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








