Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo | |
---|---|
![]() Leo at the 2009 premiere of Whatever Works | |
Born | Melissa Chessington Leo September 14, 1960 |
Other names | Margaret May II Margaret May |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1984–present |
Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960), also known as Margaret May II or Margaret May, is an Academy Award winning American actress.
Leo is known for playing Det. Sgt. Kay Howard as a series regular on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993–1997. As of 2011, she is on the television series Treme, having previously been a regular on All My Children and The Young Riders. Her feature films include A Time of Destiny, Last Summer in the Hamptons, 21 Grams, Confess, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. In 2009, she received an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her role in Frozen River. She received her first Oscar in 2011, for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Fighter. Lawrence Toppman of The Charlotte Observer hailed her as "one of America's most underrated character actresses".[1]
Personal life
Leo was born in Manhattan,[2] New York City, New York, the daughter of Peggy, a California-born teacher, and Arnold Leo, an editor at Grove Press, fisherman, and spokesman for the East Hampton Baymen's Association.[3][4][5] She has a son with actor and former boyfriend John Heard named John Matthew Heard (born 1987).
Leo was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and spent summers at her father's house in Springs, a section of East Hampton, N.Y.[2] She is a former resident of Putney, Vermont[6] and now lives in Stone Ridge, New York.[7]
Awards and nominations
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Melissa_Leo.jpg/150px-Melissa_Leo.jpg)
In 1985 she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy at the Daytime Emmy Awards/12th Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Ingenue/Woman in a Drama Series for All My Children. In 2004 she shared the "Best Ensemble Acting" award from the Phoenix Film Critics Society for 21 Grams (2003) alongside Kevin Chapman, Benicio del Toro, Teresa Delgado, Clea DuVall, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Danny Huston, Eddie Marsan, Marc Musso, Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. She was also the runner-up for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actress for 21 Grams.
In 2006, she won the Bronze Wrangler at the Western Heritage Awards for Outstanding Theatrical Motion Picture for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) shared with Tommy Lee Jones (Film producer/actor), Michael Fitzgerald (Film producer), Luc Besson (Film producer), Pierre-Ange Le Pogam (Film producer), Guillermo Arriaga (screenwriter), Barry Pepper (actor), Dwight Yoakam (actor), Julio Cedillo (actor), Levon Helm (actor), January Jones (actress) and Vanessa Bauche (actress).
In 2008, she won the Maverick Actor Award and also the Best Actress award at the Method Fest for Lullaby (2008). Her performance in the film Frozen River earned her the Best Actress award from the Independent Spirit Awards and nominations from the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Broadcast Film Critics Association awards, and the Academy Awards. Roger 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."
She also received the Spotlight award from the National Board of Review.
She received praise for her role in the movie The Fighter. Rick Bentley from charlotteobserver.com said "Both actors (Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale) are very good, but they get blown off the screen by Melissa Leo, who plays their mother, Alice Ward. She's a passive-aggressive minion of hell who makes every past bad film mom look like June Cleaver. Leo's Oscar-worthy portrayal of Alice as a master manipulator goes beyond acting to a total transformation."[8]
For this film, Leo won the Golden Globe, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, among others. In addition, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Fighter.[9]
Filmography
Television
- The Equalizer (1 episode, The Defector, 1985) .... Irina Dzershinsky
- Spenser: For Hire (1 episode, Mary Hamilton, 1987) .... Mary Hamilton
- Miami Vice (1 episode, Bad Timing, 1988) .... Kathleen Gilfords
- Gideon Oliver (1 episode, Kennonite, 1989) .... Rebecca Hecht
- Law & Order (3 episodes, Sweeps, Who Let the Dogs Out? and Personae Non Grata, 1993–2008) .... Alice Sutton / Sherri Quinn / Donna Cheponis
- Scarlett (1994) TV mini-series .... Suellen O'Hara Benteen
- Legacy (2 episodes, Emma and The Search Party, 1998) .... Emma Bradford
- Veronica Mars (1 episode, Meet John Smith, 2004) .... Julia Smith
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (1 episode, Harvest, 2004) .... Sybil Perez
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (1 episode, The Good Child, 2005) .... Maureen Curtis
- The L Word (3 episodes, Luminous, Loyal and Lacuna, 2005) .... Winnie Mann
- Shark (1 episode, Pilot, 2006) .... Elizabeth Rourke
- Criminal Minds (1 episode, No Way Out, 2007) .... Georgia Davis
- Cold Case (1 episode, Thrill Kill, 2007) .... Tayna Raymes '94–'07
- Treme (2010) .... Toni Bernette
- Mildred Pierce (2011) .... Lucy Gessler
References
- ^ Posted: Thursday, Sep. 04, 2008 (2008-09-04). "CharlotteObserver.com". CharlotteObserver.com. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Post (2009-02-19). "Veteran Actors, First Time Nominees". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ "Actress up for Oscar has longtime ties to Hamptons". Newsday.com. 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ "Melissa Leo Biography (1960–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ Mother's California birth stated on the 68th Golden Globe Awards, January 16, 2011
- ^ "Burlington Free Press – Vermonter Nominated". Burlington Free Press. January 23, 2009.
- ^ "Nebraska threads woven into red carpet". Omaha.com. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
- ^ Posted: Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010 (2010-12-18). "Cast puts punch in scrappy 'Fighter'". CharlotteObserver.com. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Oscar nominations 2011 in full". BBC News. January 25, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1960 births
- Living people
- Actors from New York City
- American film actors
- American television actors
- Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners
- Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead winners
- People from Manhattan
- State University of New York at Purchase alumni