Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2 1964 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina) is an American actress. She has been the recipient of the Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe awards. Her best-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.

Early Work

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. When Prelude to a Kiss was made into a film, Meg Ryan took over Parker's role.

That same year, Parker was noticed by critics worldwide 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.

1990s

Parker maintained a strong theater presence in the early 1990s, but also maintained 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).

Though Parker was not a household name, she flourished out of the spotlight as a critics' darling. Her 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).

2001 – 2003

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. But whatever her theatrical aspirations, she left 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 an Emmy 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 Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer. For her performance, which included full frontal nudity, Parker received the Golden Globe and Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries.

2004 – 2006

In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy Saved!, and a TV movie called Miracle Run based on the true story of a mother with two autistic sons, 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, was critically acclaimed during its run and 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 newly inaugurated President Matthew 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 plays Nancy Botwin, 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. The third season began production in 2007.

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 Actress in a TV 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."^[1]

2007 -

In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the TV film The Robber Bride. Her next film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, opens in cinemas in October 2007. It is an Andrew Dominik film in which she plays Zerelda Mimms, alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Robert Duvall and Garret Dillahunt. She has also filmed The Spiderwick Chronicles for a 2008 release.

In August 2007, the third season of Weeds premiered. Parker continues in her role.

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.^[2]

Personal life

On January 7, 2004, Parker, at age 39, gave birth to her first child, William Atticus Parker. The boy's father is actor Billy Crudup, whom Parker met when they co-starred in a 1996 revival of the William Inge play Bus Stop. After nearly eight years together, the couple split when the actress was seven months pregnant. There were rumors that the breakup was due to an affair between Crudup and his Stage Beauty co-star, Claire Danes.

Parker dated her former Weeds cast member, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and had stated that the relationship is "going great".^[3] In June 2007, Morgan told People that the couple had split.^[4]

In the past, Parker has dated Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Timothy Hutton.^[5]

In September 2007, Parker adopted a baby girl from Africa. ^[6]

Selected filmography

• Ryan's Hope (1975) (TV series)
• Signs of Life (1989) – Charlotte
• Longtime Companion (1990) – Lisa
• Grand Canyon (1991) – Dee
• Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) – Ruth Jamison
• Naked in New York (1993) – Joanne White
• Mr. Wonderful (1993) – Rita
• The Client (1994) – Dianne Sway
• Bullets Over Broadway (1994) – Ellen
• Boys on the Side (1995) – Robin
• The Portrait of a Lady (1996) – Henrietta Stackpole
• Red Dragon (2002) – Molly Graham
• Angels in America (2003) – Harper Amaty Pitt
• Saved! (2004) – Lillian
• Romance & Cigarettes (2005) – Constance
• Weeds (2005) (TV series) – Nancy Botwin
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Zerelda Mimms
• Small Tragedy (in production) (2007) -

Awards and nominations

Won

Emmy Awards

• 2004 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Angels in America)

Tony Award

• 2001 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Proof)

Golden Globes

• 2004 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Angels in America)
• 2006 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Weeds)

Satellite Awards

• 2005 - Outstanding Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical (Weeds)

Philadelphia Film Festival

• 2004 - Artistic Achievement Award

Nominations

Golden Globes

• 2007 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Weeds)

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 2003 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (The West Wing)
• 2004 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Angels in America)
• 2006 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)

Satellite Awards

• 2004 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Angels in America)

Emmy Awards

• 2002 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (The West Wing)
• 2007 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
• 2007 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie (The Robber Bride)

Genie Award

• 2000 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (The Five Senses)

Tony Award

• 1990 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Prelude to a Kiss)
• 2005 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Reckless)

Trivia

• Appeared in the Bonnie Raitt music video for "You Got It", which was featured on the Boys on the Side soundtrack.
• A song entitled "Butterfly in Reverse" by the band Counting Crows and singer Ryan Adams was written for her.
• Received 'Special Thanks' credits for Wet Hot American Summer and Pieces of April.
• At the 2004 Golden Globes, Parker followed up on a dare from West Wing cast member Janel Moloney in her acceptance speech for Angels in America. In the speech, Parker thanked her newborn son, saying on stage, "Janel Moloney just told me she would pay me $1,000 if I thanked my newborn son for making my boobs look so good in this dress."
• Marc Cherry offered her the role of Susan on Desperate Housewives, but she turned him down. The role ultimately went to Teri Hatcher.

Footnotes

External links

• Mary-Louise Parker at IMDb
• Mary-Louise Parker at the Internet Broadway Database
• Template:Nndb name
• Mary-Louise Parker at the TCM Movie Database
• Template:Ymovies name