Born 1959 (age 66) · La Jolla, California, USA
Appears in 146 titles

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.

Filmography

Fifty Shades of Grey
5.9
Fifty Shades of Grey
2015
as Dr. Grey
Into the Wild
7.8
Into the Wild
2007
as Billie McCandless
Fifty Shades Freed
6.7
Fifty Shades Freed
2018
as Grace Grey
Fifty Shades Darker
6.5
Fifty Shades Darker
2017
as Grace Trevelyan Grey
Mystic River
7.7
Mystic River
2003
as Celeste Boyle
The Mist
6.9
The Mist
2007
as Mrs. Carmody
Meet Joe Black
7.4
Meet Joe Black
1998
as Allison
Flubber
5.7
Flubber
1997
as Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds
Magic in the Moonlight
6.5
Magic in the Moonlight
2014
as Mrs. Baker
Detachment
7.6
Detachment
2011
as Principal Carol Dearden
Mona Lisa Smile
6.9
Mona Lisa Smile
2003
as Nancy Abbey
Miller's Crossing
7.5
Miller's Crossing
1990
as Verna
Space Cowboys
6.4
Space Cowboys
2000
as Sara Holland
Whip It
6.7
Whip It
2009
as Brooke Cavendar
Moxie
7.2
Moxie
2021
as Principal Shelly
You're Not You
7.4
You're Not You
2014
as Elizabeth
The First Wives Club
6.7
The First Wives Club
1996
as Dr. Leslie Rosen
Spy Hard
5.4
Spy Hard
1996
as Miss Cheevus
Get a Job
5.3
Get a Job
2016
as Katherine Dunn
The Invisible
6.4
The Invisible
2007
as Diane Powell