
Marcia Gay Harden
Acting
Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American film and stage actress. She is the recipient of many accolades including an Academy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards. She began her acting career appearing in television programs throughout the 1980s. In 1986, she appeared in her first film role, with her breakthrough coming in the 1990 Coen brothers-directed Miller's Crossing. Her next notable film credits include The First Wives Club (1996), Flubber (1997), and Space Cowboys (2000). She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lee Krasner in Pollock (2000). She had a supporting role in Mona Lisa Smile (2003). She received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance as Celeste Boyle in the drama film Mystic River (2003). She appeared in several 2007 films, including Sean Penn's Into the Wild and Frank Darabont's The Mist, 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. Harden played a woman who has a mastectomy in Home (2008). (Her character in Rails & Ties also had a mastectomy.) One scene required her to bare her breasts, with the missing breast removed using computer-generated imagery. In Home, her co-stars include her daughter, Eulala Scheel. In 2009, she had quite a busy year. She appeared as a regular on the FX series Damages as a shrewd corporate attorney opposite Glenn Close and William Hurt. She co-starred in the films Whip It, and The Maiden Heist. She returned to Broadway in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, co-starring with James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels. All three actors were nominated for a Tony Award; Harden won Best Actress in a Play. She received her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role as FBI Special Agent Dana Lewis in the crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and earned a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her performance as Janina Krzyżanowska in the television film The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009). She reunited with her former Broadway co-star Jeff Daniels as a new cast member on HBO's series The Newsroom in 2013. In 2015, she had a starring role in the medical drama Code Black. Her other notable television credits include ABC's How to Get Away with Murder and the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show. She played Christian Grey's mother, Grace Trevelyan Grey, in the Fifty Shades film series from 2015 to 2018. She stars in the 2022 CBS drama So Help Me Todd.
Born: August 14, 1959 · La Jolla, California, USA
Filmography (115)

The Dreadful
2026

Renner
2025

Murder in a Small Town
2024

Knox Goes Away
2024

Daughter of the Bride
2023

Tell It Like a Woman
2022

So Help Me Todd
2022

Confess, Fletch
2022

Sherri
2022

Gigi & Nate
2022

Uncoupled
2022

The Cuphead Show!
2022

Money, Explained
2021

Moxie
2021

Pink Skies Ahead
2020

Barkskins
2020

The Morning Show
2019

Tamron Hall
2019

The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019

Point Blank
2019

Reef Break
2019

RuPaul
2019

Love You to Death
2019

The Oil Fund
2018

A Million Little Things
2018

Fifty Shades Freed
2018

Fifty Shades Darker
2017

Get a Job
2016

Code Black
2015

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015

After Words
2015

Unity
2015

Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant
2015

Grandma
2015

Fifty Shades of Grey
2015

You're Not You
2014

How to Get Away with Murder
2014

BoJack Horseman
2014

Magic in the Moonlight
2014

Elsa & Fred
2014

Parkland
2013

Trophy Wife
2013

The Wine of Summer
2013

Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story
2013

If I Were You
2013

The Newsroom
2012

Bent
2012

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
2012

Innocent
2011

Detachment
2011

Body of Proof
2011

Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy
2011

Sex and Lies in Sin City
2009

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009

Royal Pains
2009

The Maiden Heist
2009

Home
2009

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
2009

Whip It
2009

Christmas Cottage
2008

When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'
2008

The Mist
2007

Into the Wild
2007

Rails & Ties
2007

Damages
2007

The Invisible
2007

Canvas
2006

The Dead Girl
2006

The Hoax
2006

In from the Night
2006

American Dreamz
2006

Felicity: An American Girl Adventure
2005

American Gun
2005

Bad News Bears
2005

P.S.
2004

Welcome to Mooseport
2004

She's Too Young
2004

Mona Lisa Smile
2003

Mystic River
2003

Casa de los Babys
2003

King of Texas
2002

The Education of Max Bickford
2001

Gaudi Afternoon
2001

Pollock
2000

Space Cowboys
2000

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999

Curtain Call
1998

Meet Joe Black
1998

Desperate Measures
1998

Flubber
1997

The View
1997

Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing
1997

The Daytrippers
1997

Far Harbor
1996

The First Wives Club
1996

The Spitfire Grill
1996

Spy Hard
1996

Convict Cowboy
1995

Safe Passage
1994

Chicago Hope
1994

Fallen Angels
1993

Homicide: Life on the Street
1993

Used People
1992

Sinatra
1992

Crush
1992

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992

Late for Dinner
1991

Fever
1991

In Broad Daylight
1991

Miller's Crossing
1990

Simon & Simon
1981

People's Choice Awards
1975

Great Performances
1971

The Oscars
1953

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
