Early life

Harper was born Tessie Jean Washam on August 15, 1950 in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, the daughter of Ed and Rosemary (Langston) Washam. She grew up around lots of quilts and quilt makers. On her own time, she liked to sit on the porch-swing and read. She graduated from high school in 1968. She attended Arkansas State University-Beebe (ASU-Beebe), where she performed in several plays, as well as Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) in Springfield, where she graduated with a degree in education.

Career

Tess Harper began acting in theater production and appearances in theme parks, including Dogpatch, USA and Silver Dollar City, dinner theatres and children's theatre. She had given up hopes of an acting career and was working for a financial institution in Texas. The institution wanted to produce a TV spot and asked Tessie to be in the spot which she accepted. In a twist of fate, a casting person with Tender Mercies had to spend the night in Dallas and saw Tess's spot on TV. She called Duvall and arranged an audition. Director Bruce Beresford was impressed with Harper and cast her in the lead female role of Rosa Lee, the young widow and mother who marries country singer Mac Sledge. Beresford said the previous actress who auditioned for the role brought to it a sophistication and worldliness inappropriate for the part, whereas Harper brought a kind of rural quality without coming across as simple or foolish. Beresford said of Harper, "She walked into the room and even before she spoke, I thought, 'That's the girl to play the lead.'"

Tender Mercies was Harper's feature film debut. Harper said she was so excited about the role that she bit her script just to make sure it was real, and she was so nervous that during her first take she feared the filmmakers would "come to their senses and say, 'We're sorry, we made a terrible mistake.'" Actor Robert Duvall, who played the lead role of Mac Sledge, did his best to help Harper in her first film role. During one scene in which Mac Sledge and Rosa Lee were fighting, Duvall yelled at a make-up artist in front of Harper specifically to make her angry for the scene; Duvall apologized to the make-up artist after the scene was shot. After filming, Duvall said Harper did a very good job, and he felt her rural past in Arkansas helped her in the part. She earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for the role. Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

Harper appeared in the TV mini-series Chiefs (1983) and Celebrity (1984), as well as many television movies including Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983) and Reckless Disregard (1985). In 1983, she appeared in the full-length feature Silkwood.

In 1986, Harper was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work as Chick Boyle in Crimes of the Heart, which was directed by her Tender Mercies director Bruce Beresford. She later played parts in Ishtar (1987), Far North (1988), The Man in the Moon (1991), The Jackal (1997) and Loggerheads (2005). She also took part in Michael Jackson's Black Or White (1991) musical minifilm.

Harper had a regular role in a CBS television series, Christy, from 1994-95. Her roles have frequently been that of a Southern lady, although she had worked to lose her Arkansas accent. She also had a recurring role on another CBS television series, Early Edition, from 1996 to 2000. She portrayed the mother of lead character Gary Hobsen. Harper shared a Screen Actors Guild Award (in the Best Ensemble Cast category) with her fellow cast members in the Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men, in which she played the wife of Tommy Lee Jones.

She had the recurring role of Mrs. Pinkman on Breaking Bad, appearing in the first three seasons.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Kentucky Woman	Lorna Whateley	TV movie
1983	Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land	Janet Briggs	TV movie
1983	Tender Mercies	Rosa Lee	Nominee, Best Supporting Actress (Golden Globes)
1983	Chiefs	Carrie Lee	TV mini-series
1983	Amityville 3-D	Nancy Baxter
1983	Silkwood	Linda Dawson
1984	Celebrity	Susan French	TV mini-series
1984	Flashpoint	Ellen	1984 A Summer to Remember
1985	Reckless Disregard	Meredith Craig	TV movie
1985	George Burns Comedy Week		Episode: "The Smiths"
1985	Promises to Keep	Gwen Palmer	TV movie
1986	Twilight Zone, TheThe Twilight Zone	Sarah	Episode: "Quarantine"
1986	Crimes of the Heart	Chick Boyle	Nominee, Best Supporting Actress (Academy Awards)
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Irene Rutledge	Episode: "Simon Says, Color Me Dead"
1987	L.A. Law	Patricia Pittman	Episode: "Sparky Brackman: R.I.P. ????-1987"
1987	Daddy	Ann Burnette	TV movie
1987	Ishtar	Willa
1988	Little Girl Lost	Clara Brady	TV movie
1988	Far North	Rita
1988	Criminal Law	Det. Stillwell
1989	Unconquered	Mrs. Mary Flowers	TV movie
1989	Her Alibi	Sally Blackwood
1989	Incident at Dark River	Betty McFall	TV movie
1990	Thirtysomething	Deborah	Episode: "Post-Op"
1990	Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will?	Sara Lee Turnover
1991	Pretty Hattie's Baby
1991	My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys	Cheryl
1991	Man in the Moon, TheThe Man in the Moon	Abigail Trant
1991	Black or White	Mother	Video short
1992	In the Line of Duty: Siege at Marion	Vickie Singer	TV movie
1992	Turning, TheThe Turning	Martha Harnish
1992	My New Gun	Kimmy Hayes
1992	Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story	Verna Heath	TV movie
1993	Hidden Room, TheThe Hidden Room	Dede	Episode: "After the Crash"
1994-1995	Christy	Fairlight Spencer	19 episodes
1995	Death in Small Doses	Asst. D.A. Jerri Sims	TV movie
1996	Road to Galveston, TheThe Road to Galveston	Julia Archer	TV movie
1996	Stranger to Love, AA Stranger to Love	Linda Grant	TV movie
1996	Dirty Laundry	Beth Greene
1997	Secret, TheThe Secret	Tina DeCapprio	TV movie
1997	Grace Under Fire	Joan	Episode: "Matthew's Old Lady"
1997	Child's Wish, AA Child's Wish	Joanna Chandler	TV movie
1997	Gun	Virginia	Episode: "Ricochet"
1997	Walker, Texas Ranger	Katie Malloy	Episode: "Sons of Thunder"
1997	Jackal, TheThe Jackal	The First Lady
1997	Cracker: Mind Over Murder	Lea Ann Garner	Episode: "An American Dream"
1998-2000	Early Edition	Lois Hobson	7 episodes
2000	Morning	Margaret
2000	Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder	Narrator / Older Laura Ingalls Wilder	TV movie
2000	In Crowd, TheThe In Crowd	Dr. Amanda Giles
2000	Touched by an Angel	Betsy Baxter	Episode: "The Empty Chair"
2001	Rising Place, TheThe Rising Place	Rebecca Hodge
2001	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Julia Barrett	Episode: "Bully for You"
2002	Beyond the Prairie 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder	Older Laura Ingalls Wilder (voice)	TV movie
2002	No Prom for Cindy	Cindy's Mom	Short film
2003	Division, TheThe Division	Polly Danko	Episode: "Oh Mother, Who Art Thou?"
2003	Studio City	Linda Little	Short film
2004	One Tree Hill	May Scott	Episode: "Crash Course in Polite Conversations"
2004	Lonely Place		Short film
2004	Jack & Bobby	Karen Carmichael	Episode: "Pilot" Episode: "An Innocent Man"
2004	Angel in the Family	Mrs. Nelly Tomkins	TV movie
2005	Loggerheads	Elizabeth Austin
2005	Judging Amy	Barbara Nissman	Episode: "Sorry I Missed You"
2006	Karla	Molly Czehowicz
2006	Jam	Ruby
2006	Jesus, Mary and Joey	Liz O'Callahan
2006	Broken Bridges	Dixie Rose Delton
2006	Broken	Clare
2007	Judy's Got a Gun	Susan Lemen	TV movie
2007	Without a Trace	Mrs. Spade	Episode: "At Rest"
2007	No Country for Old Men	Loretta Bell
2007	Kiss the Bride	Barbara
2007	Saving Sarah Cain	Miriam Esh
2007	Brothers & Sisters	Beth Ridge	Episode: "History Repeating"
2008	Ghost Whisperer	Ellen Wilkins	Episode: "Stranglehold"
2008-2010	Breaking Bad	Mrs. Pinkman	Episode: "Cancer Man" Episode: "Grilled" Episode: "Down" Episode: "Caballo sin Nombre"
2009	Fatal Secrets	Naomi
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Mrs. Hallander	Episode: "Stranger"
2009	Cold Case	Sharon Lertola	Episode: "November 22"
2009	Crash	Wendy Olinville	10 episodes
2010	Buried	Maryanne (voice)
2010	Grey's Anatomy	Mrs. Nelson	Episode: "Perfect Little Accident"
2010	In Plain Sight	A.U.S.A. Rolly	Episode: "Coma Chameleon"
2011	A Christmas Wish	Trudy Willis
2012	Revenge	Carole Miller	2 episodes
2013	Sunlight Jr.	Kathleen
2013	Straight A's	Mother
2014	True Detective	Mrs. Kelly	Episode: "Seeing Things"
2014	Frank	Frank's Mother
2015	Criminal Minds	Dinah Troy	Episode: "Rock Creek Park"
2015	Surprise	Linda	Short film
2015	The Perfect Guy	Mrs. McCarthy

[ Source: Wikipedia ]