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 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, New York City, New York, the daughter of Peggy (née Chessington), a California-born teacher, and Arnold Leo, an editor at Grove Press, fisherman, and spokesman for the East Hampton Baymen's Association.[2][3][4][5] 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] She has a son with actor and former boyfriend John Heard named John Matthew Heard (born 1987).
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.
The Fighter
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]
During the movie award season honoring films from 2010, Leo won a string of awards for her role in The Fighter including the Golden Globe, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and culminating in her winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Leo caused some controversy when she launched her own campaign in the Hollywood trades prior to her Oscar win for best supporting actress. The ads feature a glammed-up Leo asking the Academy to "consider" her decidedly dressed-down performance as the hardscrabble mom of a Boston boxing underdog. Leo, 50, was quoted as saying: "I took matters into my own hands," she said. "I knew what I was doing and told my representation how earnest I was about this idea. I had never heard of any actor taking out an ad as themselves and I wanted to give it a shot." Academy members reacted with criticism to the campaign, and which resulted in Leo changing her story--that she just went along with Paramount's agenda. "I've been busting my ass, trying to get the movie sold and seen, and now I show up where they ask, get put into hair and makeup that they pay for, so I can promote this thing [and campaign]. So I'm a little confused. I thought this is what we're doing. This is what all the girls are doing."[9]
While accepting her Oscar, Leo, appearing overwhelmed with excitement and "in the moment", began her speech by stating, "I'm shaking in my boots here", and then spontaneously said, "When I watched Kate [Winslet] two years ago, it looked so fucking easy!" which was reportedly the first time in the history of the Academy Awards that a winner has used the word "fuck" in an acceptance speech. It was censored from the broadcast, as the show had a five-second delay, with the exception of international audiences, including Australia, where the curseword was left uncensored. Leo sincerely apologized afterwards admitting that the epithet was "a very inappropriate place to use that particular word ...those words, I apologize to anyone that they offend." [10][11]
Filmography
Television mini-series and guest appearances
- 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
- 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) - ^ "Melissa Leo Changes Her Story On Oscar Ads". Huffington Post. Retrieved 02/23/11.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help) - ^ Liz Kelly (February 27, 2011). "Melissa Leo drops F-bomb in Oscar Acceptance Speech". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- ^ Vancouver Sun and wire services (February 27, 2011). "OSCARS: F-Bomb mars speech; Toy Story 3, In a Better World, Christian Bale, Social Network. King's Speech take awards". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Melissa Leo at IMDb
- Profile/Interview with Scott Feinberg About Life, Career, and "Frozen River"
- MediaRhyme Inc. 2011 83rd Annual Academy Awards - Oscar Results 2011
- 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