Frances McDormand

Frances McDormand married director and writer, Joel Coen, in 1984. The couple adopted their son, Pedro McDormand Coen, from Paraguay in 1994.

Frances McDormand was born on June 23, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois and was adopted by a Canadian couple, Vernon W. McDormand and Noreen E. Her adopted father was a pastor and her mother was a registered nurse and receptionist. She has two siblings who were also adopted by the McDormands.

She spent her early childhood in a number of small towns, such as Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennesse before settling down in Monessen, Pennsylvania.

She graduated from Monessen High School in 1975 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bethany College in West Virginia in 1979. She further completed her Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama where she was the roommate of Holly Hunter.

Frances McDormand first acted in play that was written by Derek Walcott and was organized in Trinidad and Tobago. She made her debut in films with ‘Blood Simple’ in 1984.

She then appeared as a Nun in ‘Crimewave’ and also made television appearances in one episode of ‘Hunter’ and six episodes of ‘Hill Street Blues’ in 1985.

She co-starred with Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage in the hit film ‘Raising Arizona’ in 1987. She played the role of Willie Pipal in seven episodes of ‘Leg Work’ in 1987.

Frances appeared in ‘Mississippi Burning’ (1988), ‘Chattahoochee’ (1989), ‘Hidden Agenda’ (1990), ‘Miller's Crossing’ and ‘Darkman’ (1990). She played a stage actress in ‘Barton Fink’ in 1991 and also starred in ‘The Butcher's Wife’ (1991) and ‘Passed Away’ (1992).

Frances played the lead role opposite Tim Robbins in ‘Short Cuts’ in 1993. She did a couple of films in 1984 viz. ‘Bleeding Hearts’ and ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’.

Frances McDormand’s performance in the movie ‘Mississippi Burning’ was highly lauded and she won a couple of awards for it. Her role gave her a lot of recognition among the audiences.

She is best known for her role in the film ‘Fargo’ (1996) for which she received an Academy Award for Best Actress. She also received Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for the same performance along with several other awards and nominations.