Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April , ) is an American film, stage, and
television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her
roles as Stands with a Fist in Dances with Wolves and May-Alice
Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances
as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica (for which she won a
Saturn Award), First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and
Rose Darko in Donnie Darko. She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor
during seasons â€" of the TNT series The Closer; and she went on to
star in the spin-off series Major Crimes, on the same
network.McDonnell was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised
in Ithaca, New York. She is the daughter of Eileen (née Mundy; â€")
and John "Jack" McDonnell (â€"), a computer consultant. Her siblings
are Jane (â€"), Sally, Judith, Jackie, and John. She is of Irish
descent. After graduating from the State University of New York at
Fredonia, she attended drama school and joined the prestigious Long
Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, with which she worked for
three months.McDonnell won an Obie Award for Best Actress in for her
work in the play Still Life. On Broadway, she has performed in
productions of Execution of Justice, The Heidi Chronicles, and Summer
and Smoke.
television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her
roles as Stands with a Fist in Dances with Wolves and May-Alice
Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances
as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica (for which she won a
Saturn Award), First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and
Rose Darko in Donnie Darko. She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor
during seasons â€" of the TNT series The Closer; and she went on to
star in the spin-off series Major Crimes, on the same
network.McDonnell was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised
in Ithaca, New York. She is the daughter of Eileen (née Mundy; â€")
and John "Jack" McDonnell (â€"), a computer consultant. Her siblings
are Jane (â€"), Sally, Judith, Jackie, and John. She is of Irish
descent. After graduating from the State University of New York at
Fredonia, she attended drama school and joined the prestigious Long
Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, with which she worked for
three months.McDonnell won an Obie Award for Best Actress in for her
work in the play Still Life. On Broadway, she has performed in
productions of Execution of Justice, The Heidi Chronicles, and Summer
and Smoke.
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