Molly Parker, a talented and versatile Canadian actress, is best known in the United States for her role as Alma Garrett on the cable-TV series Deadwood (2004). Raised on a commune in Pitt Meadows, B.C., she developed a passion for acting at the age of 16 after 13 years of ballet training.
Her uncle was an actor, and his agent took her on as a client, enabling her to launch her career in small roles on Canadian television. She enrolled at Vancouver's Gastown Actors' Studio after graduating from high school and continued to act on TV in series and TV-movies while learning her craft at acting school.
Parker's breakthrough role came when she played a necrophiliac in Lynne Stopkewich's 1996 film Kissed. The film garnered her rave reviews and she won a Genie Award for her performance. She parlayed the accolades into a sustained career on film and in TV.
On TV, Parker was part of the cast of CBC-TV's six-part sitcom Twitch City (1998),playing the girlfriend of Don McKellar, which enabled her to showcase her comedic skills. Other memorable TV roles include the female rabbi on Home Box Office's series Six Feet Under (2001) and the regular role on HBO's Deadwood (2004).
She has appeared in many ambitious films, including Jeremy Podeswa's The Five Senses (1999),István Szabó's Sunshine (1999),and Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland (1999). She also re-teamed with director Lynne Stopkewich for Suspicious River (2000).
Parker made waves with another provocative film with sex as its subject, director Wayne Wang's The Center of the World (2001). In the movie, Parker played a San Francisco lap dancer who becomes a paid escort to a Silicon Valley nerd. For her performance, she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
In 2002, she was nominated twice as best supporting actress at the Genies for her roles in the British/Canadian co-production War Bride (2001) and Bruce Sweeney's Last Wedding (2001),winning for her appearance in the latter film.
Parker's reputation as an outstanding actress is based on her portrayal of strong, yet flawed, complex women in character leads and supporting parts in challenging films. Not only does she convey intelligence, but there is an unconscious elegance to her, a true inner beauty that radiates on-screen. She will be gracing the screen, both large and small, with her unique presence for many years to come.
