Marcia Gay Harden | |
|---|---|
 Harden in 2013 | |
| Born | (1959-08-14)August 14, 1959 (age 66) San Diego,California, U.S. |
| Education | University of Texas, Austin(BA) New York University(MFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Full list |
Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959)[1] is an American actress.Her accolades include anAcademy Award, aTony Award, and nominations for fourPrimetime Emmy Awards.
Harden's breakthrough came in 1990 with theCoen brothers' filmMiller's Crossing. She received nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress forPollock (2000) andMystic River (2003), winning for her portrayal of artistLee Krasner in the former. Her other notable film credits includeThe First Wives Club (1996),Flubber (1997),Space Cowboys (2000),Mona Lisa Smile (2003), and theFifty Shades film series (2015–2018).
Harden made herBroadway debut in 1993, starring inTony Kushner's epic playAngels in America: Millennium Approaches/Angels in America: Perestroika for which she was nominated for aTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway in 2009 inYasmina Reza's comedic playGod of Carnage, with her performance earning her theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
Harden's television credits include guest roles in theHBO seriesThe Newsroom (2013–2014) and theABC seriesHow to Get Away with Murder (2015–2020), as well as main roles in theCBS seriesCode Black (2015–2018) andSo Help Me Todd (2022–2024). She receivedPrimetime Emmy Award nominations for her guest roles in the crime drama seriesLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit (2005) and theApple TV+ seriesThe Morning Show, and supporting role in the television filmThe Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009).
Harden was born in theLa Jolla area of San Diego, California, the daughter ofTexas natives Beverly Harden (née Bushfield), ahousewife, and Thad Harold Harden (1932–2002), who was a Captain and fighter pilot who served 30 years in theUnited States Navy.[2] She has three sisters and one brother.[3]
Harden's brother is named Thaddeus, as are her father and her former husband. Harden's family frequently moved because of her father's job, living in Japan, Germany,Greece, California, andMaryland.[4]
Harden graduated fromSurrattsville High School inClinton, Maryland in 1976. She received a Bachelor of Arts in theater from theUniversity of Texas at Austin in 1980. Harden received aMaster of Fine Arts fromNew York University'sTisch School of the Arts in 1988.[5]
Harden's first film role was in a 1979 student-produced film at the University of Texas. Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in several television programs, includingSimon & Simon,Kojak, andCBS Summer Playhouse. She appeared inThe Imagemaker (1986), her first film screen role, in which she played a stage manager. She appeared in the Coen brothers'Miller's Crossing (1990), a 1930s mobster drama in which she first gained wide exposure. Even so, at the time, living in New York City, she had to go back to doing catering jobs "because I didn't have any money".[6]
Harden debuted on Broadway in the role of Harper Pitt (and others) inTony Kushner'sAngels in America in 1993. The role earned her critical acclaim and she received a Tony Award nomination (Best Featured Actress in a Play).
Harden played actressAva Gardner alongsidePhilip Casnoff asFrank Sinatra in the 1992 made-for-TV miniseriesSinatra. Throughout the 1990s, she continued to appear in films and television. Her notable film roles include theDisneysci-fi comedyFlubber (1997), a popular hit in which she co-starred withRobin Williams; thesupernatural dramaMeet Joe Black (1998), playing the under-appreciated daughter of a tycoon (Anthony Hopkins, co-starringBrad Pitt);Labor of Love (1998), aLifetime television film in which she starred withDavid Marshall Grant; andSpace Cowboys (2000), an all-star adventure-drama about aging astronauts.
In 2000, Harden won theAcademy Award forBest Supporting Actress for her portrayal of painterLee Krasner in the biographical filmPollock. In 2004, she received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the mystery crime dramaMystic River.
Harden guest-starred asFBI undercover agent Dana Lewis posing as awhite supremacist in "Raw", an episode of the popular crime dramaLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit. This role earned Harden her firstEmmy Award nomination for best guest actress in a drama series in 2007. She reprised the role in the series' eighth-season premiere and again in the 12th-season episode "Penetration" as a rape victim.
Harden appeared in several 2007 films, includingSean Penn'sInto the Wild and Frank Darabont'sThe Mist (oppositeThomas Jane andLaurie Holden), based on the novella byStephen King. Also in 2007, she shared top billing withKevin Bacon inRails & Ties, the directorial debut ofAlison Eastwood. Harden played a woman who has a mastectomy inHome (2008). (Her character inRails & Ties also had a mastectomy.) Scenes in both films required her to bare her breasts, with the missing breast removed usingcomputer-generated imagery. InHome, her co-stars include her daughter, Eulala Scheel. Harden starred in theChristmas Cottage, a story of the early artistic beginnings of the painterThomas Kinkade.
Harden appeared as a regular on theFX seriesDamages as a shrewd corporate attorney oppositeGlenn Close andWilliam Hurt in 2009. She received a2009 Emmy nomination for her role inThe Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a TV film also starringOscar-winnerAnna Paquin. She was a Best Supporting Actress in a TV Movie/Miniseries nominee and lost toShohreh Aghdashloo. If she had won this Emmy, Harden would have entered the elite group of "triple-crown" actors, those who have won the profession's three highest honors: the Academy Award (film), the Tony Award (stage), and the Emmy Award (television).
Harden co-starred withElliot Page andDrew Barrymore in 2009'sWhip It, which proved a critical success.[7] She also appeared in the comedyThe Maiden Heist (2009) withChristopher Walken andMorgan Freeman.
Harden returned to Broadway inYasmina Reza'sGod of Carnage, co-starring withJames Gandolfini,Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels, in 2009.[8] All three actors were nominated for a Tony Award; Harden won Best Actress in a Play.[9]
Harden reunited with her former Broadway co-starJeff Daniels as a new cast member onHBO's seriesThe Newsroom in 2013.[6] She played Christian Grey's mother, Grace Trevelyan Grey, in theFifty Shades film series from 2015 to 2018. Also in 2015, she began a starring role in the TV seriesCode Black. She stars in the 2022 CBS dramaSo Help Me Todd, since renewed for a second season.
In 1996, Harden married Thaddaeus Scheel, aprop master, with whom she worked onThe Spitfire Grill.[6] They have three children.[10][11][12] In February 2012, Harden filed for divorce from Scheel.[13]
Harden owned property inthe Catskills and a townhouse inHarlem.[14][15][16] She sold the Harlem townhouse in 2012.[17]
Harden is an avidpotter, which she learned in high school, and then took up again while acting inAngels in America.[18][14] She is also a practitioner ofikebana, the art of Japanese flower arrangement, which her mother learned while they lived in Japan.[19] She gave a brief demonstration in 2007 onThe Martha Stewart Show and presented some works of her family, as well.[20]
In May 2018, a memoir calledThe Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers was published. The book details the story and bond of mother and daughter throughout time and how they are dealing with the largest struggle yet, her mother'sAlzheimer's disease. Harden created works ofikebana specifically for this book to illustrate the different seasons of her mother's life.[21][18]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Miller's Crossing | Verna Bernbaum | |
| 1991 | Late for Dinner[22] | Joy Husband | |
| In Broad Daylight | Adina Rowan | ||
| 1992 | Crush | Lane | |
| Used People | Norma Schulman | ||
| 1994 | Safe Passage | Cynthia | |
| 1996 | The Spitfire Grill | Shelby Goddard | |
| The Daytrippers | Libby | ||
| The First Wives Club | Dr. Leslie Rosen | ||
| Spy Hard | Miss Cheevus | ||
| Far Harbor | Arabella | ||
| 1997 | Flubber | Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds | |
| 1998 | Desperate Measures | Dr. Samantha Hawkins | |
| Meet Joe Black | Allison Parrish | ||
| Curtain Call | Michelle Tippet | ||
| 2000 | Space Cowboys | Sara Holland | |
| Pollock | Lee Krasner | ||
| 2001 | Gaudi Afternoon | Frankie Stevens | |
| 2003 | Mystic River | Celeste Boyle | |
| Casa de los Babys | Nan | ||
| Mona Lisa Smile | Nancy Abbey | ||
| 2004 | Welcome to Mooseport | Grace Sutherland | |
| P.S. | Missy Goldberg | ||
| 2005 | Bad News Bears | Liz Whitewood | |
| Willa Cather: The Road Is All | Willa Cather | Voice role | |
| American Gun | Janet Huttenson | ||
| 2006 | American Dreamz | First Lady Staton | |
| The Dead Girl[23] | Melora Kutcher | ||
| The Hoax | Edith Irving | ||
| Canvas | Mary Marino | ||
| 2007 | The Invisible | Diane Powell | |
| Into the Wild | Billie McCandless | ||
| Rails & Ties | Megan Stark | ||
| The Mist | Mrs. Carmody | ||
| 2008 | Home | Inga | |
| Thomas Kinkade's Home for Christmas | Maryanne Kinkade | ||
| 2009 | The Maiden Heist | Rose | |
| Whip It | Brooke Cavendar | ||
| 2010 | A Cat in Paris | Jeanne | Voice role |
| 2011 | Detachment | Principal Carol Dearden | |
| Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You | Marjorie Dunfour | ||
| 2012 | Noah's Ark: The New Beginning | Aamah | Voice role |
| If I Were You | Madelyn | ||
| 2013 | The Wine of Summer | Shelley | |
| Parkland | Head Nurse Doris Nelson | ||
| 2014 | Magic in the Moonlight | Mrs. Baker | |
| You're Not You | Elizabeth | ||
| Elsa & Fred | Lydia Barcroft | ||
| Unity | Narrator | Documentary | |
| 2015 | Grandma | Judy | |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | Grace Trevelyan Grey | ||
| Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant | President of the FAFAFA | ||
| After Words | Jane Taylor | ||
| 2016 | Get a Job | Katherine Dunn | |
| 2017 | Fifty Shades Darker | Grace Trevelyan Grey | |
| 2018 | Fifty Shades Freed | ||
| 2019 | Point Blank | Regina Lewis | |
| 2020 | Pink Skies Ahead | Pamela | |
| 2021 | Moxie | Principal Marlene Shelly | |
| 2022 | Gigi & Nate | Claire Gibson | |
| Confess, Fletch | Countess Sylvia de Grassi | ||
| Tell It Like a Woman | Dr. Partovi | ||
| 2023 | Daughter of the Bride | Diane York | [24] |
| Knox Goes Away | Ruby Knox | ||
| 2025 | Renner | Salenus (voice) |
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Kim | Episode: "In the Lion's Den" |
| 1988 | Simon & Simon | Joan | Episode: "Ties That Bind" |
| 1989 | Gideon Oliver | Lila | Episode: "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver" |
| 1991 | In Broad Daylight | Adina Rowan | TV movie |
| Fever | Lacy | ||
| 1992 | Sinatra | Ava Gardner | |
| 1995 | Fallen Angels | Marie | Episode: "Good Housekeeping" |
| Chicago Hope | Barbara Tomilson | Episode: "Internal Affairs" | |
| Great Performances | Performer | Episode: "Talking With..." | |
| Homicide: Life on the Street | Joan Garbarek | Episode: "A Doll's Eyes" | |
| 1997 | Path to Paradise | Nancy Floyd | TV movie |
| 1998 | Labor of Love | Annie Pines | |
| 1999 | Spenser: Small Vices | Susan Silverman | |
| 2000 | Thin Air | ||
| 2001 | Walking Shadow | ||
| 2001–2002 | The Education of Max Bickford | Andrea Haskell | 22 episodes |
| 2002 | Guilty Hearts | Jenny Moran | TV movie |
| King of Texas | Mrs. Susannah Lear Tumlinson | ||
| 2004 | She's Too Young | Trish Vogul | |
| 2005 | Felicity: An American Girl Adventure | Mrs. Martha Merriman | |
| 2005–2013 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | FBI Special Agent Dana Lewis | 4 episodes |
| 2006 | In from the Night | Vicki Miller | TV movie |
| 2008 | The Tower | Zoe Cafritz | |
| Sex and Lies in Sin City | Becky Binion | ||
| 2009 | Damages | Claire Maddox | 7 episodes |
| The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler | Janina Kyzyzanowska | TV movie | |
| 2010 | Royal Pains | Dr. Elizabeth Blair | 3 episodes |
| 2011 | Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy | Edda Mellas | TV movie |
| Innocent | Barbara Sabich | ||
| 2012 | Body of Proof | Sheila Temple | Episode: "Sympathy for the Devil" |
| Bent | Vanessa Carter | Episode: "Mom" | |
| 2012–2013 | Tron: Uprising | Keller | Voice, 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Isabel | Frances Lorenz | TV movie |
| 2013–2014 | The Newsroom | Rebecca Halliday | 10 episodes |
| Trophy Wife | Diane | 22 episodes | |
| 2015 | How to Get Away with Murder | Dr. Hannah Keating | 4 episodes |
| 2015–2018 | Code Black | Dr. Leanne Rorish | Main role, 47 episodes |
| 2019 | Love You to Death | Camile Stoller | TV movie |
| BoJack Horseman | Denise/McCaitlyn/Melodie | Voice, 2 episodes | |
| 2019–present | The Morning Show | Maggie Brener | 10 episodes |
| 2020 | A Million Little Things | Alice | Episode: "Guilty" |
| Barkskins | Mathilde Geffard | Main role | |
| 2022 | Uncoupled | Claire Lewis | Recurring role |
| The Cuphead Show! | Sally Stageplay | Voice, 2 episodes | |
| 2022–2024 | So Help Me Todd | Margaret Wright | Main role, 31 episodes |
| TBA | Margo's Got Money Troubles | Elizabeth | Upcoming miniseries |
| Year | Title | Role | Writer | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | The Man Who Shot Lincoln | Mary Devlin | Luigi Creatore | Astor Place Theatre, Off-Broadway | [25] |
| 1992–1993 | The Years | Isabella | Cindy Lou Johnson | New York City Center – Stage I | [26] |
| 1993–1994 | Angels in America: Perestroika | Harper Pitt | Tony Kushner | Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway | [27] |
| Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Harper Pitt / Martin Heller | [28] | |||
| 1994 | Simpatico | Cecilia | Sam Shepard | The Public Theater, Off-Broadway | [29] |
| 2001 | The Seagull | Masha | Anton Chekhov | Delacorte Theater, Off-Broadway | [30] |
| 2009 | God of Carnage | Veronica | Yasmina Reza | Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Broadway | [31] |
| 2017 | Sweet Bird of Youth | Alexandra del Lago | Tennessee Williams | Chichester Festival Theatre, England | [32] |
| 2023 | Gutenberg! The Musical! | Producer | Scott Brown &Anthony King | James Earl Jones Theatre, Broadway | [33][34] |
