Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell is an actress who has been nominated for two Oscars(r). She is famous for her portrayals of characters from the past and present screen roles. Mary Eileen McDonnell is a Pennsylvania-born actress. She was the child of Eileen (Mundy), an Irish-American computer consultant, and John McDonnell. She was born in Ithaca, New York and graduated from Fredonia State University of New York. She then attended drama school , and was accepted into the famous Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast. A decade later she got her first film role, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990) as "Stands with a Fist" who is a white woman born to the Sioux Indians. Her first Academy Award nomination was for the character. McDonnell's credits in films include the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991) and Mumford (1999) (opposite other veteran actors such as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier and Ben Kingsley); Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); acclaimed art house cult-hit Donnie Darko (2001); and Margin Call (2011) (opposite Kevin Spacey), which earned her the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. McDonnell was President Laura Roslin in the critically well-reviewed series Battlestar Galactica (2004) on Syfy. She appeared in four seasons. The role she played as a frequent guest a host on the television series ER (1994) earned her an Emmy nomination. TNT's acclaimed drama series Major Crimes (2012) stars her as Captain Sharon Raydor. It is McDonnell's first series and she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy(r). Her portrayal as a paraplegic soap operas in John Sayles' critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992) earned her an Best Actress Academy Award (r) nomination and an Academy Award nomination. Golden Globe nod.