Patricia Davies Clarkson was born on December 29, 1959 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She is an Academy Award-nominated American actress.

She made her professional acting debut on the New York stage, where she has appeared in Eastern Standard both on and off Broadway; Nicky Silver's Raised in Captivity and The Maiden's Prayer, for which she received Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award nominations; and the Manhattan Theatre Club's presentations of Wolfman, Oliver, Oliver and Richard Greenberg's acclaimed Three Days of Rain.

Her regional credits include stagings at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the South Coast Repertory and the Yale Repertory. She also co-starred in John Guare's Tony-winning House of Blue Leaves at Lincoln Center, and had to leave her role of the deaf movie star in that play to make her movie debut as Eliot Ness' wife in Brian DePalma's highly-praised 1987 gangster epic, The Untouchables.

While maintaining a busy career on the stage, she continued with movie roles in such projects as Simply Irresistible, Pharaoh's Army, Jumanji, Rocket Gibraltar, Everybody's All-American, The Dead Pool and Tune in Tomorrow.

She won raves for her role of Greta in the critically acclaimed independent drama High Art.

The awards began pouring in during 2002, when Clarkson won an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" for the TV series Six Feet Under, a "Best Female Performance" award from the Deauville Film Festival for her role in The Safety of Objects (2001) and a New York Film Critics Circle "Best Supporting Actress" award for her supporting role in the feature film Far From Heaven (2002). The awards kept piling up the following year when she won a National Society of Film Critics Award for her role in Far From Heaven (2002) and a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her role in The Station Agent (2003). In 2004, she received her highest actor honor to date - an Academy Award nomination for her role as a dying mother in Pieces of April.

Filmography

• Hurricane Mary (2008)
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
• Phoebe in Wonderland (2009)
• Elegy (2007)
• Blind Date (2007)
• Married Life (2008)
• Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
• No Reservations (2007)
• All the King's Men (2006)
• The Woods (2006)
• Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
• "Six Feet Under" (7 episodes, 2002-2005)
• The Dying Gaul (2005)
• Miracle (2004)
• Dogville (2003)
• The Station Agent (2003)
• Pieces of April (2003)
• All the Real Girls (2003)
• Carrie (2002)
• The Baroness and the Pig (2002)
• Heartbreak Hospital (2002)
• Far from Heaven (2002)
• Welcome to Collinwood (2002)
• "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" (2001)
• "Frasier" (5 episodes, 2001)
• The Safety of Objects (2001)
• Wendigo (2001)
• The Pledge (2001)
• "Wonderland" (2 episodes, 2000)
• Joe Gould's Secret (2000)
• Falling Like This (2000)
• The Green Mile (1999)
• Wayward Son (1999)
• Simply Irresistible (1999)
• Playing by Heart (1998)
• The Wedding (1998)
• High Art (1998)
• London Suite (1996)
• "Murder One" (20 episodes, 1995-1996)
• Jumanji (1995)
• Pharaoh's Army (1995)
• She Led Two Lives (1994)
• Caught in the Act (1993)
• "Queen" (1993)
• Four Eyes and Six-Guns (1992)
• An American Story (1992)
• Legacy of Lies (1992)
• Blind Man's Bluff (1992)
• "Davis Rules" (1991)
• "Law & Order" (1 episode, 1990)
• Tune in Tomorrow... (1990)
• "Tales from the Crypt" (1 episode, 1990)
• The Old Man and the Sea (1990)
• Everybody's All-American (1988)
• Rocket Gibraltar (1988)
• The Dead Pool (1988)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• "The Equalizer" (1 episode, 1986)
• "Spenser: For Hire" (1 episode, 1985)

Awards

• Emmy Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series "Six Feet Under" 2006
• Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress "The Station Agent" and "Pieces Of April" 2003
• National Board of Review Awards Best Supporting Actress "The Station Agent" and "Pieces Of April" 2003
• National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress "Pieces of April" 2003
• San Francisco Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress "Pieces of April" 2003
• Emmy Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series "Six Feet Under" 2002
• National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actress "Far From Heaven" 2002
• New York Film Critics Circle's Awards Best Supporting Actress "Far From Heaven" 2002
• Saturn Award Supporting Actress "The Green Mile" 2000