|
Hot Videos
Female Celeb
Wallpapers
|
Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina) is an American actress whose work in theatre and film has won her international acclaim. She has been the recipient of the prestigious 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
With a passion for acting from an early age, 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's 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. 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 Craig 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 an AIDS sufferer. 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, and among the praise showered on her was the much-coveted 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, the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs, 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, became a love interest for neurotic Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman, and provided another female voice in a show publicly criticised for its lack of high-level political women. 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.
In 1996, Parker met and became romantically involved with actor Billy Crudup when they co-starred in a stage version of the Marilyn Monroe film Bus Stop. Seven years later, while she was seven months pregnant with their child, he left her for the much younger Claire Danes. On January 7, 2004, Parker gave birth to William Atticus Parker.
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 an in-the-closet gay lawyer. For her performance, 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 as Amy Gardner on 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 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 (as Peter Scottsen), 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 will begin 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."
Current projects
Parker has filmed two movies set for release in 2007: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, an Andrew Dominik film in which she plays Zerelda Mimms, alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Robert Duvall and Garret Dillahunt; and The Robber Bride. She also reportedly filmed Small Tragedy, directed by her long-time Broadway director Craig Lucas with Patricia Clarkson and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
In 2007, Parker will return to film the third season of Weeds.
She is also slated to film The Spiderwick Chronicles for a 2008 release.
Personal Life
From 1996 to November 2003, Parker dated Billy Crudup, with whom she had a son, William Atticus, born on January 7, 2004. Crudup received negative publicity because they broke up while she was seven months pregnant.
Parker dated Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Timothy Hutton. Parker currently dates her former Weeds costar Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
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 (2006) – Zerelda Mimms
* Small Tragedy (in production) (2007) -
Awards and Nominations
Awards 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
* 2006 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Weeds)
* 2004 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Angels in America)
Satellite Awards
* 2005 - Outstanding Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical (Weeds)
Philadelphia Film Festival
* 2004 - Artistic Achievement Award
Awards Nominated
Golden Globes
* 2007 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Weeds)
Screen Actors Guild Awards
* 2006 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Weeds)
* 2004 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Angels in America)
* 2003 - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (The West Wing)
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)
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)
| Latest news about Mary-Louise Parker |
Christian Louboutin Slingbacks – Mary-Louise ParkerShoebunny spotted Mary-Louise Parker in Christian Louboutin slingbacks. Seems that Mary-Louise couldn't stand her Louboutins any longer. Very much like. Continue reading
John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker Go 'Red' - CinematicalAccording to The Hollywood Reporter, Mary-Louise Parker and John C. Reilly are in talks to join Red alongside Freeman, Willis, and Helen Mirren. Reilly would play a retired CIA agent who is paranoid that everyone is out to kill him. ... Continue reading
Mary-Louise Parker: My Kids Have 'Always Been Brother and Sister ...There was no looking back for Mary-Louise Parker when she made the decision to adopt a child from Ethiopia in 2007, the actress tells OK! “Some people are drawn to do it, and I felt like if I don't do it now, I'm going to regret it my ... Continue reading
Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » Mary-Louise Parker, John C. Reilly ...Well, the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog has announced that John C. Reilly (of Walk Hard fame), along with Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker, are joining the cast of Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's Red. Parker will play the romantic ... Continue reading
John C. Reilly And Mary Louise Parker Get Painted RedJohn C. Reilly And Mary Louise Parker Get Painted Red I had been assuming all along that in Red, the adaptation of the DC Comics book, Morgan Freeman would be playing the titular retired CIA officer who is surprised when assassins show ... Continue reading
The Hollywood Reporter | Heat Vision: John C. Reilly, Mary-Louise ...John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker are in negotiations to join the cast of "Red," Summit's adaptation of the Wildstorm/DC Comics miniseries being directed by Robert Schwentke. It's the tale of a former black-ops agent (Bruce Willis), ... Continue reading
Mary Louise Parker Brings Heat to Adaptation of Warren Ellis' Red ...The project that began with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman, then added Helen Mirren, is now adding the always lovely Mary Louise Parker to its cast. Oh, and John C. Reilly is coming along, as well. Continue reading
Mary-Louise Parker Ready to Adopt Again? - OK! Magazine - The ...Being a mom certainly appeals to Mary-Louise Parker. The Weeds actress loves son William, 5, whose dad is Billy Crudup, and daughter Caroline “Ash” 200910. Continue reading
John C. Reilly And Mary-Louise Parker In Talks To Join 'Red' CastMary-Louise Parker "Walk Hard" star John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds") are reportedly in negotiations to join the cast of “Red”, an adaptation of Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's miniseries created in 2003 for Wildstorm. ... Continue reading
Mary-Louise Parker reads Josh RitterBut, as it's a video of Mary-Louise Parker reading the lyrics to To The Dogs Or Whoever by Josh Ritter, courtesy of the US edition of mens' mag Esquire, I'm sure you'll forgive me. Ritter is [...] Continue reading
Hollywood Actors Jessica alba Mary-Louise Parker pictures and Mary-Louise Parker biography
|
|
|
