Frances McDormand's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Leg Work Willie Pipal

Main Movie Roles 2008 - Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day 2008 - Burn After Reading 2006 - Friends With Money 2005 - North Country 2005 - Aeon Flux 2003 - Something's Gotta Give 2002 - City By The Sea 2001 - The Man Who Wasn't There 2000 - Wonder Boys 2000 - Almost Famous 1998 - Madeline 1996 - Primal Fear 1996 - Fargo 1996 - Lone Star 1995 - Beyond Rangoon 1993 - Short Cuts 1991 - Barton Fink 1991 - The Butcher's Wife 1990 - Miller's Crossing 1990 - Darkman 1990 - Hidden Agenda 1989 - Mississippi Burning 1987 - Raising Arizona 1986 - Crimewave 1984 - Blood Simple

BIOGRAPHY:

Frances McDormand was born in Chicago in 1957, and was adopted by Canadian minister Vernan McDormand and his wife Noreen, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She earned her B.A. in Theater from Bethany College in 1979 and her MFA from Yale in 1982.

Her career after graduation began onstage, and she has retained her association with the theater throughout her career. She soon obtained prominent roles in movies as well, first starring in Blood Simple. (1984), in which she worked with filmmaker Joel Coen, whom she married that year. She frequently collaborated with Coen and his brother Ethan Coen in their films.

McDormand's skilled and versatile acting has been recognized by both the critics and the Academy and, in addition to many critics' awards, she has been nominated for an Academy award four times - for Mississippi Burning (1988), Fargo (1996) (for which she won the Best Actress award), Almost Famous (2000) and North Country (2005).

Keenly intelligent and possessed of a sharp wit, McDormand is the antithesis of the Hollywood starlet - rather than making every role about Frances McDormand, Frances McDormand dissolves into the characters she plays. Accordingly, she has expressed some reservations about the iconic recognition she has gained from her touching and amusing portrayal of Police Chief Marge Gunderson, the quintessential Minnesota Scandinavian, in Fargo (1996).

McDormand and Coen adopted a son, Pedro, who was born in Paraguay, in 1994. They live in Manhattan.


TRIVIA:

• Co-starred with 'Charlize Theron' (qv) in two films during the same year (_Æon Flux (2005)_ (qv) and _North Country (2005)_ (qv)).
• Both of her parents were born in Canada. Her father, Vernon McDormand, was a Disciples of Christ minister and her mother, Noreen McDormand, a housewife.
• Was the third and youngest child adopted by her minister father Vernon and his wife, Noreen.
• Her Oscar-winning role, as Marge Gunderson from her 1996 film _Fargo (1996)_ (qv), was ranked #33 in the American Film Institute's Heroes list in their 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.
• Shared an apartment in the Bronx with 'Holly Hunter' (qv) in the early '80s until they moved in with 'Joel Coen' (qv), 'Ethan Coen' (qv) and 'Sam Raimi' (qv) into a house in LA.
• Sister-in-law of 'Ethan Coen' (qv) and 'Tricia Cooke (I)' (qv).
• Raised in Monessen, Pennsylvania.
• As of 2007, six women have received Best Actress nominations for performances directed by their spouse - Frances is the only one to actually win. The other five are 'Gena Rowlands' (qv) for _A Woman Under the Influence (1974)_ (qv) & _Gloria (1980)_ (qv), 'Joanne Woodward (I)' (qv) for _Rachel, Rachel (1968)_ (qv), 'Julie Andrews (I)' (qv) for _Victor Victoria (1982)_ (qv), 'Elisabeth Bergner' (qv) for _Escape Me Never (1935)_ (qv) and 'Jean Simmons (I)' (qv) for _The Happy Ending (1969)_ (qv). 'Jules Dassin' (qv) also directed his future wife 'Melina Mercouri' (qv) in an Oscar-nominated performance (_Pote tin Kyriaki (1960)_ (qv)), but they weren't married yet at the time of the nomination.