Marcia Gay Harden Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Marcia Gay Harden
Harden in 2013
Born	(1959-08-14) August 14, 1959 (age 65) San Diego, California, U.S.
Education	University of Texas, Austin (BA) New York University (MFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Spouse(s)	Thaddaeus Scheel (m. 1996; div. 2012)
Children	3
Awards	Full list

Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is a talented American actress. She has won many important awards for her acting. These include an Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) and a Tony Award. She has also been nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Marcia Gay Harden became well-known in 1990. This was after she starred in the film Miller's Crossing. She won an Academy Award for her role as artist Lee Krasner in the movie Pollock (2000). She was also nominated for another Oscar for her work in Mystic River (2003).

She has appeared in many other popular movies. Some of these include The First Wives Club (1996) and Flubber (1997). She also acted in Space Cowboys (2000) and the Fifty Shades film series (2015–2018).

Marcia Gay Harden also has a successful career on Broadway. She made her debut in 1993 in the play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. Later, in 2009, she won a Tony Award for her role in God of Carnage. On television, she has starred in shows like Code Black (2015–2018) and So Help Me Todd (2022–2024).

Early Life and Education
Her Acting Journey
- Broadway Success
- Movie and TV Roles
Life Outside of Acting
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Early Life and Education

Marcia Gay Harden was born in La Jolla, California. Her mother, Beverly Harden, was a homemaker. Her father, Thad Harold Harden, was an officer in the United States Navy. Marcia has three sisters and one brother.

Because of her father's job, her family moved often. They lived in different places around the world. These included Japan, Germany, and Greece. They also lived in California and Maryland in the U.S.

Marcia finished high school in Maryland in 1976. She then studied theater at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980. Later, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1988.

Her Acting Journey

Marcia Gay Harden's first acting role was in a student film in 1979. In the 1980s, she appeared in several TV shows. These included Simon & Simon and Kojak. Her first movie role was in The Imagemaker (1986).

Her big break came with the Coen brothers' film Miller's Crossing in 1990. This movie was a drama about mobsters in the 1930s. Even after this, she sometimes had to work catering jobs to make money.

Broadway Success

In 1993, Marcia made her first appearance on Broadway. She played Harper Pitt in Angels in America. Her performance was highly praised. She was even nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

She returned to Broadway in 2009 in the play God of Carnage. She starred alongside actors like James Gandolfini. Her amazing performance earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Movie and TV Roles

Throughout the 1990s, Marcia continued to act in many films and TV shows. She played Ava Gardner in the 1992 TV miniseries Sinatra. She also co-starred with Robin Williams in the Disney comedy Flubber (1997). Other notable films include Meet Joe Black (1998) and Space Cowboys (2000).

In 2000, Marcia won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This was for her role as painter Lee Krasner in the movie Pollock. In 2004, she was nominated for another Oscar for her role in Mystic River.

She has also had important roles on television. She guest-starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. This role earned her an Emmy Award nomination in 2007. She also appeared in Damages in 2009. She was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the TV film The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009).

In 2009, she acted in the movie Whip It with Elliot Page. From 2015 to 2018, she played Christian Grey's mother in the Fifty Shades film series. She also had a main role in the TV series Code Black. More recently, she stars in the CBS drama So Help Me Todd.

Life Outside of Acting

In 1996, Marcia Gay Harden married Thaddaeus Scheel. He was a prop master, which means he worked with props on movie sets. They had three children together. They later divorced in 2012.

Marcia enjoys pottery, which is making things from clay. She learned this in high school. She also practices ikebana, which is the Japanese art of arranging flowers. Her mother learned ikebana when they lived in Japan. Marcia even showed some of her flower arrangements on The Martha Stewart Show in 2007.

In 2018, Marcia wrote a book called The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers. The book talks about her close relationship with her mother. It also shares how they are dealing with her mother's Alzheimer's disease. Marcia created special ikebana arrangements for the book to show different parts of her mother's life.