Frances McDormand

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Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand 2015 (cropped).jpg
McDormand at the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Awards
Born
Cynthia Ann Smith

(1957-06-23) June 23, 1957 (age 63)
Gibson City, Illinois, U.S.
Education
Occupation
  • Actress
  • producer
Years active1982–present
Works
Full list
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1984)​
Children1
AwardsFull list

Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. McDormand is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting." One of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation, she is known for her portrayals of quirky, headstrong female characters. Although primarily recognized for her roles in small-budget independent films, McDormand's worldwide box office gross exceeds $2.2 billion helped by her appearances in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012).[1]

McDormand was educated at Bethany College and Yale University. She has been married to Joel Coen of the Coen brothers since 1984. McDormand has starred in a number of the Coens' films, including Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Burn After Reading (2008), and Hail, Caesar! (2016). For her portrayal of Marge Gunderson in Fargo, McDormand won her first Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film roles include Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000), and North Country (2005), all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2017, she starred as a hardened woman seeking justice for her daughter's murder in the crime-drama film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2020, she starred in the acclaimed independent drama film Nomadland, earning a third Academy Award for Best Actress and, as one of the film's producers, the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her wins for Nomadland made her the first person in history to win Academy Awards both as producer and performer for the same film, the second woman in history to win Best Actress three times,[2] and the seventh performer overall to win three competitive acting Academy Awards.[a]

McDormand made her Broadway debut in a 1984 revival of the drama Awake and Sing!, and received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her acclaimed performance as Stella Kowalski in a 1988 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.[4] She returned to Broadway in 2008 with a revival of The Country Girl, leading to a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Play.[5] In 2011, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing a troubled single mother in Good People.[6] On television, McDormand played the titular protagonist in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), which won her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and, as one of the miniseries producers, the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.[7]

Early life

McDormand was born Cynthia Ann Smith in Gibson City, Illinois.[8] She was adopted at one and a half years of age by Noreen (Nickelson) and Vernon McDormand and renamed Frances Louise McDormand.[8] Her adoptive mother was a nurse and receptionist while her adoptive father was a Disciples of Christ pastor; both were originally from Canada.[9][10] McDormand has said that her biological mother—to whom she has proudly referred, along with herself, as "white trash"—may have been one of the parishioners at Vernon's church.[8][9] She has a sister, Dorothy A. "Dot" McDormand, who is an ordained Disciples of Christ minister and chaplain,[11] as well as a brother, Kenneth, both of whom also were adopted by the McDormands, who had no biological children.

Because McDormand's father specialized in restoring congregations,[9] he frequently moved their family, and they lived in several small towns in Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee,[12] before settling in Monessen, Pennsylvania, where McDormand graduated from Monessen High School in 1975. She attended Bethany College in West Virginia, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater in 1979. In 1982, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama. She was a roommate of actress Holly Hunter while living in New York City.[13]

Career

1980s–1990s: Early work and breakthrough

McDormand's first professional acting role was in Derek Walcott's play In a Fine Castle also known as The Last Carnival, which was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and performed in Trinidad. In 1984, she made her film debut in Blood Simple, the first film by her husband Joel Coen and brother-in-law Ethan Coen. In 1985, McDormand appeared in Sam Raimi's Crimewave, as well as an episode of Hunter.[14] In 1987, she appeared as eccentric friend Dot in Raising Arizona, starring Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage. In addition to her early film roles, McDormand played Connie Chapman in the fifth season of the television police drama Hill Street Blues, and appeared in a 1986 episode of The Twilight Zone.[15] In 1988, she played Stella Kowalski in a stage production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.[4] McDormand is an associate member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group. In 2002, "the game and talented" McDormand performed as Oenone in the Wooster Group's production of an "exhilarating dissection" of Racine's tragedy Phèdre entitled To You, the Birdie!, at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.[16]

After appearing in several theatrical and television roles during the 1980s, McDormand gradually gained renown and critical acclaim for her dramatic work in film.[17] In 1989, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Mississippi Burning (1988).[18] Cast alongside Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, McDormand was singled out for praise, with Sheila Benson in her review for the Los Angeles Times writing, "Hackman's mastery reaches a peak here, but McDormand soars right with him. And since she is the film's sole voice of morality, it's right that she is so memorable."[19] In 1990, McDormand teamed again with director Sam Raimi for Darkman, in which she co-starred alongside Liam Neeson. That same year, she starred in the political thriller Hidden Agenda, alongside Brian Cox. In 1993, McDormand co-starred in Robert Altman's ensemble film Short Cuts, based on stories by Raymond Carver. The film was critically acclaimed, with the cast winning Best Ensemble at the Venice Film Festival, as well as a Special Ensemble Award at the 51st Golden Globe Awards.

In 1996, McDormand starred as pregnant police Chief Marge Gunderson in Fargo, written and directed by the Coen brothers.[20] She garnered widespread critical acclaim for her performance, and won the Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.[21][22] Critic Roger Ebert called Fargo "one of the best films I've ever seen" and asserted that McDormand "should have a lock on an Academy Award nomination with this performance, which is true in every individual moment, and yet slyly, quietly, over the top in its cumulative effect".[23] In 2003, the character of Marge Gunderson as portrayed by McDormand was ranked the 33rd greatest screen hero by AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.[24] Also in 1996, McDormand played Edward Norton's psychiatrist Dr. Molly Arrington in the legal thriller Primal Fear, and appeared alongside Chris Cooper in the neo-Western mystery film Lone Star. In 1997, McDormand received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie for her role as Gus in the television film Hidden in America (1996).[25] That same year, she co-starred alongside Glenn Close in the war drama Paradise Road. In 1998, McDormand played the strict but loving nun Miss Clara Clavel in the family film Madeline.

2000s–2020s: Further success

McDormand on the set of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day in 2007

In 2001, McDormand was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of an overbearing mother in Almost Famous (2000).[26][27] For her role in Wonder Boys (2000), she won Best Supporting Actress from the Florida Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. For her roles in both films, she won the Broadcast Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actress.[28] McDormand starred as Billy Bob Thornton’s wife Doris Crane in the Coen Brothers’ acclaimed film noir The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001). In 2002, she starred alongside Robert De Niro in the crime drama City by the Sea, and as free-spirited record producer Jane in Laurel Canyon, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female. The following year, she played Diane Keaton's sister Zoe in the romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give. In 2005, McDormand co-starred alongside Charlize Theron in the true life drama North Country, which earned her Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress.[29] That same year, she also appeared alongside Theron in the science fiction action film Æon Flux.

In 2007, McDormand won an Independent Spirit Award for her supporting role in Nicole Holofcener's dark comedy Friends with Money (2006).[30] She also voiced the role of the principal Melanie Upfoot in The Simpsons episode "Girls Just Want to Have Sums", which aired on April 30, 2006. In 2008, McDormand starred in the films Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Burn After Reading, the later earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.[27] In 2011, she appeared alongside Sean Penn in This Must Be the Place, and alongside her Burn After Reading co-star John Malkovich in the action movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon, playing the US government's National Intelligence Director. She returned to the stage in the David Lindsay-Abaire play Good People, in a limited engagement on Broadway from February 8, 2011 to May 29, 2011.[31][32] Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.[33] In the animated film Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), McDormand voiced Captain Chantel Dubois and also sang a version of the French song "Non, je ne regrette rien". That same year, she co-starred in Wes Anderson's ensemble film Moonrise Kingdom, and alongside Matt Damon in Promised Land.[34]

In November 2014, HBO aired a four-part miniseries based upon the series of short stories by Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge, co-produced by and starring McDormand.[35] For her performance in the title role, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.[36] With her Emmy win, McDormand became the twelfth actress in history to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting", for competitive Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award wins in acting categories. As a co-producer on Olive Kitteridge, McDormand also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.[7] In 2015, McDormand voiced Momma Ida in the Pixar animated film The Good Dinosaur. In 2017, McDormand starred in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as Mildred Hayes, a grieving mother who rents three roadside billboards to call attention to her daughter's unsolved rape and murder. Her performance garnered enormous critical acclaim, and she won her second Academy Award for Best Actress (her statuette was stolen briefly following the awards ceremony),[37] the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role,[38] the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama,[39] and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.[40] During that year's awards season, she drew significant media attention for her feminist provoking acceptance speeches which came with the advent of the Time's Up and Me Too movements.

In 2018, McDormand voiced Interpreter Nelson in Wes Anderson's stop-motion animated film Isle of Dogs. The following year, she voiced God in the six-episode Amazon/BBC Studios series Good Omens. In 2020, McDormand produced and starred in Chloé Zhao's Nomadland, playing Fern, a nomad in the American West. McDormand received universal acclaim for her performance, winning her third Academy Award for Best Actress and her second BAFTA Award for Best Actress, and earning nominations for the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. As a producer on the film, McDormand also won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Picture.[41][42][43] At the 93rd Academy Awards, she became the first actor to win Oscars for both acting and producing in the same year.

Personal life

McDormand has been married to director Joel Coen since 1984. In 1995, they adopted a son from Paraguay, Pedro McDormand Coen, when he was six months old.[44][45]

Filmography

Main article: Frances McDormand filmography

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Frances McDormand

See also

Notes

  1. ^ McDormand was after Katharine Hepburn (who has four in total), Walter Brennan, Ingrid Bergman, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Daniel Day-Lewis.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Frances McDormand - Career Summary". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  2. ^ Chris Lindahl (April 25, 2021). "Frances McDormand Wins Best Actress: Third Career Oscar, Only Katharine Hepburn Won More". IndieWire. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  3. ^ Clark, Travis (April 26, 2021). "The 44 actors who have won multiple Oscars, ranked by who has won the most". Business Insider. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Nominations/1988". www.tonyawards.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  5. ^ "Frances McDormand". Playbill. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  6. ^ "Nominations/2011". www.tonyawards.com. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Frances McDormand". Television Academy. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Kisner, Jordan (October 3, 2017). "Frances McDormand's Difficult Women". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c "Naked ambition". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. October 25, 2003. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  10. ^ "Rev Vernon Weir McDormand (1922 - 2011)". www.findagrave.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  11. ^ "Disciples "PK" wins best actress' award. Disciples News Service Release. 31 March 2007". Disciples.org. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  12. ^ "I'd love to play a psycho killer. film.guardian.co.uk. 26 January 2001". The Guardian. London. February 14, 2001. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  13. ^ "Fast Chat: Holly Hunter". Newsday. July 13, 2008. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  14. ^ "Hunter "The Garbage Man" - Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  15. ^ "The Twilight Zone - Need to Know/Red Snow". IMDb. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  16. ^ Ben Brantley (2002). "Theater Review: Racine's Pale Queen, Struggling With Racket Sports". The New York Times. February 19, 2002.
  17. ^ "Story Medium". Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2011. Imagine Fashion. Interview with Frances McDormand (2011).
  18. ^ "THE 61ST ACADEMY AWARDS". www.oscars.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  19. ^ Benson, Sheila (December 18, 1988). "RCritic's Notebook: Some 'Burning' Questions". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  20. ^ "Cameron Crowe, Frances McDormand interview, Interview Magazine, October 2000". Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  21. ^ "THE 69TH ACADEMY AWARDS". www.oscars.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  22. ^ "The 3rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". www.sagawards.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  23. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 8, 1996). "Fargo". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  24. ^ "AFI's 100 YEARS...100 HEROES & VILLAINS". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020.
  25. ^ "Frances McDormand". www.emmys.com. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  26. ^ "THE 73RD ACADEMY AWARDS". www.oscars.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  27. ^ a b "Frances McDormand". www.goldenglobes.com. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  28. ^ "Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards". IMDb. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  29. ^ "THE 78TH ACADEMY AWARDS". www.oscars.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  30. ^ ""Little Miss Sunshine" pulls up to take the crown at 2007 Film Independent's Spirit Awards". Film Independent Spirit Awards. February 24, 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2007. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  31. ^ Jones, Kenneth." 'Good People', Play of Aspiration and Escape, With Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan, Begins on Broadway" Archived February 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Playbill, February 8, 2011
  32. ^ Jones, Kenneth."Broadway's 'Good People' Gets Final Extension, Shifting Dates of 'Master Class'" Archived May 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Playbill, March 22, 2011
  33. ^ Jones, Kenneth and Gans, Andrew."2011 Tony Nominations Announced; 'Book of Mormon' Earns 14 Nominations" Archived September 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, May 3, 2011
  34. ^ Gerhardt, Tina (December 31, 2012). "Matt Damon Exposes Fracking in Promised Land". The Progressive. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  35. ^ Bruni, Frank (October 15, 2014). "Frances McDormand, True to Herself in HBO's Olive Kitteridge". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  36. ^ "The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". www.sagawards.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  37. ^ Melas, Chloe (March 5, 2018). "Frances McDormand's Oscar stolen (and returned)". CNN. Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  38. ^ "Frances McDormand". www.awards.bafta.org. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  39. ^ Grobar, Matt (January 7, 2018). "'Three Billboards' Star Frances McDormand Expresses Gratitude For Tectonic Shift In Entertainment Industry". Deadline. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  40. ^ "The 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". www.sagawards.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  41. ^ "THE 93RD ACADEMY AWARDS". www.oscars.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  42. ^ "2021 EE British Academy Film Awards: The Winners". www.awards.bafta.org. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  43. ^ "Nomadland". www.goldenglobes.com. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  44. ^ Durbin, Karen (March 2, 2003). "The Prime Of Frances McDormand". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  45. ^ Nesa, Kamrun (March 11, 2018). "Everything We Know About Frances McDormand and Joel Coen's Son, Pedro". POPSUGAR Celebrity. Retrieved September 18, 2019.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Susan Sarandon 		Academy Award for Best Actress
1996 		Succeeded by
Helen Hunt
Preceded by
Emma Stone 		Academy Award for Best Actress
2017 		Succeeded by
Olivia Colman
Preceded by
Renée Zellweger 		Academy Award for Best Actress
2020 		Succeeded by
current

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