Mare Winningham Biography

Mary Megan "Mare" Winningham (born May 16, 1959) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Drama Desk, 8 Emmy Award nominations (winning two), and has also won an Independent Spirit Award and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. She is best known for performances in St. Elmo's Fire, Miracle Mile, Turner & Hooch, The War, Georgia, George Wallace, Dandelion, Brothers, Swing Vote, Mildred Pierce and Hatfields & McCoys.

Early life

Winningham was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in Northridge, California. She is the daughter of Marilyn Jean (ne Maloney) and Sam Neal Winningham. She has three brothers and one sister. Her father was the chairman of the Department of Physical Education at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and her mother was an English teacher and college counsellor at Monroe High School. She credits her first interest in acting to seeing an interview with Kym Karath (who played Gretl in The Sound of Music) on Art Linkletter's television show House Party when she was five or six years old.

Winningham attended Andasol Ave. Elementary School, where her favorite activities included drama and playing the guitar and drums. She took the extended drama option at Patrick Henry Junior High School and continued to study over her summer vacations at CSUN's Teenage Drama Workshop. It was at this time that she adopted the nickname "Mare". Her mother arranged for her to go to Chatsworth High School. In Grade 12, Winningham starred in a production of The Sound of Music, playing the part of Maria, opposite classmate Kevin Spacey as Captain Von Trapp.

Career

Acting

Winningham began her career as a singer-songwriter. In 1976 and 1977, she got her break singing The Beatles song "Here, There and Everywhere" on The Gong Show. Though Winningham received no record contracts as result of the appearance, she was signed to an acting contract by Hollywood agent Meyer Mishkin, and received her Screen Actor's Guild card for doing three lines in an episode of James at 15. That year she was offered a role on Young Pioneers and Young Pioneers Christmas, pilots for the short-lived 1978 drama The Young Pioneers. Though the series ended with just three episodes being broadcast, a number of television projects followed, including parts on Police Woman in 1978 and Starsky and Hutch in 1979. Later that same year, she played the role of teenage outcast Jenny Flowers in the made-for-TV film The Death of Ocean View Park.

In 1980, Winningham starred in Off the Minnesota Strip playing a young prostitute. She then won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for her role in the critically acclaimed Amber Waves, a television film about a rough farmer (Dennis Weaver) who finds he is dying of cancer. In that year, she also broke into feature films with One Trick Pony, starring Paul Simon. In 1983, Winningham was nominated for a Canadian Genie Award for her work in the futuristic 1981 drama Threshold, and appeared in the 1983 epic miniseries The Thorn Birds, in which she played Justine O'Neill. In 1984, she starred as Helen Keller in Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues.

Winningham achieved greater fame in St. Elmo's Fire (1985) as one of the original "brat pack" alumni. Despite the film's success, she failed to cash in on her teen idol status, and returned to television in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Love Is Never Silent, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Another well-known and well-received performance was as a homeless young mother in the television movie God Bless the Child. Winningham finished the 1980s with two Hollywood films: the nuclear disaster drama, Miracle Mile (1988), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination in 1989, and the Tom Hanks vehicle Turner & Hooch in 1989. In 1988, Winningham also starred in the Los Angeles stage production of Hurlyburly with Sean Penn and Danny Aiello.

In the early 1990s, she returned to film for 1994's all-star Wyatt Earp and the family drama The War, both starring Kevin Costner. 1995 brought Georgia, a thoughtful character study of two sisters (Winningham and Jennifer Jason Leigh), which earned Winningham Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations. Two years later, she starred opposite Gary Sinise in George Wallace, for which she garnered her first Golden Globe Award nomination and won an Emmy Award.

She made acclaimed appearances on the series ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as appearances in the 2001 television project Sally Hemmings opposite Sam Neill and the short-lived David E. Kelley series The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire. Also in 2001, she appeared in the made for TV movie Snap Decision with Felicity Huffman. She also appeared in the independent film Dandelion, which was a staple of film festivals worldwide between 2003 and 2004 and had a limited American release in October 2005.

In 2006, she landed the role of Susan Grey on the ABC drama Grey's Anatomy where she played the stepmother of one of the main characters, Dr. Meredith Grey. Her character was killed off in May 2007. In 2006, Winningham voiced the audio version of Stephen King's Lisey's Story. In 2007, she voiced Alice Hoffman's Skylight Confessions. In 2010, Winningham starred in an episode of Cold Case as main character Lilly Rush's stepmother, Celeste Cooper. In 2011 she appeared in the fourth episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day as character Ellis Hartley Monroe. She also starred in miniseries Mildred Pierce and Hatfields & McCoys and garnered two another Emmy nominations. In 2012, she appeared off Broadway as Beth, the mother in an intellectual, though dysfunctional, British family, in the award-winning comic-drama Tribes by Nina Raine.

Music

Winningham has recorded three albums: What Might Be (1992) on the Bay Cities label, Lonesomers (1998) produced by Carla Olson on the Razor and Tie label, and Refuge Rock Sublime (2007) on the Craig & Co. label. Lonesomers is a folksy album dealing with relationship issues. The country/bluegrass/Jewish/folk songs on Refuge Rock Sublime deal mostly with her recent conversion to Judaism, and include the tracks, "What Would David Do," "A Convert Jig" and the Israeli national anthem "Hatikva". She also sings on the soundtrack of Georgia.

Personal life

Winningham was raised a Roman Catholic. In November 2001, on a friend's recommendation, she took a class given by Rabbi Neal Weinberg at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles. On March 3, 2003, she converted to Judaism.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Young Pioneers	Nettie Peters	Television movie
1976	Young Pioneers' Christmas	Nettie Peters	Television movie
1978	Special Olympics	Janice Gallitzin	Television movie
1979	Steeletown	Aggie Modgelewsky	Television movie
1979	The Death of Ocean View Park	Jenny Flowers	Television movie
1980	Amber Waves	Marlene Burkhardt	Television movie
1980	Off the Minnesota Strip	Micki Johansen	Television movie
1980	The Women's Room	Chris	Television movie
1980	One Trick Pony	Modeena Dandridge
1981	Threshold	Carol Severance
1981	Freedom	Libby Bellow	Television movie
1981	A Few Days in Weasel Creek	Locksley Claitor	Television movie
1982	Missing Children: A Mother's Story	Kate Bradshaw	Television movie
1983	The Thorn Birds	Justine O'Neill
1984	Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues	Helen Keller	Television movie
1984	Single Bars, Single Women	Bootsie	Television movie
1985	St. Elmo's Fire	Wendy Beamish
1986	A Winner Never Quits	Annie	Television movie
1986	Who Is Julia?	Mary Frances Bodine	Television movie
1986	Nobody's Fool	Pat
1987	Shy People	Candy
1987	Made in Heaven	Brenda Carlucci
1987	Eye on the Sparrow	Ethel Lee	Television movie
1988	God Bless the Child	Theresa Johnson	Television movie
1988	Miracle Mile	Julie Peters
1989	Turner & Hooch	Dr. Emily Carson
1990	Love and Lies	Kim Paris	Television movie
1990	Crossing to Freedom	Nicole Rougeron	Television movie
1991	Fatal Exposure	Jamie Hurd	Television movie
1991	She Stood Alone	Prudence Crandall	Television movie
1991	Hard Promises	Dawn
1992	Those Secrets	Faye	Television movie
1992	Intruders	Mary Wilkes	Television movie
1993	Sexual Healing	Marta
1993	Better Off Dead	Kit Killner	Television movie
1994	Betrayed by Love	Dana	Television movie
1994	Teresa's Tattoo	Singer
1994	Wyatt Earp	Mattie Blaylock
1994	The War	Lois Simmons
1995	Georgia	Georgia Flood
1995	Letter to My Killer	Judy Parma	Television movie
1996	The Boys Next Door	Sheila	Television movie
1996	The Deliverance of Elaine	Elaine Hodges	Television movie
1997	Bad Day on the Block	Catherine Braverton
1997	George Wallace	Lurleen Wallace	Television movie
1998	Everything That Rises	Kyle Clay	Television movie
1998	Little Girl Fly Away	Catherine Begley	Television movie
1999	Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke	Chandi Heffner	Television movie
2000	Sally Hemings: An American Scandal	Martha Jefferson Randolph	Television movie
2000	Sharing the Secret	Dr. Nina Moss	Television movie
2001	Snap Decision	Jennifer Bradley	Television movie
2002	Tru Confessions	Ginny	Television movie
2003	The Maldonado Miracle	Maisie	Television movie
2003	The Adventures of Ociee Nash	Aunt Mamie Nash
2004	Dandelion	Layla Mullich
2005	The Magic of Ordinary Days	Martha	Television movie
2007	War Eagle, Arkansas	Belle
2008	Swing Vote	Larissa Johnson
2009	Brothers	Elsie Cahill
2012	Mirror Mirror	Baker Margaret
2013	Philomena	Mary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	James at 15	Wanda	Episode: "The Girl with the Bad Rep"
1978	Police Woman	Linda	Episode: "Battered Teachers"
1978	The Young Pioneers	Nettie Peters	Episode: "Sky in the Window"
1979	Starsky and Hutch	Joey Carston	Episode: "Ninety Pounds of Trouble"
1979	Family	Merilee Kalisher	Episode: "The Competition"
1985	ABC Afterschool Specials	Beth	Episode: "One Too Many"
1985	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Margaret Ryder	Episode: "Love Is Never Silent"
1986	The Twilight Zone	Norma Lewis	Episode: "Button, Button"
1997-98	Mad About You	Sarah McCain	2 episodes
1999	ER	Dr. Amanda Lee	4 episodes
2001	Night Visions	Kate Morris	Episode: "Still Life"
2002	Six Feet Under	Eileen Piper	Episode: "The Plan"
2002	Touched by an Angel	Maggie	Episode: "The Bells of St. Peters"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Sandra Blaine	Episode: "Manic"
2003	The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire	Dottie Shaw	7 episodes
2004-05	Clubhouse	Lynne Young	11 episodes
2007	Boston Legal	Patrice Kelly	2 episodes
2007	Grey's Anatomy	Susan Grey	6 episodes
2009	CSI: NY	Katherine Donovan	Episode: "Greater Good"
2010	Cold Case	Celeste Cooper	Episode: "The Good Soldier"
2010	24	Elaine Al-Zacar	2 episodes
2010	Criminal Minds	Nancy Riverton	Episode: "Safe Haven"
2011	Mildred Pierce	Ida Corwin	5 episodes
2011	Torchwood: Miracle Day	Ellis Hartley Monroe	3 episodes
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Sally McCoy	3 episodes
2013	Hawaii Five-O	Terry Beckett	Episode: "Ho'opio"
2013	Under the Dome	Agatha	2 episodes
2013	American Horror Story: Coven		Episode: "The Replacements"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1980	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Amber Waves
1983	Genie Awards	Best Performance by a Foreign Actress	Threshold
1986	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Love Is Never Silent
1990	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Female	Miracle Mile
1994	CableACE Awards	Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Better Off Dead
1996	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	The Boys Next Door
1996	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Georgia
1996	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Female	Georgia
1996	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Georgia
1998	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	George Wallace
1998	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	George Wallace
1998	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	George Wallace
1998	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	George Wallace
2004	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special	The Maldonado Miracle
2004	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
2008	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical	10 Million Miles
2008	Drama League Awards	Distinguished Performance	10 Million Miles
2008	Lucille Lortel Awards	Outstanding Featured Actress	10 Million Miles
2011	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Mildred Pierce
2012	Lucille Lortel Awards	Outstanding Featured Actress	Tribes
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Hatfields & McCoys
2012	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Hatfields & McCoys

Discography

• 1992: What Might Be
• 1998: Lonesomers
• 2007: Refuge Rock Sublime