Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell is a two-time Oscar(r)-nominated actress, who is well-known for her character roles in both period and present-day screen roles, and an extensive history of screen and stage roles. Mary Eileen McDonnell is a Pennsylvania-born actress. She was the daughter of Eileen (Mundy), an American computer consultant from Ireland, and John McDonnell. Raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Fredonia. She went on to drama school, and was then accepted into Long Wharf Theatre Company (East Coast). A decade later she scored her first major film role, in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990) in which she played "Stands with a Fist" she was a white girl born to the Sioux Indians. The role was so well-loved that she was awarded her first Academy Award nomination. McDonnell's credits in films include the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991) and Mumford (1999) (opposite such experienced actors 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) as well as Margin Call (2011) (opposite Kevin Spacey), which earned her the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. On the smaller screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons on the Syfy Network's award-winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her critically acclaimed performance as President Laura Roslin. The role she played as a frequent guest host on the popular television show ER (1994) earned her an Emmy nomination. The popular drama series on TNT Major Crimes (2012) stars her as Captain Sharon Raydor. It is McDonnell's first series and she was nominated to win a Primetime Emmy(r). As an actress with paraplegia in John Sayles's critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992), she won a Best Actress Academy Award(r) nomination and a Golden Globe nomination.