Marcia Gay Harden was born on August 14, 1959 in La Jolla, California, USA. She is an Academy Award-winning American actress.

In 1990, Harden made her feature film debut in Miller’s Crossing, an unconventional take on the gangster movie written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Playing a tough moll named Verna, Harden held her own opposite costars Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, and Albert Finney. Two years later, she starred in the independent feature Crush (1992), as a free-spirited woman who romances both a famous novelist and his daughter, then took her place among Oscar-winning actresses Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, and Kathy Bates in Used People. On the small screen, she radiated classic Hollywood glamour as Ava Gardner in the 1992 television miniseries Sinatra.

Harden gave an affecting performance in 1996’s The Spitfire Grill, also featuring Ellen Burstyn, and costarred opposite the unpredictable comic force Robin Williams in Flubber (1997). She appeared as one of the daughters of Anthony Hopkins’ character in the dramatic bomb Meet Joe Black (1998), costarring Brad Pitt. Harden won new fans with her role as Susan Silverman, the girlfriend of private eye Spenser (played by Joe Mantegna) in two TV movies, Small Vices (1999) and Thin Air (2000).

In 2000, Harden appeared on the big screen as the romantic interest of Tommy Lee Jones’ aging astronaut in the surprise hit Space Cowboys, costarring Clint Eastwood and James Garner. Most notably, she turned in her best performance to date as Lee Krasner, the artist and long-suffering wife of tortured genius Jackson Pollock, played by Ed Harris, in Pollock, an ambitious biopic directed by Harris. With a strong Brooklyn accent and a scene-stealing screen presence, Harden earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. On Oscar night, Harden pulled off the night's biggest upset, beating out several favored actresses to win her first Academy Award.

Harden is married to Thaddaeus D. Scheel, a prop man she met during the filming of The Spitfire Grill. They have one daughter, Eulala Grace.

Filmography

• Lincoln (2009)
• The Christmas Cottage (2007)
• The Mist (2007)
• Rails & Ties (2007)
• Home (2007)
• Into the Wild (2007)
• The Invisible (2007)
• The Dead Girl (2007)
• Canvas (2007)
• The Hoax (2006)
• "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2 episodes, 2005-2006)
• In from the Night (2006)
• American Dreamz (2006)
• "Drift" (1 episode, 2006)
• Felicity: An American Girl Adventure (2005)
• American Gun (2005)
• Bad News Bears (2005)
• Hate (2005)
• P.S. (2004)
• Welcome to Mooseport (2004)
• She's Too Young (2004)
• Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
• Casa de los babys (2003)
• Mystic River (2003)
• Just Like Mona (2003)
• King of Texas (2002)
• Guilty Hearts (2002)
• In the Echo (2002)
• "The Education of Max Bickford" (2001)
• Walking Shadow (2001)
• Gaudi Afternoon (2001)
• Thin Air (2000)
• Pollock (2000)
• Space Cowboys (2000)
• From Where I Sit (2000)
• See You in My Dreams (2000)
• Curtain Call (1999)
• Spenser: Small Vices (1999)
• Meet Joe Black (1998)
• Labor of Love (1998)
• Desperate Measures (1998)
• Flubber (1997)
• Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing. (1997)
• Far Harbor (1996)
• The First Wives Club (1996)
• Spy Hard (1996)
• The Spitfire Grill (1996)
• The Daytrippers (1996)
• "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1 episode, 1995)
• Convict Cowboy (1995)
• Talking with (1995)
• "Chicago Hope" (1 episode, 1995)
• "Fallen Angels" (1 episode, 1995)
• Safe Passage (1994)
• Geoffrey Beene 30 (1993)
• Used People (1992)
• Sinatra (1992)
• Crush (1992)
• Late for Dinner (1991)
• Fever (1991)
• In Broad Daylight (1991)
• Miller's Crossing (1990)
• Kojak: None So Blind (1990)
• "Gideon Oliver" (1 episode, 1989)
• "Simon & Simon" (1 episode, 1988)
• "CBS Summer Playhouse" (1 episode, 1987)
• The Imagemaker (1986)
• Not Only Strangers (1979)

Awards

• New York Film Critics Award Best Supporting Actress "Pollock" 2000
• New York Film Critics Online Award Best Supporting Actress "Pollock" 2000
• Oscar Best Supporting Actress "Pollock" 2000
• Theatre World Award "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches" 1993