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Frances McDormand (born June 23, 1957) is an
award-winning United States|American character
actress with film, stage, and television credits.

She was born in Chicago, Illinois and was the
youngest of three children adopted by
Canada|Canadian parents Vernon (a Disciples of
Christ minister) and Noreen McDormand. She spent
much of her youth in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
suburb of Monessen, Pennsylvania|Monessen, where
she graduated from high school. She attended
Bethany College of West Virginia|Bethany College,
Bethany, West Virginia, where she earned her B.A.
in Theater in 1979.

In 1982 she earned an M.F.A. from the Yale
University School of Drama.  While attending Yale,
McDormand roomed with fellow actress and student
Holly Hunter.  

Her acting debut was in 1984, in the first film by
Joel and Ethan Coen, Blood Simple.  She married
Joel the same year, and in 1985, McDormand, the
Coen brothers, Holly Hunter, and director Sam
Raimi all shared a house in Silver Lake, Los
Angeles, California.  In 1998, Joel and McDormand
adopted a son from Paraguay, Pedro McDormand Coen.
 McDormand has performed at least minor roles in
all of the Coens' films.

McDormand has been nominated for Academy Awards
three times. In 1988 she was nominated for Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Actress in
a Supporting Role for Mississippi Burning; In 1996
she won the award for Academy Award for Best
Actress|Best Actress for her police chief
performance in Fargo (movie)|Fargo; and in 2000
she was nominated again for Best Actress in a
Supporting Role for her portrayal of a concerned
mother in Almost Famous.

Also for Almost Famous, she won the Best
Supporting Actress nod from the Broadcast Film
Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics
Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association,
San Diego Film Critics Society, Southeastern Film
Critics Association, and the Florida Film Critics
Circle. For Wonder Boys in 2001 she won Best
Supporting Actress from the Broadcast Film Critics
Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle, and
the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

In addition to her film roles, McDormand played
"Connie Chapman" in the fifth season of the
television police drama, Hill Street Blues.  In
1988, McDormand played Stella Kowalski in a stage
production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar
Named Desire, for which she was nominated for a
Tony Award.   Frances McDormand is an associate
member of the experimental theater company The
Wooster Group.

==Partial filmography==

*Blood Simple (1984)
*Raising Arizona (1987)
*Mississippi Burning (1988)
*Miller's Crossing (1990)
*Short Cuts (1993)
*Fargo (movie)|Fargo (1996)
*Lone Star (movie)|Lone Star (1996)
*Primal Fear (1997)
*Madeline (1998)
*Almost Famous (2000)
*Wonder Boys (2000)
*The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
*Laurel Canyon (movie)|Laurel Canyon (2002)
*City by the Sea (2002)
*Something's Gotta Give (2003)
*Class Action (2005)
*Aeon Flux (2005)
*Friends with Money (2006)
*A View from the Bridge (2006)

==External links==
*imdb|id=0000531|name=Frances McDormand
*http://www.faceof.net/frances/ Frances McDormand
Online