Mary-Louise Parker

Her later film appearances included roles in The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), Red (2010), R.I.P.D. (2013), and Red 2 (2013). On television, she portrayed Harper Pitt in the acclaimed HBO television miniseries Angels in America (2003) for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. She was Emmy-nominated for her roles as Amy Gardner in the NBC series The West Wing (2001–2006), Nancy Botwin in the Showtime series Weeds (2005–2012), and Zenia in the television film The Robber Bride (2007). She took a recurring role in the NBC series The Blacklist (2014) and played Roma Guy in the miniseries When We Rise (2017). On stage, Parker has earned two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play for her roles in David Auburn's Proof (2001) and Adam Rapp's The Sound Inside (2020). She was Tony-nominated for her roles in Prelude to a Kiss (1990), Reckless (2005), and How I Learned to Drive (2022). She published her memoir, Dear Mr. You, in 2015.

Mary-Louise Parker studied at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, International School Bangkok and Marcos de Niza High School. The recorded working language is English. Distinctions recorded are Theatre World Award, Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play.

Parker was born in Columbia, South Carolina, the youngest of four children, to Caroline Louise (née Morell) and John Morgan Parker, a judge who served in the U.S. Army. Because of her father's career, Parker spent parts of her childhood in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as in Thailand, Germany, and France. She described her childhood as "profoundly unhappy", noting that, "My parents did everything they could; I had books, clothes, a home and a warm bed, but I was never happy." She graduated from Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona. Parker majored in drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated in 1986.

Parker got her start in acting with a role on the soap opera Ryan's Hope. In the late 1980s, Parker moved to New York City. After a few minor roles, she made her Broadway debut in a production of Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, playing the lead role of Rita, in 1990. She moved with the production when it transferred from its origin off-Broadway. Parker won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance and was nominated for a Tony Award (although she did not play the role when the film was made). In 1989, she was in the film Longtime Companion, a film starring Campbell Scott, Bruce Davison and Dermot Mulroney about the emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic. Parker starred with Kevin Kline in Grand Canyon (1991); with Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Jessica Tandy in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991); with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in The Client (1994); with John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway (1994); and with Drew Barrymore and Whoopi Goldberg in Boys on the Side (1995), as a woman with AIDS. Parker's next role was in a movie adaptation of another Craig Lucas play, Reckless (1995), alongside Mia Farrow, followed by Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady (1996), which also starred Nicole Kidman, Viggo Mortensen, Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Barbara Hershey. In addition she appeared alongside Matthew Modine in Tim Hunter's The Maker (1997). Parker's theater career continued when she appeared off-Broadway in Paula Vogel's 1997 critical smash How I Learned to Drive, with David Morse. She received the 1997 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Actress, and 1997 Obie Award, Performance for her performance. In the late 1990s, she appeared in several independent films, including Let the Devil Wear Black and The Five Senses. She starred alongside Sidney Poitier in the 1999 movie The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn.

From 2000 to 2001, Parker starred in the play Proof in off-Broadway and Broadway productions, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway run. On December 7, 2003, HBO aired the six-and-a-half-hour adaptation of Tony Kushner's acclaimed Broadway play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols. Parker played Harper Pitt, the Mormon, Valium-addicted wife of a closeted lawyer. For her performance, Parker won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In 2004, Parker appeared in the comedy Saved! and the television film Miracle Run, based on the true story of a mother of two sons with autism, as well as appearing in the lead role in Craig Lucas' Reckless on Broadway. The production, directed by Mark Brokaw, earned Parker another Tony Award nomination in 2005. In November 2005, Parker was the subject of a career exhibition at Boston University, where memorabilia from her career were donated to the university's library. In 2005, Parker began starring on the Showtime series Weeds. She played Nancy Botwin, a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family. In 2006, Parker won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her lead role in Weeds. In that category, she defeated the four leads of Desperate Housewives. She dedicated the award to the late John Spencer, known for his work as Leo McGarry on The West Wing. After receiving the award, Parker stated: "I'm really in favor of legalizing marijuana. I don't think it's that controversial." In March 2007, Parker played the lead role in the television film The Robber Bride. She then portrayed Zerelda Mimms in the Andrew Dominik film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was released in September 2007. Parker appeared alongside Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, and Garret Dillahunt. Parker appeared in 2008's The Spiderwick Chronicles and in off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons production in the New York premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new play by Sarah Ruhl, alongside Drama Desk Award-winner Kathleen Chalfant. Following this, she returned to work on the fifth season of Weeds. Parker took the lead role in the Roundabout Theatre revival of the play Hedda Gabler, running at the American Airlines Theatre from January 25 through March 29, 2009, totaling 74 performances. The play garnered a series of negative reviews. Parker starred opposite Bruce Willis in the film Red, an adaptation of the comic book miniseries of the same name. The film was released on October 15, 2010 to positive reviews. In 2011, Parker became the host for the tenth season of the PBS documentary series Independent Lens.

In 2013, she played roles in both Red 2 and R.I.P.D. She returned to Broadway in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of the play The Snow Geese by Sharr White at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from October 24 through December 15, 2013. The play was directed by Daniel J. Sullivan and also starred Danny Burstein and Victoria Clark. Parker starred in the play by Simon Stephens, Heisenberg, produced off-Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club. The play, directed by Mark Brokaw, opened on June 2, 2015. The play extended its run, closing on July 11, 2015. The play transferred to Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with previews starting on September 20, 2016, officially opening on October 13, with Parker and Denis Arndt reprising their roles. The play later transferred to Center Theatre Group's Mark Taper Forum from June 28 through August 6, 2017. She returned to Broadway in the Adam Rapp play The Sound Inside at Studio 54 starting on September 14, 2019, in previews, officially opening on October 17. She performed in the world premiere of the play in June to July 2018 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. In September 2021, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway run.

Parker appeared in the 2022 Broadway revival by the Manhattan Theatre Club of How I Learned to Drive, which was originally supposed to open at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in previews in March 2020. David Morse co-starred, with direction by Mark Brokaw. This production united Parker, Morse and Brokaw from the original 1997 production. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this production was postponed to Manhattan Theater Club's 2021–22 season. She received her fifth Tony Award nomination for the production. In 2023, Parker appeared in the music video for country music duo The Reklaws' song "Honky Tonkin' About" with Drake Milligan. In 2026, Parker made her London theater debut starring as Montie in The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre. The contemporary re-imaging of the play was written and directed by Simon Stone.

Since 2007, Parker has contributed articles to Esquire magazine. In November 2015, Scribner Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, published her memoir in letters titled Dear Mr. You.

From 1996 to November 2003, Parker dated actor Billy Crudup. Their relationship ended in 2003 when Parker, who was seven months pregnant with their son William Atticus Parker, discovered that Crudup was leaving her for actress Claire Danes. William's godmother is actress Susan Sarandon. Parker was also briefly linked to Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz. In December 2006, Parker began dating actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, whom she had met on the set of Weeds. On February 12, 2008, Parker and Morgan announced their engagement, only to break up in April 2008. In September 2007, Parker adopted a baby girl, Caroline Aberash Parker, from Ethiopia. Parker lives in Brooklyn Heights with her two children.

In 2013, Parker was honored for her work with Hope North, an organization that works in the educating and healing of young victims in the Ugandan civil war. The actress began her involvement with the organization after meeting a former victim of Uganda's civil war. Parker practices transcendental meditation. She says: "I'd always heard about transcendental meditation, and I thought, maybe that's the way back in for me. I learned TM and it changed everything." She also participates in a charity dinner for military veterans who are victims of post-traumatic stress disorder organized by the David Lynch Foundation's Operation Warrior Wellness's Resilient Warrior Program, with Tom Hanks.