Frances McDormand
Highest Rated: 95% Short Cuts (1993)
Lowest Rated: 9% Aeon Flux (2005)
Birthday: Jun 23, 1957
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Born the daughter of an Illinois minister on June 23, 1957, Frances McDormand attended West Virginia's Bethany College and later studied acting at the prestigious Yale Drama School. After her graduation, McDormand could be seen gaining professional experience in numerous stage productions across the country. In 1984, McDormand made her film debut playing a somewhat dim-witted adulterous wife in the Coen brothers' Blood Simple, thus beginning an association that would culminate in her marriage to director Joel Coen. Despite winning critical acclaim for her performance, it would be four years, save for a cameo in the Coens' Raising Arizona (1987) and various small roles, before she would be featured in another major film production. In the meantime, McDormand's stage career flourished, and she received a Tony nomination for the 1987 Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. She also did periodic television work, co-starring on the short-lived detective drama Legwork (1987) and appearing in a recurring role on Hill Street Blues.In 1988, McDormand found her way back into the Hollywood spotlight, and won an Oscar nomination for her role as a Klan wife who testifies against a good ol' boy sheriff in Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning. Her film career picked up significantly afterwards, and led to appearances in a wide variety of well-wrought dramas, including Ken Loach's controversial Hidden Agenda (1990), which featured the actress one of a group of American attorneys working to improve prisoner rights throughout a war-torn Ireland. 1990 would also find her playing a small role in the Coens' Miller's Crossing, which led to a similar performance in Robert Altman's Short Cuts. In 1996, McDormand won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of sheriff Marge Gunderson in Fargo, yet another Coen brothers film. The following year, she co-starred as a German doctor in Bruce Beresford's WWII drama Paradise Road, and then tried her hand at children's films with a starring role in Madeline (1998).In 2000, McDormand made memorable supporting appearances in two films. First was the part of an adulterous academic wife in Curtis Hanson's overlooked Wonder Boys; late that year she could be seen playing the well-meaning, yet unarguably overprotective mother in Cameron Crowe's critically successful coming-of-age drama Almost Famous. The latter would net her another Supporting Actress nomination. In 2001, McDormand could be seen playing a camped-out version of a film noir lush in the Coens' The Man Who Wasn't There. Her subsequent role in 2002's Laurel Canyon -- as an aging, wild-child record producer -- earned her critical hosannas, even if the film was little-seen. The issue picture North Country offered her the challenge of playing a working-class woman gradually succumbing to Lou Gehrig's disease, and in early 2006, earned her another Best Supporting Actress nomination. She followed it up with an acid-tongued role in the ensemble comedy-drama Friends With Money.Over the next several years, McDormand would continue to appear in several acclaimed films, including Burn After Reading, This Must Be the Place, and Moonrise Kingdom.

Photos

View All Photos (2)

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

CREDIT
No Score Yet The French Dispatch Actor — 2019
No Score Yet Nomadland Producer Actor — 2019
90% Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Mildred Hayes $52.1M 2017
86% Hail, Caesar! C.C. Calhoun $28M 2016
76% The Good Dinosaur Momma $123.1M 2015
32% Every Secret Thing Producer Executive Producer $97.5K 2015
No Score Yet She's The Best Thing In It Actor — 2015
No Score Yet Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy Actor — 2013
52% Promised Land Sue Thomason $7.7M 2013
66% This Must Be The Place Jane $0.2M 2012
No Score Yet Rebels With A Cause Actor — 2012
79% Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Captain Chantal Dubois $216.4M 2012
93% Moonrise Kingdom Mrs. Bishop $45.6M 2012
35% Transformers: Dark of the Moon Charlotte $352.4M 2011
No Score Yet The Botany of Desire Narrator — 2009
78% Burn After Reading Linda Litzke $60.4M 2008
78% Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Miss Guinevere Pettigrew Executive Producer $12.3M 2008
72% Friends With Money Jane $13.3M 2006
9% Aeon Flux Handler $25.9M 2005
69% North Country Glory $18.4M 2005
72% Something's Gotta Give Zoe Barry $121.5M 2003
68% Laurel Canyon Jane $3.6M 2003
47% City by the Sea Michelle $22.4M 2002
80% Searching for Debra Winger Actor — 2002
81% The Man Who Wasn't There Doris $7.5M 2001
No Score Yet Short Fuse Actor — 2001
67% Scottsboro: An American Tragedy Actor — 2001
82% Wonder Boys Sara — 2000
89% Almost Famous Elaine Miller $31.8M 2000
No Score Yet Talk of Angels Conlon — 1998
63% Madeline Miss Clavel — 1998
No Score Yet Johnny Skidmarks Alice — 1998
48% Paradise Road Dr. Verstak — 1997
No Score Yet Hidden in America Gus — 1996
94% Lone Star Bunny — 1996
75% Primal Fear Dr. Molly Arrington — 1996
93% Fargo Marge Gunderson — 1996
39% Beyond Rangoon Andy Bowman — 1995
64% Palookaville June — 1995
No Score Yet The Good Old Boys Eve Calloway — 1995
95% Short Cuts Betty Weathers — 1993
No Score Yet Crazy In Love Clare — 1992
10% Passed Away Nora — 1992
25% The Butcher's Wife Grace — 1991
90% Barton Fink Voice of Stage Actress — 1991
91% Miller's Crossing Actor — 1990
83% Hidden Agenda Ingrid Jessner — 1990
84% Darkman Julie Hastings — 1990
17% Chattahoochee Mae — 1989
No Score Yet Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo Brigette — 1989
87% Mississippi Burning Mrs. Pell — 1988
91% Raising Arizona Dot — 1987
No Score Yet Scandal Sheet Actor — 1985
94% Blood Simple Abby — 1984

TV

CREDIT
No Score Yet Charlie Rose
2013-2017
Guest
  • 2017
  • 2001
95% Olive Kitteridge
2014
Executive Producer Olive Kitteridge Producer
  • 2014
85% The Simpsons
1989
Voice
  • 2006
No Score Yet American Experience
1988
Voice
  • 2001
82% Good Omens
2019
Narrator/God

QUOTES FROM Frances McDormand CHARACTERS