Melissa Leo is one of the most in demand actresses in the world, Winner of an Oscar for her performance on “The Fighter” Melissa will surely be one of the great actresses of our time.

Melissa Leo was born on September 14, 1960, in New York City. Leo starred as the mother of boxer Mickey Ward in the 2010 film The Fighter, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The role garnered her both Golden Globe (best supporting actress) and Oscar awards. Other accolades include award nominations for the film Frozen River and the HBO series Mildred Pierce.

Leos breakthrough role came in 1993, when she began playing Detective Sergeant Kay Howard on the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street.

Melissa rose back to prominence with an impressive performance as a wife of an addict in the 2003 film 21 Grams. Her role garnered an award nomination for best supporting actress from the L.A. Film Critics Association. Many film opportunities followed, including The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) with Tommy Lee Jones, Hollywood Dreams (2006) and Black Irish (2007).

Leo went on to win acclaim for her performance as a struggling mother in the heralded film Frozen River (2008), most notably Independent Spirit Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations—all in the best actress category.More films followed, including Everybodys Fine (2009) with Robert DeNiro, Conviction (2010) with Hilary Swank and The Fighter (2010) with Mark Wahlberg. In the latter film, she garnered wide acclaim for her performance, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, both in the best supporting actress category.

Moving back to TV in 2011, Leo showcased her talent in the HBO series Mildred Pierce, starring alongside Kate Winslet; she earned an Emmy nomination (outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or movie) for her role as Lucy Gessler in the series.

Leo went on to work on several projects, including “Oblivion” (2013), with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, which show us Melissa in a different genre, but always keeping it faithful to her choice for strong and captivating women, who immediately jump from the screen. Also in 2013 Melissa Leo went on working in The Butler, also featuring Forest Whitaker, Jane Fonda and Oprah Winfrey. That same year, she won an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on the sitcom Louie.

Later in 2013 she premiered her most recent film the highly praised “Prisioners” starring along with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, she has also starred alongside Denzel Washington in “The Equalizer” and The Equalizer 2, having previously appeared in a 1985 episode of the original series. She also appeared in “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn” alongside Robin Williams.

She starred in the 2015 Fox event series Wayward Pines as Nurse Pam. She then starred in the 2017 Netflix film The Most Hated Woman in America as American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair. She has recently appeared in the miniseries I Know This Much Is True (2020), an adaptation of Wally Lamb’s 1998 novel.