Frances McDormand is an American actress and producer who made her film debut in the Coen brothers' neo-noir Blood Simple (1984) and also made her Broadway debut in the revival Awake and Sing! in the same year. In 1985, she starred in the crime drama series Hunter and played a police officer on the procedural drama Hill Street Blues. For her performance as a sheriff's wife in Mississippi Burning (1988), she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the same year, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Stella Kowalski in the revival A Streetcar Named Desire.

McDormand received critical acclaim and won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a pregnant Minnesotan police chief in the Coen brothers' black comedy Fargo. In the same year, she played a psychiatrist in legal thriller Primal Fear. In 1997, McDormand garnered a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her role as a mechanic in the television film Hidden in America. She was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as an overprotective mother in Almost Famous (2000).

McDormand starred with Charlize Theron in both drama North Country and science fiction action film Æon Flux in 2005. For the former, McDormand received a nomination for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as a single mother in Good People (2011). McDormand garnered critical acclaim and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for playing the title character of an abrasive schoolteacher in Olive Kitteridge (2014), which she also produced.

McDormand won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, and her second Best Actress Oscar for her role as a mother seeking justice in the Martin McDonagh-directed crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). For her performance as a vandwelling nomad in the Chloe Zhao-directed 2020 drama Nomadland, she received her third Best Actress Oscar and second BAFTA for Best Actress. She also produced the film and received both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the BAFTA Award for Best Film.

Film

List of film credits

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes	Ref(s)
1984	Blood Simple	Abby
1985	Crimewave	Nun
1987	Raising Arizona	Dot
1988	Mississippi Burning	Mrs. Pell
1989	Chattahoochee	Mae Foley
1990	Darkman	Julie Hastings
	Miller's Crossing	Mayor's Secretary	Uncredited
	Hidden Agenda	Ingrid Jessner
1991	Barton Fink	Stage Actress	Voice only Uncredited
	The Butcher's Wife	Grace
1992	Passed Away	Nora Scanlan
1993	Short Cuts	Betty Weathers
1994	Bleeding Hearts	Woman on TV
1995	Beyond Rangoon	Andy Bowman
	Palookaville	June
1996	Fargo	Marge Gunderson
	Primal Fear	Dr. Molly Arrington
	Lone Star	Bunny
1997	Paradise Road	Dr. Verstak
1998	Johnny Skidmarks	Alice
	Madeline	Miss Clavel
	Talk of Angels	Conlon
2000	Wonder Boys	Dean Sara Gaskell
	Almost Famous	Elaine Miller
2001	The Man Who Wasn't There	Doris Crane
2002	Laurel Canyon	Jane
	City by the Sea	Michelle
2003	Something's Gotta Give	Zoe Barry
2005	North Country	Glory
	Æon Flux	The Handler
2006	Friends with Money	Jane
2008	Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day	Guinevere Pettigrew
	Burn After Reading	Linda Litzke
2011	This Must Be the Place	Jane
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Charlotte Mearing
2012	Moonrise Kingdom	Mrs. Bishop
	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	Captain Chantal Dubois	Voice only
	Promised Land	Sue Thomason
2014	Every Secret Thing	Newscaster	Voice only Uncredited; also producer
2015	The Good Dinosaur	Momma Ida	Voice only
2016	Hail, Caesar!	C. C. Calhoun
2017	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	Mildred Hayes
2018	Isle of Dogs	Interpreter Nelson	Voice only
2020	Nomadland	Fern	Also producer
2021	The French Dispatch	Lucinda Krementz
	The Tragedy of Macbeth	Lady Macbeth	Also producer
2022	Women Talking	Scarface Janz

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

List of television credits

Year(s)	Title	Role(s)	Notes	Ref(s)
1985	Hunter	Nina Sloan	Episode: "The Garbage Man"
	Hill Street Blues	Connie Chapman	6 episodes
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Mary	Episode: "A Day's Wages"
	The Twilight Zone	Amanda Strickland	Segment: "Need to Know"
	Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo	Brigette	Television film
1987	Leg Work	Willie Pipal	10 episodes
1992	Crazy in Love	Clare	Television film
1995	The Good Old Boys	Eve Calloway
1996	Hidden in America	Gus
1998	Sesame Street: Kids' Guide to Life: Big Bird Gets Lost	Herself	Short film
2001	American Experience	Victoria Price	Voice only Documentary Episode: "Scottsboro: An American Tragedy"
2001–2002	State of Grace	Narrator / Adult Hannah	Voice only 39 episodes
2006	The Simpsons	Melanie Upfoot	Voice only Episode: "Girls Just Want to Have Sums"
2014	Olive Kitteridge	Olive Kitteridge	4 episodes; also executive producer
2019–present	Good Omens	God	Voice only 7 episodes

Stage

List of theater credits

Year(s)	Title	Theater	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
1983–1984	Painting Churches	Lamb's Theatre	Margaret Church	Understudy; November 22, 1983 – May 20, 1984
1984	Awake and Sing!	Circle in the Square Theatre	Hennie Berger	March 8 – April 29
1988	A Streetcar Named Desire		Stella Kowalski	February 20 – April 17
1992–1993	The Sisters Rosensweig	Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater	Pfeni Rosensweig	October 22, 1992 – February 28, 1993
1993	The Swan	The Public Theater	Dora	November 9 – December 12
2002–2003	Far Away	New York Theatre Workshop	Harper	November 11, 2002 – January 18, 2003
2006	An Oak Tree	Barrow Street Theatre	Father	Each performance has a different guest actor playing Father
2008	A Country Girl	Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre	Georgie Elgin	April 27 – July 20
2011	Good People	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre	Margaret	February 8 – May 29
2016	Macbeth	Berkeley Repertory Theatre	Lady Macbeth / Weird Sister	February 19 – April 10

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Frances McDormand