Mary McDonnell Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards for her performance in "Margin Call․"
• Won a Saturn Award for Best Actress in Television for "Battlestar Galactica" in 2009 from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• Joined the Long Wharf Theatre Company after graduating college, beginning a partnership with the company that lasted for over 20 years
• Quote: "Actors are part of a certain percentage of people on this planet that have emotional vocabulary as a primary experience․ It's as if their life is experienced emotionally and then that is translated intellectually or conceptually into the performance․"
• Quote: "We have to get back to the beauty of just being alive in this present moment․"
• Quote: "It's really important for actors to feel that they're more than something for hire․"
• Was a prolific stage actress on the east coast throughout the first two decades of her career
• Well-known for film performances in films such as "Dances with Wolves" and "Passion Fish․"
• Became a fan of actress Vanessa Redgrave in the 1970s
• Was invited to the United Nations for a retrospective and discussion on "Battlestar Galactica" with co-star Edward James Olmos
• Was a competitive swimmer and participated in synchronized swimming as a child