Melissa Leo
Acting • Born 1960-09-14
Biography
Melissa Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in 1985, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue/Woman in the Drama Series “All My Children”. Her most notable role as was as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on “Homicide: Life on the Street” for the show's first five seasons from 1993–1997. Following several films, Leo received critical acclaim and national attention in earning several nominations and awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Leo earned several awards for her role as Alice Ward in the critically acclaimed film, “The Fighter” (2010). For this role Leo won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Leo currently appears on the television series Treme. Leo currently resides in Stone Ridge, New York and two sons John Matthew Heard (born 1987), and Adam (adopted - born 1984).
Filmography
139 credits
21 Grams
Movie • 2003
Marianne Jordan
Frozen River
Movie • 2008
Ray Eddy
Hide and Seek
Movie • 2005
Laura
Bonnie
Movie • 2022
Self
Homicide: The Movie
Movie • 2000
Kay Howard
Welcome to the Rileys
Movie • 2010
Lois Riley
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Movie • 2005
Rachel
Measure of Revenge
Movie • 2022
Lillian
Lullaby
Movie • 2008
Stephanie
The House Is Burning
Movie • 2006
Mrs. Miller
Veronika Decides to Die
Movie • 2009
Mari
According to Greta
Movie • 2009
Karen
Everybody's Fine
Movie • 2009
Colleen
Black Irish
Movie • 2007
Margaret McKay
Righteous Kill
Movie • 2008
Cheryl
Coast
Movie • 2022
Olivia
Don McKay
Movie • 2009
Marie
Runaway
Movie • 2005
Lisa Adler
Charlie Countryman
Movie • 2013
Kate
American Gun
Movie • 2005
Louise
Conviction
Movie • 2010
Nancy Taylor
The Dry Land
Movie • 2010
Martha
The Fighter
Movie • 2010
Alice Ward
Deadtime Stories
Movie • 1986
Judith 'MaMa' Baer
Confess
Movie • 2005
Agnes Lessor
Queen of the Lot
Movie • 2010
Aunt Bee
Red State
Movie • 2011
Sara
Dear Lemon Lima
Movie • 2009
Mrs. Howard
Racing Daylight
Movie • 2007
Sadie / Anna
The Space Between
Movie • 2011
Montine
Seven Days in Utopia
Movie • 2011
Lily
The Ballad of Little Jo
Movie • 1993
Beatrice Grey
Oblivion
Movie • 2013
Sally
Streetwalkin'
Movie • 1985
Cookie
The Sea Is All I Know
Movie • 2011
Sara
Francine
Movie • 2012
Francine
From Other Worlds
Movie • 2004
Miriam
Fear of Fiction
Movie • 2000
Sigrid Anderssen
The 24 Hour Woman
Movie • 1999
Dr. Suzanne Pincus
Always … But Not Forever
Movie • 1985
Peggy
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
Movie • 2014
Bette Altmann
Prisoners
Movie • 2013
Holly Jones
Carolina Skeletons
Movie • 1991
Cassie
King Ivory
Movie • 2025
Ginger Greene
Olympus Has Fallen
Movie • 2013
Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
Santa Mesa
Movie • 2008
Maggie
Why Stop Now?
Movie • 2012
Penny
The Limbo Room
Movie • 2006
KC Collins
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
Movie • 2013
Robin
I'm Only There...
Movie • 1984
Maggie
Last Summer in the Hamptons
Movie • 1995
Trish Axelrod
Bottled Up
Movie • 2013
Fay
The View from Up Here
Movie • 2017
Claire
The Equalizer 3
Movie • 2023
Susan Plummer
Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy
Movie • 2013
Self - Narrator (voice)
A Time of Destiny
Movie • 1988
Josie Larraneta
Dwegons and Leprechauns
Movie • 2014
Grandma Fitz / Butterfly McDweg / Mrs. Fitzgerald
One Night
Movie • 2007
Wendy
Stephanie's Image
Movie • 2009
Stephanie
Flight
Movie • 2012
Ellen Block
Stephanie Daley
Movie • 2007
Miri Daley
The Equalizer
Movie • 2014
Susan Plummer
The Clean Up Crew
Movie • 2024
Siobhan
London Has Fallen
Movie • 2016
Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice
Movie • 1995
Carol Manning
Midnight Son
Movie • 2007
Rita
The Ever After
Movie • 2015
Penny
She's The Best Thing in It
Movie • 2015
Self
Nasty Boys
Movie • 1989
Katie Morrissey
Burn Country
Movie • 2016
Gloria
Hollywood Dreams
Movie • 2007
Aunt Bee
Snowden
Movie • 2016
Laura Poitras
The Big Short
Movie • 2015
Georgia Hale
Code of Ethics
Movie • 1999
Jo DeAngelo
All the Way
Movie • 2016
Lady Bird Johnson
Damnation: The Flashback
Movie • 2015
Noda Marra
The Cake Eaters
Movie • 2007
Ceci Kimbrough
The Knife
Movie • 2025
Detective Carlsen
Long Gone Heroes
Movie • 2024
Olivia
By a Thread
Movie • 1992
Helen
The Most Hated Woman in America
Movie • 2017
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Novitiate
Movie • 2017
Reverend Mother
I Believe in America
Movie • 2007
Soto
The Bride in Black
Movie • 1990
Mary Margaret
True Adolescents
Movie • 2009
Sharon Mitchell
Immaculate Conception
Movie • 1992
Hannah
Venice/Venice
Movie • 1992
Peggy
The Ashram
Movie • 2018
Chandra
The Equalizer 2
Movie • 2018
Susan Plummer
Dear Lemon Lima
Movie • 2007
Mrs. Howard
Unlovable
Movie • 2018
Maddie
Furlough
Movie • 2018
Joan Anderson
After the Spill
Movie • 2015
Narrator
The Parting Glass
Movie • 2018
Al
Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer
Movie • 2018
Narrator
Silent Witness
Movie • 1985
Patti Mullen
Mr. Woodcock
Movie • 2007
Sally Jansen
Body Brokers
Movie • 2021
Dr. White
The Alphabet Killer
Movie • 2008
Kathy Walsh
The Butterfly, The Harp, and The Timepiece
Movie • 2015
Papillon
Bomb
Movie • 2007
Thunder Force
Movie • 2021
Allie
Ida Red
Movie • 2021
Ida ‘Red’ Walker
Alone Together
Movie • 2022
Deborah
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
Movie • 1997
Self
Jane
Movie • 2022
Principal Rhodes
AFTER: Poetry Destroys Silence
Movie • 2024
Passenger
Movie • 2026
Guns Up
Movie • 2025
Michael Temple
Ron Forever
Movie
Hilda
The Rooster Prince
Movie
Elaine
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
TV • 2000
Sybil Perez
Veronica Mars
TV • 2004
Julia Smith
Spenser: For Hire
TV • 1985
Shark
TV • 2006
Elizabeth Rourke
The Young Riders
TV • 1989
Emma Shannon
Miami Vice
TV • 1984
Kathleen Gilfords
Cold Case
TV • 2003
Tayna Raymes (1994 & 2007)
The L Word
TV • 2004
Winnie Mann
Criminal Minds
TV • 2005
Sheriff Georgia Davis
The Equalizer
TV • 1985
Irina Dzershinsky
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
TV • 2001
Maureen Curtis
Legacy
TV • 1998
Nasty Boys
TV • 1989
Katie Morrissey
Treme
TV • 2010
Treme
TV • 2010
Toni Bernette
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Donna Cheponis
Mildred Pierce
TV • 2011
Lucy Gessler
Homicide: Life on the Street
TV • 1993
Kay Howard
I'm Dying Up Here
TV • 2017
Goldie
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Defense Attorney Alice Sutton
Broad City
TV • 2014
Lori
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Sherri Quinn
The Arsenio Hall Show
TV • 2013
Self
I Know This Much Is True
TV • 2020
Concettina Ipolita Tempesta 'Ma' Birdsey
BoJack Horseman
TV • 2014
Ma Nguyen (voice)
Dolly Parton's Heartstrings
TV • 2019
Amelia Meegers
Wayward Pines
TV • 2015
Nurse Pam
Scarlett
TV • 1994
Suellen O'Hara Benteen