Leo received critical acclaim for her performance as Ray Eddy in the 2008 filmFrozen River, earning her several nominations and awards, including an Academy Award nomination forBest Actress. In 2010, Leo won several awards for her performance as Alice Eklund-Ward in the filmThe Fighter, including theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Leo was born inManhattan and grew up on theLower East Side.[3] She is the daughter of Margaret (née Chessington), aCalifornia-born teacher, and Arnold Leo III, an editor atGrove Press, fisherman, and former spokesman for theEast Hampton Baymen's Association. She has an older brother, Erik Leo.[4] Her paternal aunt is art historianChristine Leo Roussel.[5] Leo's parents divorced, and her mother moved them to Red Clover Commune, inPutney, Vermont.[2]
Leo appeared in supporting roles throughout the 2000s including the filmHide and Seek, the independent filmAmerican Gun, both in 2005, and a minor role in the comedyMr. Woodcock. In 2006, she won theBronze Wrangler at the Western Heritage Awards for Outstanding Theatrical Motion Picture forThe Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada shared withTommy Lee Jones who also produced the film. In 2008, she won the Maverick Actor Award and also the Best Actress award at the Method Fest forLullaby (2008).
That same year, Leo earned critical praise for her performance in the filmFrozen River, winning several awards, including the Best Actress award from theIndependent Spirit Awards, the Spotlight award from theNational Board of Review, and Best Actress nominations from theScreen Actors Guild Awards,Broadcast Film Critics Association, andAcademy Awards. CriticRoger Ebert backed her for a win, stating: "Best Actress: Melissa Leo. What a complete performance, evoking a woman's life in a time of economic hardship. The most timely of films, but that isn't reason enough. I was struck by how intensely determined she was to make the payments, support her two children, carry on after her abandonment by a gambling husband, and still maintain rules and goals around the house. This was a heroic woman."[11]
In 2010, Leo received fame for her role inDavid O. Russell'sThe Fighter. Rick Bentley ofThe Charlotte Observer said: "Both actors (Mark Wahlberg andChristian Bale) are very good, but they get blown off the screen by Melissa Leo, who plays their mother, Alice Ward. Leo's Oscar-worthy portrayal of Alice as a master manipulator goes beyond acting to a total transformation."[12]Roger Ebert referred to it as a "teeth-gratingly brilliant performance." Leo and several of the film's actors including her co-starAmy Adams and Bale were nominated. For her performance Leo received several awards, including theGolden Globe,Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association,New York Film Critics Circle,Screen Actors Guild, and culminating in her winning theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress. While accepting her Oscar, Leo said: "When I watchedKate two years ago, it looked so fucking easy!" She apologized afterwards for using profanity, admitting that it was "a very inappropriate place to use that particular word ... those words, I apologize to anyone that they offend".[13][14]
Prior to her win, Leo had created some controversy by attempting to self-promote her Oscar campaign, rather than rely on the marketing department of the studio. Leo personally bought ad space in Hollywood trade publications, which was initially thought might backfire in a similar manner to previous Oscar contendersChill Wills andMargaret Avery.[15]
Leo appeared in the action-thrillerOlympus Has Fallen as Ruth McMillan, the Secretary of Defense who was held hostage by terrorists in the White House; andOblivion as the main antagonist Sally. She reprised her role in theOlympus sequelLondon Has Fallen.
In 1987, Leo had a son with actorJohn Heard, whom she dated from 1986 to 1988, while living in Manhattan.[1]
Leo then moved toStone Ridge, New York, where a 200-year-old farmhouse was her permanent residence for three decades, though she often traveled and lived elsewhere temporarily for work.[18][19] In 2019, she moved back to Manhattan. She moved out of the city during the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned in 2023.[19]
Leo publicly rejected the label of feminist in statements made during a 2012 interview withSalon: "I don't think of myself as a feminist at all. As soon as we start labeling and categorizing ourselves and others, that's going to shut down the world. I would never say that."[20] She reiterated these sentiments in a 2017 interview.[21]
