Frances McDormand Biography

Frances McDormand (born June 23, 1957) is an award-winning American actress with film, stage, and television credits.

McDormand was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was the youngest of three children adopted by Canadian parents Vernon McDormand (a Disciples of Christ minister) and Noreen. She spent much of her youth in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania suburb of Monessen, where she graduated from high school. She attended Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia, and earned a B.A. in Theater in 1979.
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In 1982 she earned an M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Drama. While attending Yale, McDormand roomed with fellow actress and student Holly Hunter.

McDormand debuted in Joel and Ethan Coen's first film, 1984's Blood Simple. She married Joel Coen the same year and, in 1994, they adopted a son from Paraguay, Pedro McDormand Coen. In 1985, McDormand, the Coen brothers, Holly Hunter, and director Sam Raimi shared a house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California. McDormand has played major and minor roles in most of the Coens' films.

McDormand has been nominated for Academy Awards three times. In 1988 she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mississippi Burning; in 1996 she won the Academy award for Best Actress for her performance as police chief Marge Gunderson in Fargo; and in 2000 she earned her second nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of a concerned mother in Almost Famous.

Also for Almost Famous, she won the Best Supporting Actress nod from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, San Diego Film Critics Society, Southeastern Film Critics Association, and the Florida Film Critics Circle. For Wonder Boys in 2001 she won Best Supporting Actress from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

In addition to her film roles, McDormand played "Connie Chapman" in the fifth season of the television police drama Hill Street Blues. In 1988 McDormand played Stella Kowalski in a stage production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Frances McDormand is an associate member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group.

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