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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 WorkWith 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.
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. 1990sParker 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).
2001–2003In 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 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. 2004–2006In 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." [1] Current projectsParker 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. In 2007, Parker will return to film the third season of Weeds. She has also filmed The Spiderwick Chronicles for a 2008 release. Personal lifeFrom 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, and has recently stated that the relationship is "going great!". [2] Selected filmography
Awards and nominations
Won
Nominations
Trivia
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