FRANCES McDORMAND

Date of Birth: June 23, 1957

Adopted by a Canadian-born minister Vernon McDormand and his wife, Noreen, Frances McDormand was raised in Monessen, Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in Theater from Bethany College in West Virginia and attended Yale University's School of Drama, where she was awarded the Carol Dye prize for Excellence. It would be the first of many awards for McDormand.

She sees herself as "... a character actress, plain and simple. Who can worry about a career? Have a life! Movie stars have careers. Actors work, and then they don't work, and then they work again."

McDormand will always be remembered for her Academy Award-winning performance as Marge, the pregnant police chief in Fargo (1996), directed by her real life husband, Joel Coen. She will also be remembered for her Best Supporting Actress nominations for Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000) and North Country (2005). She also won Best Actress at the Gijon International Film Festival for Laurel Canyon (2002).

Although constantly in demand, she's known as an actor—and likes it that way: "I have friends who are movie stars," she says, "and I think it's just as hard a job as being a working actor. But it's a different job, and it's not the one I want."

She and her husband have two children.

FILMOGRAPHY:

Burn After Reading (2008)
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day (2008)
Friends With Money (2006)
Aeon Flux (2005)
North Country (2005)
Last Night (2004)
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Laurel Canyon (2003)
City By The Sea (2001)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000)
Almost Famous (2000)
Wonder Boys (2000)
Madeline (1998)
Talk Of Angels (1998)
Johnny Skidmarks (1998)
Paradise Road (1997)
Palookaville (1996)
Lone Star (1996)
Fargo (1996)
Primal Fear (1996)
Palookaville (1996)
Beyond Rangoon (1995)
Short Cuts (1993)
Passed Away (1992)
The Butcher's Wife (1991)
Chattahoochee (1990)
Darkman (1990)
Hidden Agenda (1990)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Blood Simple (1984)