MARY-LOUISE PARKER
12 July 2008
MARY-LOUISE PARKER is a multi-award-winning actress with a diverse career in film, television, and theater. Her work in WEEDS has garnered a Golden Globe® Award and a ‘Lead Actress’ SAG® nomination. Parker is also the winner of a Golden Globe® for ‘Best Supporting Actress,’ a Tony®, an Emmy®, two Obies, as well as numerous other nominations.
On the small screen, Parker’s portrayal in Mike Nichols’s highly acclaimed Angels In America garnered her Emmy® and Golden Globe® wins and a SAG® nomination. She received yet another Emmy® nomination for her performance on The West Wing. Parker also starred in Sugartime, opposite John Turturro, A Place For Annie, Saint Maybe, Cupid & Cate, The Simple Truth Of Noah Dearborne, Miracle Run and Vinegar Hill. Parker was also recently in the Oxygen Channel original film Robber Bride, based on Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name.
Parker’s impressive film oeuvre includes the dark Christian comedy Saved!, opposite Mandy Moore, and Romance & Cigarettes, written and directed by Turturro and produced by the Coen Brothers. Parker is known widely for her starring roles in Fried Green Tomatoes, Grand Canyon, Reckless, Boys On The Side, The Client, Naked In New York, Bullets Over Broadway, The Best Thief In The World, Longtime Companion, Pipe Dream, Red Dragon and The Five Senses, for which she was nominated for a Genie Award for ‘Best Actress.’
Parker will next be seen next winter in The Spiderwick Chronicles, opposite Freddy Highmore, Nick Nolte, Martin Short and Joan Plowright.
Parker also boasts a highly acclaimed and extensive stage career. She made her Broadway debut to rave reviews in Prelude To A Kiss, garnering a Tony® nomination, a Theatre World Award, The Clarence Derwent Award and a Drama Desk nomination. She originated the role of “Li’l Bit” in the critically lauded How I Learned To Drive, which earned her an Obie Award, a Lucille Lortel Award and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. She also starred in Reckless, for which she received Tony® and Drama League nominations. Her performance in Proof earned her the 2001 Tony® Award, as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, Obie and New York Magazine Awards. She also earned the 2001 T. Schreiber Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Theatre.’
Additional theatre credits include Communicating Doors, Bus Stop, Four Dogs And A Bone, The Art Of Success, Throwing Your Voice, Babylon Gardens, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Up In Saratoga, The Miser and Hayfever. She co-founded the Edge Theater, where she performed in The Age Of Pie and The Girl In Pink, among other productions.
Parker is currently a contributing writer for ‘Esquire’ magazine. She recently won the Robert Brustein Award for ‘Excellence in Theater’ and the Philadelphia Film Festival Award for ‘Career Achievement.’ Her personal and professional belongings, along with career memorabilia, are archived at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University, where she was recently the youngest person ever inducted.
