Marcia Gay Harden
Acting • Born 1959-08-14
Biography
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
145 credits
Meet Joe Black
Movie • 1998
Allison
Mystic River
Movie • 2003
Celeste Boyle
Miller's Crossing
Movie • 1990
Verna
Spy Hard
Movie • 1996
Miss Cheevus
Daughter of the Bride
Movie • 2023
Diane
The First Wives Club
Movie • 1996
Dr. Leslie Rosen
Space Cowboys
Movie • 2000
Sara Holland
The Mist
Movie • 2007
Mrs. Carmody
Into the Wild
Movie • 2007
Billie McCandless
Whip It
Movie • 2009
Brooke Cavendar
In from the Night
Movie • 2006
Vicki Miller
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
Movie • 2009
Janina Krzyżanowska
Mona Lisa Smile
Movie • 2003
Nancy Abbey
The Maiden Heist
Movie • 2009
Rose Barlow
Desperate Measures
Movie • 1998
Dr. Samantha Hawkins
Felicity: An American Girl Adventure
Movie • 2005
Mrs. Martha Merriman
American Dreamz
Movie • 2006
First Lady
Flubber
Movie • 1997
Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds
The Invisible
Movie • 2007
Diane Powell
Pollock
Movie • 2000
Lee Krasner
Bad News Bears
Movie • 2005
Liz Whitewood
The Hoax
Movie • 2006
Edith Irving
The Dead Girl
Movie • 2006
Melora
Christmas Cottage
Movie • 2008
Maryanne Kinkade
Superman's 50th Anniversary: A Celebration of the Man of Steel
Movie • 1988
Marcia Connelly
Rails & Ties
Movie • 2007
Megan Stark
American Gun
Movie • 2005
Janet Huttenson
Crush
Movie • 1992
Lane
Casa de los Babys
Movie • 2003
Nan
Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing
Movie • 1997
Nancy Floyd
Welcome to Mooseport
Movie • 2004
Grace Sutherland
King of Texas
Movie • 2002
Mrs. Susannah Lear Tumlinson
The Spitfire Grill
Movie • 1996
Shelby Goddard
Curtain Call
Movie • 1998
Michelle Tippet
Safe Passage
Movie • 1994
Cynthia
Home
Movie • 2009
Inga
Innocent
Movie • 2011
Barbara Sabich
Canvas
Movie • 2006
Mary Marino
Detachment
Movie • 2011
Principal Carol Dearden
Late for Dinner
Movie • 1991
Joy Husband
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
Movie • 2012
Marjorie Dunfour
Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy
Movie • 2011
Edda Mellas
In Broad Daylight
Movie • 1991
Adina Rowan
If I Were You
Movie • 2013
Madelyn
Convict Cowboy
Movie • 1995
Maggie Sinclair
Get a Job
Movie • 2016
Katherine Dunn
Small Vices
Movie • 1999
Susan Silverman
Parkland
Movie • 2013
Doris Nelson
Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story
Movie • 2013
Self
Walking Shadow
Movie • 2001
Susan Silverman
Fifty Shades of Grey
Movie • 2015
Dr. Grey
Thin Air
Movie • 2000
Susan Silverman
Magic in the Moonlight
Movie • 2014
Mrs. Baker
Gaudi Afternoon
Movie • 2001
Frankie
Together in Pride: You Are Not Alone
Movie • 2020
Self
Elsa & Fred
Movie • 2014
Lydia
Far Harbor
Movie • 1996
Arabella
You're Not You
Movie • 2014
Elizabeth
Confess, Fletch
Movie • 2022
Countess Sylvia de Grassi
Fever
Movie • 1991
Lacy
See You in My Dreams
Movie • 2004
Angela Brown
Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner
Movie • 2006
Self
Grandma
Movie • 2015
Judy
She's Too Young
Movie • 2004
Trish Vogul
Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast
Movie • 2005
Self - Presenter
Used People
Movie • 1992
Norma
Sweet Tornado: Margo Jones and the American Theater
Movie • 2006
Narrator
Unity
Movie • 2015
Narrator (voice)
Knox Goes Away
Movie • 2024
Ruby Knox
After Words
Movie • 2015
Jane Taylor
Willa Cather: The Road Is All
Movie • 2005
Voice of Willa Cather
The Wine of Summer
Movie • 2013
Shelley
The Cold Open
Movie • 2019
Fifty Shades Darker
Movie • 2017
Grace Trevelyan Grey
Talking With
Movie • 1995
Laurie (segment "Clear Glass Marbles")
Fifty Shades Freed
Movie • 2018
Grace Grey
Labor of Love
Movie • 1998
Annie Pines
Kojak: None So Blind
Movie • 1990
Angelina
Renner
Movie • 2025
Salenus (voice)
Not Only Strangers
Movie • 1979
Jennie
Sex and Lies in Sin City
Movie • 2009
Becky Binion
In the Wings: Angels in America On Broadway
Movie • 1993
Guilty Hearts
Movie • 2002
Jenny Moran
Point Blank
Movie • 2019
Lieutenant Lewis
P.S.
Movie • 2004
Missy Goldberg
Geoffrey Beene 30
Movie • 1993
From Where I Sit
Movie • 2000
Sharon
Love You to Death
Movie • 2019
Camile Stoller
Moxie
Movie • 2021
Principal Shelly
Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant
Movie • 2015
President of the FAFAFA
When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'
Movie • 2008
Self
The Daytrippers
Movie • 1997
Libby
Pink Skies Ahead
Movie • 2020
Pamela
Tell It Like a Woman
Movie • 2022
Dr. Partovi
Gigi & Nate
Movie • 2022
Claire Gibson
Fog City Mavericks
Movie • 2007
Self
The Tower
Movie • 2008
Zoe Cafritz
The Dreadful
Movie • 2026
Morwen
Street Smart
Movie
Dr. Partovi
In the Night I Remember Your Name
Movie • 2018
Pastor Joyce Speegle (voice)
Mystic River: Beneath the Surface
Movie • 2004
Self
Mystic River: From Page to Screen
Movie • 2003
Self
This Ordinary Thing
Movie • 2025
Self (voice)
Simon & Simon
TV • 1981
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Tamron Hall
TV • 2019
Self - Guest
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Dana Lewis
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
Homicide: Life on the Street
TV • 1993
Joan Garbarek
Damages
TV • 2007
Claire Maddox
Chicago Hope
TV • 1994
Barbara Tomilson
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Vicki Miller
The Education of Max Bickford
TV • 2001
Andrea Haskell
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Drift
TV
Trophy Wife
TV • 2013
Dr. Diane Buckley
Money, Explained
TV • 2021
Self - Narrator
How to Get Away with Murder
TV • 2014
Hannah Keating
Bent
TV • 2012
Vanessa Carter
Code Black
TV • 2015
Dr. Leanne Rorish
Body of Proof
TV • 2011
Sheila Temple
Gideon Oliver
TV • 1989
Lila
Sinatra
TV • 1992
Ava Gardner
So Help Me Todd
TV • 2022
Margaret
Sherri
TV • 2022
Self - Guest
Uncoupled
TV • 2022
Claire Lewis
The Cuphead Show!
TV • 2022
Sally Stageplay (voice)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self - Guest
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV • 2009
Self - Guest
Fallen Angels
TV • 1993
Marie
RuPaul
TV • 2019
Self
The Kelly Clarkson Show
TV • 2019
Self
A Million Little Things
TV • 2018
Alice Mendez
BoJack Horseman
TV • 2014
Denise (voice)
The Morning Show
TV • 2019
Maggie Brener
Reef Break
TV • 2019
Betty Ann Miller
Barkskins
TV • 2020
Mathilde Geffard
The Newsroom
TV • 2012
Rebecca Halliday
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Self
The Oil Fund
TV • 2018
USA Ambassadør
BoJack Horseman
TV • 2014
Denise / McCaitlyn (voice)
Royal Pains
TV • 2009
Dr. Elizabeth Blair
TRINITY
TV • 2026
Margaret Vandenburg
Murder in a Small Town
TV • 2024
Mayor Christie Holman
People's Choice Awards
TV • 1975
Self - Presenter