Frances McDormand

Known for her skilled and versatile acting, Frances McDormand continues to be one of the most prolific and sought after actors of her generation. McDormand won the Academy Award® for Best Actress for her performance in Fargo and has also been nominated for her roles in Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous and North Country.

McDormand starred as the titular character on HBO's mini-series Olive Kitteridge, for which she received two Primetime Emmy's and a Screen Actors Guild award as well as a Golden Globe nomination. Based on the novel of the same name, written by Elizabeth Strout, the story follows Kitteridge as she deals with the daily life of living in a small town in Crosby, Maine.  Directed by Lisa Cholodenko and produced by Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks, the mini-series also stars Bill Murray, Richard Jenkins, Zoe Kazan and John Gallagher, Jr.

McDormand  appeared on stage in The Wooster Group's Early Shaker Spirituals, which garnered rave reviews. Other stage appearances include the Daniel Sullivan-directed Broadway hit Good People, for which her role as Margie Walsh earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; and Drama League, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards; The Country Girl directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway;  Caryl Churchill's Far Away directed by Stephen Daldry at New York Theatre Workshop;  her Tony-nominated performance as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire; The Sisters Rosenzweig directed by Daniel Sullivan at Lincoln Center Theater; The Swan at The Public Theatre; A Streetcar Named Desire (this time as Blanche) at the Gate Theater in Dublin; and Oedipus at the Blue Light Theater Company opposite Billy Crudup.  With The Wooster Group, she has performed in To You, The Birdie! and North Atlantic.

McDormand's film credits include The Good Dinosaur, Promised Land, Moonrise Kingdom, Burn After Reading, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Friends With Money, Laurel Canyon, Something's Gotta Give, Wonder Boys, City by the Sea, Madeline, Primal Fear, Lone Star, Palookaville, Chattahoochee, Darkman, Hidden Agenda, Short Cuts, Beyond Rangoon, Paradise Road, The Man Who Wasn't There, Raising Arizona and Blood Simple.

McDormand received her Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of drama and a bachelor's degree in theater from Bethany College in West Virginia.

Universal Pictures