Frances McDormand Biography

Frances McDormand studied at the Yale School of Drama. Stage appearances include The Country Girl directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway, Caryl Churchill’s Far Away directed by Stephen Daldry at New York Theatre Workshop, her Tony-nominated performance as ‘Stella’ in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Sisters Rosenzweig directed by Daniel Sullivan at Lincoln Center Theatre, The Swan at The Public Theatre, A Streetcar Named Desire (this time as ‘Blanche’) at the Gate Theater in Dublin, and Dare Clubb's Oedipus at the Blue Light Theater Company opposite Billy Crudup. With The Wooster Group, she performed in To You, The Birdie! and North Atlantic. Films include Burn After Reading, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Friends With Money, Laurel Canyon, Something’s Gotta Give, Wonder Boys, City By The Sea, Madeline, Primal Fear, Lone Star, Palookaville, Chattahoochee, Darkman, Hidden Agenda, Short Cuts, Beyond Rangoon, Paradise Road, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Raising Arizona, and Blood Simple. She can next be seen in Transformers 3 and opposite Sean Penn in This Must Be the Place. She is the recipient of four Academy Award nominations: Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous, North Country, and Fargo, for which she received the award for her performance as ‘Marge Gunderson’.