Mary Steenburgen

American actress

Also known as: Mary Nell Steenburgen

Written by Patricia Bauer

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Oct 7, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

In full:: Mary Nell Steenburgen

Born:: February 8, 1953, Newport, Arkansas, U.S.

Also Known As:: Mary Nell Steenburgen

Awards And Honors:: Golden Globe Award (1981); Academy Award (1981); Academy Award (1981): Actress in a Supporting Role; Golden Globe Award (1981): Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Notable Family Members:: spouse Ted Danson

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" (2020); "The Good Place" (2020); "Grace and Frankie" (2020); "Bless the Harts" (2019–2020); "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" (2019); "The Conners" (2018); "Antiquities" (2018); "Book Club" (2018); "The Last Man on Earth" (2015–2018); "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000–2017); "I Do... Until I Don't" (2017); "Orange Is the New Black" (2015–2017); "The Discovery" (2017); "Blunt Talk" (2016); "Katie Says Goodbye" (2016); "(Dean)" (2016); "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (2016); "Justified" (2014–2015); "Togetherness" (2015); "A Walk in the Woods" (2015); "The One I Love" (2014); "Song One" (2014); "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya" (2013); "Last Vegas" (2013); "Brahmin Bulls" (2013); "Wilfred" (2011–2013); "30 Rock" (2012); "Bored to Death" (2011); "Robot Chicken" (2011); "The Help" (2011); "Dirty Girl" (2010); "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" (2009); "The Open Road" (2009); "The Proposal" (2009); "In the Electric Mist" (2009); "Four Christmases" (2008); "Step Brothers" (2008); "Honeydripper" (2007); "The Brave One" (2007); "Numb" (2007); "Nobel Son" (2007); "Elvis and Anabelle" (2007); "The Dead Girl" (2006); "Inland Empire" (2006); "Joan of Arcadia" (2003–2005); "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School" (2005); "Elf" (2003); "Casa de los babys" (2003); "Hope Springs" (2003); "Mrs. Pilgrim Goes to Hollywood" (2002); "Sunshine State" (2002); "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2002); "Wish You Were Dead" (2001); "I Am Sam" (2001); "Life as a House" (2001); "The Trumpet of the Swan" (2001); "Nobody's Baby" (2001); "Noah's Ark" (1999); "Ink" (1996–1997); "Gulliver's Travels" (1996); "Nixon" (1995); "Powder" (1995); "The Grass Harp" (1995); "My Family" (1995); "Frasier" (1995); "Pontiac Moon" (1994); "It Runs in the Family" (1994); "Clifford" (1994); "Philadelphia" (1993); "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993); "Back to the Future" (1991–1992); "The Butcher's Wife" (1991); "The Long Walk Home" (1990); "Back to the Future Part III" (1990); "Parenthood" (1989); "Miss Firecracker" (1989); "End of the Line" (1987); "The Whales of August" (1987); "Dead of Winter" (1987); "One Magic Christmas" (1985); "Tender Is the Night" (1985); "Faerie Tale Theatre" (1983); "Romantic Comedy" (1983); "Cross Creek" (1983); "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" (1982); "Ragtime" (1981); "Melvin and Howard" (1980); "Time After Time" (1979); "Goin' South" (1978)

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Mary Steenburgen (born February 8, 1953, Newport, Arkansas, U.S.) is an American actress who is known for her charming and gentle demeanor in a wide variety of roles ranging from comic to villainous and from long-suffering to authoritative.

Steenburgen grew up in Arkansas and performed in high-school plays. She briefly attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, before moving in 1972 to New York City to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She cofounded an improvisational comedy troupe with other graduates of the school before being cast by Jack Nicholson as a spinster who saves his character from the gallows in the little-seen western comedy Goin’ South (1978). She played opposite Malcolm McDowell (who portrayed H.G. Wells) in the time-travel film Time After Time (1979). In her third movie, Melvin and Howard (1980), Steenburgen’s performance as the winsome go-go dancer married to the hapless dreamer Melvin Dummar (played by Paul Le Mat) won her both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award as best supporting actress. She played a prim matriarch in Miloš Forman’s Ragtime (1981), based on the 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, and the writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in the biopic Cross Creek (1983). Steenburgen was nominated for a BAFTA award for her portrayal of Nicole Diver in the 1985 television miniseries Tender Is the Night, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Steenburgen’s later films included the comedy Miss Firecracker (1989), Ron Howard’s Parenthood (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Philadelphia (1993), and Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995). She starred with Ted Danson (her husband from 1995) in the acclaimed two-part TV miniseries Gulliver’s Travels (1996). Steenburgen and Danson also starred in the short-lived TV comedy Ink (1996–97). She later appeared in Life as a House (2001), John Sayles’s Sunshine State (2002), the romance Hope Springs (2003), and the Will Ferrell vehicle Elf (2003). During this time Steenburgen began making guest appearances on the cult favourite television show Curb Your Enthusiasm. She starred with Amber Tamblyn and Joe Mantegna in the 2003–05 TV series Joan of Arcadia. In addition, Steenburgen performed in David Lynch’s dramatic film Inland Empire (2006) and the romantic comedy The Proposal (2009).

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

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In the 2010s Steenburgen appeared in the movies The Help (2011) and Book Club (2018). She played recurring characters in numerous TV shows, including 30 Rock, Justified, Orange Is the New Black, On Becoming a God in Central Florida, and Grace and Frankie. Steenburgen also was a cast member on the series Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (2020–21), and she appeared in the companion movie Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas (2021). Her other film credits included the holiday comedy Happiest Season (2020) and Guillermo del Toro’s film noir Nightmare Alley (2021).

Patricia Bauer The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica