Mary Eileen McDonnell was born on April 28, 1952, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Eileen (Mundy) and John McDonnell, a computer consultant, both of Irish descent. Raised in Ithaca, New York, she graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia. She later attended drama school and was accepted into the prestigious Long Wharf Theatre Company on the East Coast.
Two decades later, she landed her breakthrough film role in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990),playing "Stands with a Fist", a white woman raised by the Sioux Indians. She earned her first Academy Award nomination for the role. McDonnell's film credits include the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991) and Mumford (1999),opposite seasoned performers such as Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, and Ben Kingsley.
She also appeared in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996),starring Will Smith, acclaimed art house cult-hit Donnie Darko (2001),and Margin Call (2011),opposite Kevin Spacey, which earned her the Robert Altman Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards.
On the small screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons on the Syfy Network's award-winning series Battlestar Galactica (2004),in her critically praised performance as President Laura Roslin. She garnered an Emmy nomination for her recurring guest role on the television series ER (1994). She stars as Captain Sharon Raydor on the TNT's hit drama series Major Crimes (2012),the follow-up to The Closer (2005),in which McDonnell originated the role and for which she earned a Primetime Emmy nomination.
McDonnell began her career in theatre and has starred in a wide variety of both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She received an Obie Award for her performance in Emily Mann's Still Life and has starred in off-Broadway productions including the debut production of Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child, John Patrick Shanley's Savage in Limbo, John O'Keefe's All Night Long, Michael Cristofer's Black Angel, Kathleen Tolan's A Weekend Near Madison, Paula Cizmar's Death of a Miner, and Dennis McIntyre's National Anthem.
Her Broadway credits include Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, the title role in Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, and Emily Mann's Execution of Justice. She received rave reviews for her performance opposite David Strathairn in Emily Mann's acclaimed adaptation of Chekhov's classic, The Cherry Orchard.
McDonnell lives in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles County, California, with her husband, actor Randle Mell, and their children, Olivia and Michael.
