Early life

Grant was born in Gadsden, Alabama, and is an alumna of East Carolina University.

Career

She has appeared in dozens of films, including three Oscar Best Pictures: Rain Man; Speed; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar; Love Field; Donnie Darko; A Time to Kill; Little Miss Sunshine; Child's Play 2; Daltry Calhoun; City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold; Don't Tell Her It's Me; Matchstick Men; Factory Girl; The Wizard; Sordid Lives; The Rookie; All About Steve; No Country for Old Men, Extract, Crazy Heart, Rango, and Hollywood to Dollywood (as herself).

Grant has also appeared in many TV shows, including Everwood; Delta; The Golden Girls; Malcolm in the Middle; The X-Files; Friends; CSI; Six Feet Under; Wonderfalls; Pushing Daisies; My Name Is Earl; Yes, Dear; King of the Hill; The Office; Angel; Judging Amy; Jericho; Sordid Lives: The Series; Criminal Minds, Sabrina The Teenage Witch; True Blood; How I Met Your Mother; Modern Family;The Mentalist; and The Mindy Project.

Grant played the same character, Marianne Marie Beetle, in the short-lived show Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies, both created by Bryan Fuller, and portrays the similarly named "Marie" in Mockingbird Lane, Fuller's re-imagining of The Munsters.

Grant guest starred as Gillian, Brady Kelly's mother, in the third season of the acclaimed sitcom Husbands.

Inspired by Mindy Kaling, Grant is also in the process of writing a Broadway musical, set in 1969 Greenwich Village.

Personal life

She is married to actor Michael Chieffo with whom she has a daughter, Mary Chieffo. They live in Los Angeles in the Valley Village neighborhood.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Undercover	Miss Randolph	First film role
1988	Rain Man	Mother at Farm House	First major film role
1989	The Wizard	Diner Manager
1990	Flatliners	Housewife
1990	Don't Tell Her It's Me	Babette
1990	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Lillian Logerfield
1990	Child's Play 2	Miss Kettlewell
1990	Eating	Carla
1992	White Sands	Roz Kincaid
1992	Love Field	Hazel
1993	The Dark Half	Shayla Beaumont
1994	Speed	Helen
1994	City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold	Lois
1995	Safe	Becky - Auditorium Speaker
1995	To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar	Loretta
1995	Lieberman in Love	Linda Baker	Short film
1996	A Time to Kill	Cora Mae Cobb
1996	Love Always	Stephanie
1997	A Thousand Acres	Roberta
1997	Lawn Dogs	Trent's Mother
1997	Interruptions	Peggy, the Mistress
1998	Doctor Dolittle	Woman
1998	Dance with Me	Lovejoy
1998	Making Sandwiches	Mrs. Hellman	Short film
1998	Angelmaker	Mrs. Turcott	Short film
2000	Sordid Lives	Sissy Hickey
2001	Donnie Darko	Kitty Farmer
2001	The Rising Place	Melvina Pou
2001	Pearl Harbor	Motherly Secretary
2001	Rock Star	Mrs. Cole
2002	Desert Saints	Lou
2002	The Rookie	Olline
2002	Birdseye	Ruth Betters
2003	Judge Koan	Brenda Lundy
2003	Matchstick Men	Laundry Lady
2003	Evil Aliens Conquers	Sheila
2004	Sweet Union	Mama Iris Bailey	Short film
2004	A One Time Thing	Mom
2005	Our Very Own	Virginia Kendal
2005	Homefront	Pam	Short film
2005	Daltry Calhoun	Dee
2005	Hard Pill	Mom
2006	Little Miss Sunshine	Pageant Official Jenkins
2006	Hard Scrambled	Alice
2006	Hot Tamale	Dori Woodriff
2006	Southland Tales	Dr. Inga Von Westphalen / Marion Card
2006	The House of Usher	Mrs. Thatcher
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Mother Gagnon
2006	Factory Girl	Julia Warhol
2006	These Days	Maureen
2006	Rocker	Mrs. Hill
2007	Magnus, Inc.	Magnus' Mom	Short film
2007	The Ungodly	Emma Lemac
2007	No Country for Old Men	Agnes Kracik
2007	Welcome to Paradise	Frances Loren
2008	Natural Disasters	Beth
2008	Henry Poole is Here	Josie
2008	Hide	Candy
2008	No Place Like Home	Mom	Short film
2008	Polar Opposites	General Railen
2008	Winged Creatures	Carla's Mom
2009	Dear Lemon Lima	Principal Applebomb
2009	Door Prize	N/A	Short film
2009	Extract	Mary
2009	All About Steve	Mrs. Horowitz
2009	Stolen	Older Edvena
2009	Abracadabra	Patti	Short film
2009	Herpes Boy	Mom
2009	Crazy Heart	JoAnn
2010	In My Sleep	Evelyn
2010	Spork	Principal Tulip
2010	Operation: Endgame	Susan
2011	Rango	Bonnie	Voice role
2011	Sedona	Deb
2011	Life of Lemon	Phyllis
2011	Valley of the Sun	Marva
2011	The Artist	Peppy's Maid
2011	Serenity House	Judith Levine-Bluestone	Short film
2011	Mister Handsome	Emily's Mom	Short film
2012	Swerve	Alsa
2012	Blues of Willadean	Willadean Winkler
2013	Miss Dial	Mrs. Wojiechowski
2013	The Violation	Linda Helm	Short film
2013	As I Lay Dying	Addie Bundren
2013	Bad Words	Irene
2014	The Midnight Swim	Amelia Brooks
2014	Faults	Evelyn
2015	Band of Robbers	Widow Douglass
2017	Jackie	Lady Bird Johnson	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	B.J. and the Bear	Miss	First onscreen role
1986	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Waitress	Episode: God, the Universe & Hot Fudge Sundaes
1987	Deadly Care	Madge	Made-for-TV Movie
1987	Santa Barbara	Nurse	Episode: 1,748
1987	Hooperman	N/A	Episode: The Answer My Friend Is Passing in the Wind
1987	Mr. Belvedere	Mrs. Meyers	Episode: G.I. George
1989	I Know My First Name Is Steven	Mrs. Beta	Miniseries
1989-91	The Golden Girls	Louise/Terry Franco	2 episodes: Two separate roles for each episode
1989-93	Coach	Martha/Maid	Recurring role: 7 episodes
1990	The Image	Martha Packard	Made-for-TV movie
1990	Empty Nest	Helen	Episode: M.D., P.O.V.
1990	Fall from Grace	Paulene	Made-for-TV movie
1990	The Outsiders	Mrs. Jones	Episode: Union Blues
1990	Dragnet	Mrs. Furber	Episode: Pretty Girl
1990	Hunter	Dottie Pinder	2 episodes
1991	Switched at Birth	Sophie	Made-for-TV movie
1992	Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story	Pat McGinty	Made-for-TV movie
1992-93	Delta	Thelma Wainwright	First series regular role
1993	Bakersfield P.D.	Donna Stiles	Recurring role: 2 episodes
1993	Dream On	Farm Woman	Episode: Silent Night, Holy Cow Part II
1994	Murder, She Wrote	Meg Thomas	Episode: Roadkill
1994	Sweet Justice	Mrs. Farragut	Episode: High School Confidential
1994	Friends	Lizzy	Episode: The One with the Thumb
1996	Norma Jean & Marilyn	Grace Goddard	Made-for-TV movie
1996-98	Something so Right	Nurse Gruber	Recurring role: 2 episodes
1997	The Pretender	Mrs. Haring	Episode: Bomb Squad
1997	To Dance with Olivia	N/A
1997	Goode Behavior	Pearl	Episode: Goode Behavior
1997	Desert's Eagle	N/A	TV short
1997-98	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Mrs. Grant / Mrs. Popowski	Recurring role: 3 episode (Two separate roles)
1998	Profiler	Cook	Episode: Birthright
1998	Cybill	Waiter's Mother	Episode: Whose Wife Am I, Anyway?
1998	Maximum Bob	Inez Crowe	Recurring role: 5 episodes
1998	Maggie Winters	Beatrice	Episode: Suburban Myth
1998	Five Houses	Arlene	Made-for-TV movie
1998-2010	King of the Hill	Multiple roles
1999	Two Guys and a Girl	Tufts College Employee	Episode: Two Guys, a Girl and Graduation
1999	Providence	Lillian Gerrish	Episode: If Memory Serves
1999	Blue Valley Songbird	Ruby	Made-for-TV movie
1999	Angel	Maude Pearson	Episode: Rm w/a Vu
2000	The X-Files	Iris Finster	Episode: "Signs and Wonders"
2000-03	Malcolm in the Middle	Dorene Hooper	recurring role: 2 episodes
2001	Diagnosis: Murder	Penelope	Episode: No Good Deed
2001	Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man	Louisa Ashland	Made-for-TV movie
2001	Any Day Now	Dorothy Johnson	Episode: Everyone Deserves to Be Loved
2001	Judging Amy	Principal Mott	Episode: Darkness for Light
2001-04	Yes, Dear	Kitty Hughes	Recurring role: 4 episodes
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Sally Roth	Episode: The Execution of Catherine Willows
2002-03	Everwood	Miss Violet	Recurring role: 3 episodes
2003	Boomtown	Landlady	Episode: Lost Child
2004	Six Feet Under	Dorothy Sheedy	Episode: In Case of Rapture
2004	A Thief of Time	Ranger Mildred Luna	Made-for-TV movie
2004	Wonderfalls	Marianne Marie Beattle	Episode: Muffin Buffalo
2004	JAG	Senator Maria Tsangrides	Episode: Whole New Ball Game
2005	Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend	Angela	Made-for-TV movie
2005	8 Simple Rules	Mrs. Whitley	Episode: Freaky Friday
2006	My Name is Earl	Lorraine Mariano	Episode: Van Hickey
2006-07	Jericho	Gracie Leigh	Recurring role: 10 episodes
2007	Drive	The Waitress	Episode: Partners
2007	Bones	Lizbeth Harding	Episode: The Secret in the Soil
2007	Polly and Marie	Bell	Made-for-TV movie
2008	According to Jim	Mrs. Whitney	Episode: All Dolled Up
2008	Sordid Lives: The Series	Sissy Hickey	Series regular
2008	Pushing Daisies	Marianne Marie Beattle	Episode: Comfort Food
2008-13	The Office	Melvina	Episodes: "Dinner Party" (as Dwight's babysitter) "Junior Salesman"
2010	Medium	Librarian	Episode: Dear Dad
2010	Criminal Minds	Anita Weld Roycewood	Episode: Mosley Lane
2010	A Drop of True Blood	Joanne Smallwood	Webseries: Episode - Bill
2011	Futurestates	June	Episode: Spring of Sorrow
2011	American Dad!	N/A	Episode: Gorillas in the Mist
2012	Modern Family	Maxine	Episode: Tableau Vivant
2012	BlackBoxTV	Mom/Donna	Episode: AEZP: The Hollow
2012	Dexter	Donna Randall	Episode: Buck the System
2012	Mockingbird Lane	Marie	Made-for-TV movie
2012-present	The Mindy Project	Beverly	Guest star: Episode 2 Series Regular: Episode 15-present
2013	Justified	Mother Truth	Episode: Where's Waldo
2013	Grey's Anatomy	Sheila Olsen	Episode: The End Is the Beginning Is the End
2013	The Secret Life of the American Teenager	Victoria	Recurring role: 2 episodes
2013	Husbands	Gillian Kelly	Recurring role - present
2013	The Millers	Myra	Episode: Giving the Bird
2014	I Didn't Do It	Judy Tanzer-Dinkins	Episode: Now Museum, Now You Don't

Awards and nominations

Ovation Awards

• 2010: Won the award for Lead Actress in a Play for the role of Grace in the Colony Theatre Company production of Grace & Glorie

[ Source: Wikipedia ]