
Who is Mary-Louise Parker? The entertainment and acting world knows Parker as an American actress. Some of her most famous roles were in
Fried Green Tomatoes,
Boys on the Side,
Proof,
The West Wing,
Angels in America, and her current lead role on
Showtime's television series
Weeds portraying
Nancy Botwin.
Early life and 1980s

Parker was born August 2, 1964 in
Fort Jackson,
South Carolina, the daughter of Caroline, who was of
Swedish descent, and John Parker, a
judge who served in the
U.S. Army.
[1] Because of her father's career, Parker spent parts of her childhood in
Tennessee and
Texas, as well as internationally in
Thailand,
Germany and
France.
[2][3] 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. In the late 1980s, Parker moved to
New York, where she got a job measuring feet at
ECCO. After a few minor roles, she made her
Broadway debut in a 1990 production of
Craig Lucas'
Prelude to a Kiss, playing the lead role of Rita. She had moved with the production when it transferred from its origin Off-Broadway. She won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance and was nominated for a
Tony Award (although she did not play the role when the film was made). Parker also briefly dated her co-star
Timothy Hutton during this time.
That same year, Parker was noticed by critics when she appeared in the movie adaptation of another 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,
Danny Glover,
Alfre Woodard and
Kevin Kline. Parker's next film was
Fried Green Tomatoes, alongside
Jessica Tandy,
Mary Stuart Masterson,
Kathy Bates and
Cicely Tyson.
1990s

Parker maintained a strong theater presence in the early 1990s, but also built 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 a woman with AIDS. 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).
Parker's theater career continued when she appeared in
Paula Vogel's 1997 critical smash
How I Learned To Drive, with
David Morse. In the late 1990s, she appeared in several independent films including
Let the Devil Wear Black and
The Five Senses.
2001–2003

In 2001, Parker appeared alongside
Larry Bryggman in
David Auburn's
Proof on Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award. However, Parker again lost out when the play was made into a film and the role was given to
Gwyneth Paltrow. During this period, she left the theater for three years to look for other roles: among them,
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 as a love interest for Deputy Chief of Staff
Joshua Lyman. For this role, Parker was nominated for both an
Emmy Award 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.
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 Mormon
Valium-addicted wife of a
closeted lawyer, appearing full frontally nude. For her performance, Parker received
Golden Globe and
Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries.
2004–2006

In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy
Saved!, and a TV movie called
Miracle Run, based on the true story of a mother of two sons with
autism, 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, earned Parker another nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in 2005.
Parker returned to
The West Wing in several guest appearances in 2005 and 2006, the show's final season, portraying the Director of Legislative Affairs under the President-elect
Matt Santos.
In 2005, Parker took on the lead role in the
television series Weeds, a
Showtime comedy-drama. Parker's character,
Nancy Botwin, is 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,
Alexander Gould,
Hunter Parish,
Elizabeth Perkins, and her
Angels in America co-star
Justin Kirk. The show currently ended its fifth season, and has been confirmed to return for a sixth season which starts August 16, 2010.
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 Performance by an Actress in a Television 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."
[4] 2007–present

In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the TV film
The Robber Bride. Her next role,
Zerelda Mimms, in the
Andrew Dominik film
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, opened in cinemas in September 2007. Parker appeared alongside
Brad Pitt,
Casey Affleck,
Sam Rockwell and
Garret Dillahunt. In August 2007, Parker continued her role in the third season of
Weeds. In July 2007, Parker was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for
Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for playing Zenia Arden in
The Robber Bride and the other for
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for
Weeds.
In August 2007, she posed nude for an ad for the third season of
Weeds. In the ad, she appears as
Eve in the
Garden of Eden, with a snake draped around her body and a cannabis leaf behind her ear.
[5]On November 9, 2007, Parker was honored as the Entertainer of the Year by
Out magazine at the Out 100 Awards, which were celebrated in New York City.
Parker appeared in 2008's
The Spiderwick Chronicles and in
off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons in the New York premiere of
Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new play by
Sarah Ruhl, alongside
Drama Desk Award Winner
Kathleen Chalfant.
[6]She filmed the Donna Vermeer film
Les Passages alongside
Julie Delpy. Following this, she returned to work on the fifth season of
Weeds which the season finale aired in September 2009. In the spring of 2009, Parker took the lead role in the upcoming revival of the play
Hedda Gabler, which opened to garner a series of bad reviews.
[7]Parker will portray Sarah opposite
Bruce Willis in the upcoming film,
Red, an adaption of the comic book mini-series
of the same name. The film is scheduled for worldwide release on October 22, 2010.
[8] Personal life

On January 7, 2004, Parker gave birth to her first child, William Atticus Parker. The boy's father is actor
Billy Crudup, whom Parker met during rehearsals when they co-starred onstage in a 1996 revival of the
William Inge play
Bus Stop. After nearly eight years together, the couple split when the actress was seven months pregnant.
In December 2006, Parker began dating actor
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whom she met on the set of
Weeds.
[9] In March 2007, Parker stated that the relationship was "going great."
[10] The two briefly split in June 2007, but later reconciled.
[9] On February 12, 2008, Parker and Morgan announced their
engagement only to break up again in April 2008.
[11]In September 2007, Parker
adopted a baby girl, Caroline "Ash" Aberash Parker, from Ethiopia.
[12][13]Since June 2009, she has been dating singer-songwriter
Charlie Mars.
[14]Works
Filmography
Film |
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
1989 | Signs of Life | Charlotte |
|
1990 | Longtime Companion | Lisa |
|
1991 | Fried Green Tomatoes | Ruth Jamison |
|
Grand Canyon | Dee |
|
1993 | Mr. Wonderful | Rita |
|
Naked in New York | Joanne White |
|
1994 | Bullets Over Broadway | Ellen |
|
The Client | Dianne Sway |
|
1995 | Reckless | Pooty |
|
Boys on the Side | Robin |
|
1996 | The Portrait of a Lady | Henrietta Stackpole |
|
1997 | Murder in Mind | Caroline Walker |
|
The Maker | Officer Emily Peck |
|
1998 | Goodbye Lover | Peggy Blane |
|
1999 | Let the Devil Wear Black | Julia Hirsch |
|
The Five Senses | Rona | Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role |
2002 | Red Dragon | Molly Graham |
|
The Quality of Mercy | Sarah Richardson | Award winning short film |
Pipe Dream | Toni Edelman |
|
2004 | Saved! | Lillian |
|
The Best Thief in the World | Sue Zaidman |
|
2006 | Romance & Cigarettes | Constance Murder |
|
2007 | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Zee James |
|
2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Helen Grace |
|
2009 | Solitary Man | Jordan |
|
2010 | Howl | Gail Potter |
|
Red | Sarah | filming |
Television |
Year | Show | Role | Notes |
1988 | Ryan's Hope |
|
|
| Too Young the Hero | Pearl Spencer |
|
1994 | A Place for Annie | Linda |
|
1995 | Sugartime | Phyllis McGuire |
|
1998 | Saint Maybe | Lucy Dean Bedloe |
|
Legalese | Rica Martin |
|
1999 | The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn | Dr. Valerie Crane |
|
2000 | Cupid & Cate | Cate DeAngelo |
|
2001-2006 | The West Wing | Amy Gardner | Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series (2002) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2003) |
2002 | Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story | Bonnie Hanssen |
|
2003 | Angels in America | Harper Pitt | Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie |
2004 | Miracle Run | Corrine Morgan-Thomas |
|
2005 | Vinegar Hill | Ellen Grier |
|
2005-present | Weeds | Nancy Botwin | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006) Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2005) Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series (2007, 2008, 2009) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2007, 2008, 2009) Nominated—People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Drama Diva Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2006, 2008) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (2007, 2009) |
2007 | The Robber Bride | Zenia | Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie |
Theatre
Other
Parker has written for
Esquire.
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