the University's
library. Parker received the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, given by the Hollywood
Foreign Press Association, for her lead role in Weeds. In that category, she
defeated the four leads of Desperate Housewives. She dedicated the award to the
late John Spencer, best known for his work as Leo McGarry on The West Wing.
After receiving the award, Parker stated: "I'm really in favor of legalizing
marijuana. I don't think it's that controversial."
In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the TV film The Robber Bride. Her
next role, Zerelda Mimms, in the Andrew Dominik film The Assassination of Jesse
James by the Coward Robert Ford, opened in cinemas in September 2007. Parker
appeared alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Robert Duvall and Garret Dillahunt.
In August 2007, Parker continued her role in the third season of Weeds. In July
2007, Parker was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for Lead Actress In A
Miniseries Or A Movie for playing Zenia Arden in The Robber Bride and the other
for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds.
In August 2007, she posed nude for an ad for the third season of Weeds. In the
ad, she appears as Eve in the Garden of Eden, with a snake draped around her
body and a cannabis leaf behind her ear.
On November 9, 2007, Parker was honored as the Entertainer of the Year by Out
Magazine at the Out 100 Awards, which were celebrated in New York City.
Parker appeared in 2008's The Spiderwick Chronicles and in off-Broadway's
Playwrights Horizons in the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new
play by Sarah Ruhl, alongside Drama Desk Award Winner Kathleen Chalfant.
Name: Mary-Louise Parker
Born: 2 August 1964 Fort Jackson, South Carolina, United States
Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is a Tony-, Emmy - and Golden Globe-winning
American actress. Some of her better known works include Fried Green Tomatoes,
Boys on the Side, Proof, The West Wing, Angels in America, and her current role
on Showtime's Weeds.
Parker was born in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Her mother was Swedish and her
father was a judge and served in the U.S. Army. Parker majored in drama at
the North Carolina School of the Arts. She then got her start in a bit part on
the soap opera Ryan's Hope. In the late 1980s, Parker moved to New York, where
she got a job measuring feet at ECCO. After a few minor roles, she made her
Broadway debut in a 1990 production of Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, playing
the lead role of Rita. She won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance
and was nominated for a Tony Award. Parker also briefly dated her co-star
Timothy Hutton during this time.
That same year, Parker was noticed by critics when she appeared in the movie
adaptation of another Lucas play, Longtime Companion, one of the first movies to
confront AIDS in the public arena. This role was followed by her appearance in
1991's Grand Canyon, which also starred Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard and Kevin
Kline. Parker's next film was Fried Green Tomatoes, alongside Jessica Tandy,
Mary Stuart Masterson, Kathy Bates and Cicely Tyson.
Parker maintained a strong theater presence in the early 1990s, but also built
her reputation on the big screen, starring with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee
Jones in The Client (1994); with John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway (1994);
and with Drew Barrymore and Whoopi Goldberg in Boys on the Side (1995), as a
woman with AIDS. Her next role was in a movie adaptation of yet another Craig
Lucas play, Reckless (1995), alongside Mia Farrow, followed by Jane Campion's
The Portrait of a Lady (1996), which also starred Nicole Kidman, Viggo Mortensen,
Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. In addition, she appeared
alongside Matthew Modine in Tim Hunter's The Maker (1997).
Parker's theater career continued when she appeared in Paula Vogel's 1997
critical smash How I Learned To Drive, with David Morse. After several
independent film releases, she appeared in Let The Devil Wear Black and then a
much-lauded role in The Five Senses (1999).
In 2001, Parker appeared alongside Larry Bryggman in David Auburn's Proof on
Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award. However, Parker again lost out when
the play was made into a film and the role was given to Gwyneth Paltrow. During
this period, she left the theater for three years to look for other roles: among
them, Red Dragon and Pipe Dream (2002).
Next was a guest role on the NBC drama, The West Wing, as women's rights
activist Amelia "Amy" Gardner, which soon became a recurring role. Beginning in
2001, her character became Chief of Staff to the First Lady, and became a love
interest for Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman. For this role, Parker was
nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. During the
fifth season, however, Parker became pregnant and her character was written out
of the series after appearing in four episodes.
On December 7, 2003, HBO aired an epic six-and-a-half hour adaptation of Tony
Kushner's acclaimed Broadway play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols.
The miniseries — about a group of lost souls in New York during the AIDS
epidemic of the 1980s — was hailed with international critical acclaim. Parker
played Harper Pitt, the Mormon Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer. For
her performance, Parker received Golden Globe and Emmy awards for Best
Supporting Actress in a Miniseries.
In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy Saved!, and a TV movie called Miracle Run,
based on the true story of a mother of two sons with autism, as well as
appearing in Craig Lucas' Reckless on Broadway. Parker took the lead role that
had been Mia Farrow's on screen. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, earned
Parker another nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in 2005.
Parker returned to The West Wing in several guest appearances in 2005 and 2006,
the show's final season, portraying the Director of Legislative Affairs under
the President-elect Matt Santos. She also starred with Tom Skerritt in the CBS
television film Vinegar Hill as a down-on-her-luck schoolteacher who, with her
family, moves in with her in-laws only to discover their bitter, loveless
relationship.
In 2005, Parker took on the lead role in the television series Weeds, a Showtime
comedy-drama. Parker's character, Nancy Botwin, is a suburban mother who,
following the death of her husband, decides to sell marijuana to make money,
while also attempting to maintain her community reputation. She stars alongside
Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, her Saved! co-star Martin Donovan, and her
Angels in America co-star Justin Kirk. The show's first season aired in 2005,
with the second airing in 2006, and the third airing in 2007. As of November
2007, a fourth season has been picked up.
In November 2005, Parker was honored with an exhibition of her career at Boston
University, where memorabilia from her career were donated to the University's
library. Parker received the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy, given by the Hollywood
Foreign Press Association, for her lead role in Weeds. In that category, she
defeated the four leads of Desperate Housewives. She dedicated the award to the
late John Spencer, best known for his work as Leo McGarry on The West Wing.
After receiving the award, Parker stated: "I'm really in favor of legalizing
marijuana. I don't think it's that controversial."
In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the TV film The Robber Bride. Her
next role, Zerelda Mimms, in the Andrew Dominik film The Assassination of Jesse
James by the Coward Robert Ford, opened in cinemas in September 2007. Parker
appeared alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Robert Duvall and Garret Dillahunt.
In August 2007, Parker continued her role in the third season of Weeds. In July
2007, Parker was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for Lead Actress In A
Miniseries Or A Movie for playing Zenia Arden in The Robber Bride and the other
for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds.
In August 2007, she posed nude for an ad for the third season of Weeds. In the
ad, she appears as Eve in the Garden of Eden, with a snake draped around her
body and a cannabis leaf behind her ear.
On November 9, 2007, Parker was honored as the Entertainer of the Year by Out
Magazine at the Out 100 Awards, which were celebrated in New York City.
Parker appeared in 2008's The Spiderwick Chronicles and in off-Broadway's
Playwrights Horizons in the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new
play by Sarah Ruhl, alongside Drama Desk Award Winner Kathleen Chalfant.