Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell, a two-time Oscar(r),-nominated actress, is known for her portrayals on screen in both modern and historical roles. She has also had a long line of roles on stage as well as screen. Mary Eileen McDonnell is a Pennsylvania-born actress. She was the child of Eileen (Mundy) who was an Irish-American computer consultant, and John McDonnell. Raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. She then attended drama school, and was then accepted into Long Wharf Theatre Company (East Coast). She was only 22 when she got her first movie role in Dances with Wolves (1990), where she was "Stands with a Fist", a Sioux Indian woman that is white. Her first Academy Award nomination for the part. McDonnell's film credits include Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991) & Mumford (1999), opposite veteran actors like Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier and Ben Kingsley; Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996) (starring Will Smith); the acclaimed art house cult-hit Donnie Darko (192001); and Margin Call (2011). The film won her the Robert Altman Awards at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. McDonnell was the president Laura Roslin in the critically loved series Battlestar Galactica (2004) on Syfy. She appeared in four seasons. She garnered an Emmy nomination for her frequent guest role on the television show ER (1994). The hit TNT drama series Major Crimes (2012) features her as Captain Sharon Raydor. This is the sequel to The Closer (2005) in which McDonnell played the character. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy(r). The character she played as a paraplegic character in soap operas in John Sayles' critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992) earned her a Best Actress Academy Award (r) nomination and a Golden Globe nod.