Early life

Harden, one of five children, was born in La Jolla, California, the daughter of Texas natives Beverly (née Bushfield), a housewife, and Thad Harold Harden (1932-2002), who was an officer in the United States Navy. One of Harden's brothers is named Thaddeus, as is her former husband. Harden's family frequently moved because of her father's job, living in Japan, Germany, Greece, California, and Maryland. She graduated from Surrattsville High School in Clinton, Maryland in 1976, the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in theatre, and the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts.

Career

Harden's first film role was in a 1979 student-produced movie at the University of Texas. Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in several television programs, including Simon & Simon, Kojak, and CBS Summer Playhouse. She appeared in the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing (1990), a 1930s mobster drama in which she first gained wide exposure. Even so, at the time, living in New York City, she had to go back to doing catering jobs "because I didn't have any money".

In 1992, she played actress Ava Gardner alongside Philip Casnoff as Frank Sinatra in the made for TV miniseries Sinatra. Throughout the 1990s, she continued to appear in films and television. Notable film roles include The Imagemaker (1986), her first screen role, in which she played a stage manager; the Disney sci-fi comedy Flubber (1997), a popular hit in which she co-starred with Robin Williams; the supernatural drama Meet Joe Black (1998); Labor of Love (1998), a Lifetime Television movie in which she starred with David Marshall Grant; and Space Cowboys (2000), an all-star adventure-drama about aging astronauts.

In 1993, Harden debuted on Broadway in the role of Harper Pitt (and others) in Tony Kushner's Angels in America. The role earned her critical acclaim and she received a Tony Award nomination (Best Featured Actress in a Play). The winner in that category was Debra Monk in Redwood Curtain.

Harden was awarded the 2000 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of painter Lee Krasner in Pollock (2000). In 2003, she was again nominated in the same category for Mystic River.

Harden guest-starred as FBI undercover agent Dana Lewis posing as a white-supremacist in "Raw", an episode of the popular crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2007, this role earned Harden her first Emmy Award nomination for best guest actress in a drama series. She reprised the role in the series' eighth season premiere and again in the twelfth season episode "Penetration" as a rape victim (aired November 10, 2010).

In 2007, Harden appeared in several films, including Sean Penn's critically acclaimed Into the Wild, and Frank Darabont's The Mist (opposite Thomas Jane and Laurie Holden), based on the novella by Stephen King. Also in 2007 she shared top billing with Kevin Bacon in Rails & Ties, the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood.

In 2008, she appeared in Home playing a woman who has had a mastectomy (Her character in Rails & Ties also had a mastectomy). One central scene called for her to bare her breasts, with the missing breast "removed" using computer-generated imagery. In Home, her co-stars include her daughter, Eulala Scheel. Harden starred in the Christmas Cottage (2008), a story of the early artistic beginnings of the Painter of Light, Thomas Kinkade. In 2009, she appeared as a regular on the critically acclaimed FX series Damages as a shrewd corporate attorney, opposite Glenn Close and William Hurt. Harden also played in the comedy The Maiden Heist (2009) with Christopher Walken and Morgan Freeman. Harden received a 2009 Emmy nomination for her role in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a TV film also starring Oscar-winner Anna Paquin. She was a Best Supporting Actress in a TV Movie/Miniseries nominee, and lost to Shohreh Aghdashloo. If she had won this Emmy, Harden would have entered the elite group of 'triple-crown' actors; those who have won the profession's three highest honors: the Academy Award (film), the Tony Award (stage) and the Emmy Award (television).

In 2009, Harden co-starred with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore in Whip It, which proved a critical success. It was also in this year that Harden returned to Broadway in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, where she co-starred with James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels. All three actors were nominated for the Tony Award, and on June 8, Harden won Best Actress in a Play.

Together, Harden's films have grossed $724,487,920 domestically and $1,128,784,661 worldwide.

In 2013, Harden reunited with her former Broadway co-star Jeff Daniels as a new cast member on HBO's series The Newsroom.

Personal life

Harden married Thaddaeus Scheel, a prop master whom she worked with on The Spitfire Grill (1996), in 1996. Harden and Scheel have three children: a daughter, Eulala Grace Scheel (September 1998), and twins Julitta Dee Scheel and Hudson Scheel Harden (April 22, 2004). In February 2012, Harden filed for divorce from Scheel.

On December 14, 2003, her nephew Sander Waring Harden and niece Audrey Gay Harden died along with their mother Rebecca Harden, as a result of a fire in their Queens, New York, apartment. Rebecca Harden was, at the time, divorced from Marcia Gay's brother, the children's father, Thaddeus Harden.

On May 22, 2010, Harden delivered the 127th Spring Commencement Address at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Miller's Crossing	Verna Bernbaum
1991	Late for Dinner	Joy Husband
1992	Crush	Lane
1992	Used People	Norma
1994	Safe Passage	Cynthia
1996	The Spitfire Grill	Shelby Goddard
1996	The Daytrippers	Libby
1996	The First Wives Club	Dr. Leslie Rosen
1996	Spy Hard	Miss Cheevus
1997	Flubber	Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds
1998	Desperate Measures	Dr. Samantha Hawkins
1998	Meet Joe Black	Allison Parrish
1998	Curtain Call	Michelle Tippet
2000	Space Cowboys	Sara Holland
2000	Pollock	Lee Krasner
2001	Gaudi Afternoon	Frankie Stevens
2003	Mystic River	Celeste Boyle
2003	Casa de los Babys	Nan
2003	Mona Lisa Smile	Nancy Abbey
2004	Welcome to Mooseport	Grace Sutherland
2004	P.S.	Missy Goldberg
2005	Bad News Bears	Liz Whitewood
2005	Willa Cather: The Road Is All	Willa Cather	Voice role
2005	American Gun	Janet Huttenson
2006	American Dreamz	First Lady
2006	The Dead Girl	Melora
2006	The Hoax	Edith Irving
2006	Canvas	Mary Marino
2007	The Invisible	Diane Powell
2007	Into the Wild	Billie McCandless
2007	Rails & Ties	Megan Stark
2007	The Mist	Mrs. Carmody
2008	Home	Inga
2008	Thomas Kinkade's Home for Christmas	Maryanne Kinkade
2009	The Maiden Heist	Rose
2009	Whip It	Brooke Cavendar
2010	A Cat in Paris	Jeanne	Voice role
2011	Detachment	Principal Carol Dearden
2011	Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You	Marjorie Dunfour
2012	Noah's Ark: The New Beginning	Aamah	Voice role
2012	If I Were You	Madelyn
2013	The Wine of Summer	Shelley
2013	Parkland	Head Nurse Doris Nelson
2014	Magic in the Moonlight	Mrs. Baker
2014	You're Not You	Elizabeth
2014	Elsa & Fred	Lydia Barcroft
2014	Unity	Narrator	Documentary
2015	Grandma	Judy
2015	After Words	Jane Taylor
2015	Fifty Shades of Grey	Grace Trevelyan Grey
2015	Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant	President of the FAFAFA
2016	Get a Job	Katherine Dunn
2017	Fifty Shades Darker	Grace Trevelyan Grey	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Kim	"In the Lion's Den"
1988	Simon & Simon	Librarian, Joan	Episode: "Ties That Bind"
1989	Gideon Oliver	Lila	Episode: "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver"
1991	In Broad Daylight	Adina Rowan	TV movie
1991	Fever	Lacy	Movie
1992	Sinatra	Ava Gardner	Movie
1995	Fallen Angels	Marie	Episode: "Good Housekeeping"
1995	Chicago Hope	Barbara Tomilson	Episode: "Internal Affairs"
1995	Great Performances		Episode: "Talking With"
1995	Homicide: Life on the Street	Joan Garbarek	Episode: "A Doll's Eyes"
1997	Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing	Nancy Floyd	Movie
1998	Labor of Love	Annie Pines	Movie
1999	Spenser: Small Vices	Susan Silverman	Movie
2000	Thin Air	Susan Silverman	Movie
2001	Walking Shadow	Susan Silverman	Movie
2002	Guilty Hearts	Jenny Moran	Movie
2001	The Education of Max Bickford	Andrea Haskell	22 episodes
2002	King of Texas	Mrs. Susannah Lear Tumlinson	Movie
2004	She's Too Young	Trish Vogul	Movie
2005	Felicity: An American Girl Adventure	Mrs. Martha Merriman	Movie
2005-13	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	FBI Special Agent Dana Lewis	4 episodes
2006	In from the Night	Vicki Miller	Movie
2008	The Tower	Zoe Cafritz	Movie
2008	Sex and Lies in Sin City	Becky Binion	Movie
2009	Damages	Claire Maddox	7 episodes
2009	The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler	Janina Kyzyzanowska	Movie
2010	Royal Pains	Dr. Elizabeth Blair	3 episodes
2011	Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy	Edda Mellas	Movie
2011	Innocent	Barbara Sabich	Movie
2012	Body of Proof	Sheila Temple	Episode: "Sympathy for the Devil"
2012	Bent	Vanessa Carter	Episode: "Mom"
2012	Tron: Uprising	Keller (voice)	2 episodes
2012	Isabel	Frances Lorenz	Movie
2013-14	The Newsroom	Rebecca Halliday	10 episodes
2013-14	Trophy Wife	Diane	22 episodes
2015	How to Get Away with Murder	Hannah Keating	3 episodes
2015-present	Code Black	Dr. Leanne Rorish	Main role

Awards and nominations

Theatre

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1993	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play	Angels in America: Millennium Approaches	Nominated
	Theatre World Awards	Distinguished Performance		Won
	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actress in a Play		Nominated
1994	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play	Angels in America: Perestroika	Nominated
2009		Outstanding Actress in a Play	God of Carnage	Nominated
	Tony Awards	Best Actress in a Play		Won

Film and television

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1996	National Board of Review of Motion Pictures	Best Acting by an Ensemble	The First Wives Club	Won
2000	New York Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actress	Pollock	Won
2001	Academy Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role		Won
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Female		Nominated
	National Society of Film Critics	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
2003	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television	King of Texas	Nominated
	Boston Society of Film Critics	Best Ensemble Cast	Mystic River	Won
	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
2004	Academy Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role		Nominated
	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama		Nominated
2007	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Female	American Gun	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The Mist	Won
2008	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Into the Wild	Nominated
2009	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie	The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler	Nominated

Other

In 2002, she received the Excellence in acting award at the Provincetown International Film Festival.

Charities

Marcia Gay Harden supports the following charitable cause: Red Cross.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]