Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell, a two-time Oscar(r),-nominated actress, is most well famous for her performance on screen in modern and historical roles. She also has a long list of acting roles on stage and screen. Mary Eileen McDonnell was the daughter of John McDonnell (a computer consultant) and Eileen (Mundy) who was who is a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania native. She was raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. Later, she attended the drama school and was accepted to the Long Wharf Theatre Company in East Coast. Her most memorable film role was in Dances with Wolves (1990) by Kevin Costner. She played the role of "Stands with a Fist" an Indian Sioux-raised white woman. For the role, she received her first Academy Award nomination. McDonnell has starred in the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991), and Mumford (1999) in the role of veteran performers as Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier. She also appeared in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996), with Will Smith. Margin Call (2011), which was against Kevin Spacey, earned McDonnell the Robert Altman award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. McDonnell played a prominent role in the Syfy Network's award winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004), where she was recognized for her portrayal of President Laura Roslin. Her regular guest role as a host on the television series ER (1994) was rewarded with an Emmy nomination. She is the lead character of Captain Sharon Raydor on the TNT's popular drama series Major Crimes (2012), the sequel to The Closer (2005), where McDonnell originated the role and earned an primetime Emmy(r) nomination. In recognition of her performance as a paraplegic soap-opera star in John Sayles’s critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992), she won a Best Actress Academy Award(r), nomination, and a Golden Globe nomination.