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IMDb Listing for Marcia Gay Harden |
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One of film, theatre and television’s uniquely original talents, the versatile Marcia Gay Harden garnered a second Academy Award© nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Celeste Boyle in the critically-acclaimed film, Mystic River, by the legendary Clint Eastwood in 2004. Harden plays the wife of Tim Robbins’ character whose doubt about his innocence in a gruesome murder drives her away from her troubled husband. The stellar cast includes Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne and Laura Linney.
Harden currently can be seen in the Paramount Pictures Film Bad News Bears opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Greg Kinnear. Harden is in production for Universal Picture’s political satire American Dreamz, directed by Paul Weitz and co-starring Dennis Quaid, Hugh Grant and Richard Dreyfuss. Harden was recently cast as Richard Gere’s wife in The Walt Disney Company’s Hoax and will next be seen in the independent film American Gun co-starring Forest Whitaker and Donald Sutherland. Last year she starred opposite Gene Hackman and Ray Romanoin the Fox comedy Welcome to Mooseport as well as Dylan Kidd’s P.S. opposite Laura Linney
2003 proved to be a busy year for Harden with three films in release; the above mentioned Mystic River; Revolution Studios’ Mona Lisa Smile directed by Mike Newell. In the film, Harden’s character Nancy Abbey plays a teacher and a friend to Julia Roberts’ character. The film also stars Julia Stiles, Kirsten Dunst and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Additionally, Harden was featured as part of a brilliant ensemble in Casa de Los Babys, the story of six American women who travel to Mexico to adopt babies. The film is written and directed by legendary filmmaker John Sayles, Harden co-stars along with Daryl Hannah, Lili Taylor, Mary Steenburgen, Rita Moreno, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2003.
Harden won the Academy Award© in 2001 for her stunning portrayal of Lee Krasner opposite Ed Harris in the feature film Pollock—about pioneer abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock and his artist wife. The film re-teamed her with Harris; with whom she last performed on stage in the New York Shakespeare Festival premiere production of Sam Shephard's Simpatico. In addition to the Oscar that year, Harden won the New York Film Critics Award for best supporting actress and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
The Coen brothers directing team discovered Harden, giving her the female lead in their critically acclaimed feature Miller's Crossing, opposite Albert Finney, Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro. She moved on to the leads in Late for Dinner and Used People. Other features include the Warner Bros. Pictures film Space Cowboys directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner; Meet Joe Black, which starred Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins; Walt Disney's hit Flubber with Robin Williams; Desperate Measures with Andy Garcia and Michael Keaton; Safe Passage with Susan Sarandon, Sam Shepard and Robert Sean Leonard; the highly acclaimed independent feature Crush, which was a hit at the Cannes Film Festival; the blockbuster comedy The First Wives' Club; and Gaudi Afternoon which was shot on location in Barcelona. This film was directed by Susan Seidelman, and starred Judy Davis, Juliette Lewis and Lili Taylor.
She received the Spirit of Sundance Award for her richly layered work in The Spitfire Grill, which also won the audience award at Sundance.
Television appearances include playing opposite Patrick Stewart in King of Texas for TNT—an epic Western that transplanted Shakespeare’s “King Lear” to 1840’s Texas; the CBS drama series The Education of Max Bickford opposite Richard Dreyfuss; and the highly rated A&E original movie Small Vices opposite Joe Mantegna. Additionally, Harden re-teamed with Mantegna for A&E's Thin Air as well as the CBS movie of the week Guilty Hearts. In 1992 Harden quickly came to the attention of television audiences for her portrayal of Ava Gardner in the CBS mini-series Sinatra.
Harden was featured on Broadway in Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, which earned her a Tony nomination, a Drama Desk Award and a Theater World Award. She also starred in David Rabe's Those the River Keeps. Marcia most recently walked the boards as Masha in the NY Public Theatre’s production of The Seagull directed by the esteemed Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Natalie Portman.
The actress graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Theater and went on to earn an MFA from the graduate theatre program at New York University.
“After Sept. 11 in New York, after the Tsunami, after Hurricane Katrina and Rita and Wilma, The Red Cross was there to assist the victimized people with remarkable speed, grace, and humility. I had flown down on my own to the Astrodome, and once there worked with the Red Cross and the YMCA to set up a reading center. I basically read to the kids and tried to allievate some of the grief surrounding me. It was during this time that I was invited to be on the Red Cross Celebrity Cabinet, and I decided to commit because as I watched their wonderful organization assist so many people, I wanted to be available to be USED. Its like the words in that old 70’s song: “If it feels this good being used…then just keep on using me…until you use me up.” -- Marcia Gay Harden |
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