Frances McDormand

Frances McDormand

1957-06-23 Gibson City, Illinois, USA 74 Credits

Biography

Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American film, stage and television actress. McDormand began her career on stage and made her screen debut in the 1984 film Blood Simple, having since appeared in several theatrical and television roles. McDormand has been recognized for her performances in 'Mississippi Burning' (1988), 'Short Cuts' (1993), 'Fargo' (1996), 'Wonder Boys' (2000), 'Almost Famous' (2000), 'North Country' (2005), 'Moonrise Kingdom' (2012), 'Hail, ...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Wolfs

Wolfs

2024

as Pam (voice)

6.6
Acting

Hired to cover up a high-profile crime, a fixer soon finds his night spiralling out of control when he's forced to work with an unexpected counterpart...

Women Talking

Women Talking

2022

as Scarface Janz

6.9
Acting

A group of women in an isolated religious colony struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men.

Women Talking

Women Talking

2022

Producer

6.9
Producing

A group of women in an isolated religious colony struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men.

Crafting the Tragedy of Macbeth

Crafting the Tragedy of Macbeth

2022

as Self

Acting

This behind the scenes documentary split across five chapters focuses on the many aspects of the filmmaking journey and includes interviews with lead ...

The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth

2021

as Lady Macbeth

6.9
Acting

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurre...

The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth

2021

Producer

6.9
Producing

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurre...

The French Dispatch

The French Dispatch

2021

as Lucinda Krementz

7.0
Acting

The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student ri...

Nomadland

Nomadland

2021

as Fern

7.2
Acting

A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling...

Nomadland

Nomadland

2021

Producer

7.2
Producing

A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling...

The Oedipus Project

The Oedipus Project

2020

as Jocosta

10.0
Acting

The Oedipus Project is an innovative new digital initiative by Theater of War Productions that will present acclaimed actors performing scenes from So...

The Origins of Ebbing

The Origins of Ebbing

2018

as Self

6.0
Acting
Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs

2018

as Interpreter Nelson (voice)

7.9
Acting

In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must ...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

2017

as Mildred Hayes

8.1
Acting

After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her...

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

2017

as Self (voice)

6.6
Acting

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin celebrates one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, following his evolution from a conservative son of the O...

Hail, Caesar!

Hail, Caesar!

2016

as C. C. Calhoun

5.9
Acting

When a Hollywood star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer to get him back.

The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur

2015

as Momma (voice)

6.7
Acting

An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.

Exploring the Set of 'Moonrise Kingdom'

Exploring the Set of 'Moonrise Kingdom'

2015

as Self / Mrs. Bishop

6.1
Acting

Martin Scali, who was Wes Anderson's assistant on "Fantastic Mr. Fox", shot this short documentary in Newport, Rhode Island, during the filming of "Mo...

She's The Best Thing in It

She's The Best Thing in It

2015

as Self

1.0
Acting

Mary Louise Wilson is the most accomplished character actor you've never heard of. While teaching skeptical young students, she examines whether her l...

Every Secret Thing

Every Secret Thing

2014

Producer

6.1
Producing

One clear summer day in a Baltimore suburb, a baby goes missing from her front porch. Two young girls serve seven years for the crime and are released...

Promised Land

Promised Land

2012

as Sue Thomason

6.3
Acting

A salesman for a natural gas company experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town, where his corporation wants to tap into the avai...

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

2012

as Captain Chantel DuBois (voice)

6.6
Acting

Animal pals Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are still trying to make it back to New York's Central Park Zoo. They are forced to take a detour to Europ...

Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom

2012

as Mrs. Bishop

7.7
Acting

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a...

This Must Be the Place

This Must Be the Place

2011

as Jane

7.0
Acting

A bored, retired rock star sets out to find his father's tormentor, an ex-Nazi war criminal who is a refugee in the U.S.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

2011

as Mearing

6.2
Acting

The Autobots continue to work for NEST, now no longer in secret. But after discovering a strange artifact during a mission in Chernobyl, it becomes ap...

The Botany of Desire

The Botany of Desire

2009

as Narrator (voice)

6.4
Acting

Featuring Michael Pollan and based on his best-selling book, this special takes viewers on an exploration of the human relationship with the plant wor...

Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading

2008

as Linda Litzke

6.7
Acting

When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money f...

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

2008

as Guinevere Pettigrew

6.8
Acting

London, England, on the eve of World War II. Guinevere Pettigrew, a strict governess who is unable to keep a job, is fired again. Lost in the hostile ...

Friends with Money

Friends with Money

2006

as Jane

5.1
Acting

As she reaches her mid-thirties and quits her lucrative job, singleton Olivia finds herself unsure about her future and her relationships with her suc...

Æon Flux

Æon Flux

2005

as Handler

5.6
Acting

400 years into the future, disease has wiped out the majority of the world's population, except one walled city, Bregna, ruled by a congress of scient...

North Country

North Country

2005

as Glory

7.3
Acting

A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States — Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endure...

Something's Gotta Give

Something's Gotta Give

2003

as Zoe

6.6
Acting

When perpetually single, aging music industry exec Harry Sanborn, and his latest trophy girlfriend, Marin, arrive at her mother's beach house in the H...

Sesame Street: Kid's Guide to Life: Big Bird Gets Lost

Sesame Street: Kid's Guide to Life: Big Bird Gets Lost

2003

as Herself

6.0
Acting

When Big Bird and Maria go to the ABCD-Mart to buy some skates for Snuffy's birthday, Big Bird forgets all about sticking together and takes off after...

Minnesota Nice

Minnesota Nice

2003

as Self

6.8
Acting

A collection of cast interviews and behind-the-scenes clips from the Coen brother's Academy Award-winning film Fargo.

Laurel Canyon

Laurel Canyon

2003

as Jane

6.0
Acting

When an uptight young man and his fiancée move into his libertine mother's house, the resulting clash of life attitudes shakes everyone up.

City by the Sea

City by the Sea

2002

as Michelle

5.8
Acting

Vincent LaMarca is a dedicated and well-respected New York City police detective who has gone to great lengths to distance himself from his past, but ...

Searching for Debra Winger

Searching for Debra Winger

2002

as Self

6.3
Acting

Rosanna Arquette talks to various actresses about the pressures they face as women working in the entertainment industry.

Upheaval

Upheaval

2002

as Anne

6.5
Acting

A neurotic and overly-presumptuous mother accuses her family's au pair of stealing a cherished heirloom, much to the chagrin of her husband.

The Man Who Wasn't There

The Man Who Wasn't There

2001

as Doris Crane

7.5
Acting

A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but hi...

The Grey Zone

The Grey Zone

2001

Thanks

6.6

The story of Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando — one of the thirteen consecutive "Special Squads" of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excr...

Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big

Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big

2000

as The Adult Fannie (voice)

Acting

Edwurd Fudwupper spends all his time cooking up big fibs. But one day, he tells such a humdinger that the army, the air force and the dog catcher are ...

Almost Famous

Almost Famous

2000

as Elaine Miller

7.5
Acting

In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone ma...

Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys

2000

as Sara Gaskell

6.8
Acting

Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago....

Talk of Angels

Talk of Angels

1998

as Conlon

5.7
Acting

This is the story of a young Irish woman who comes to Spain to escape from the pressures she feels about her impending marriage to a political activis...

Madeline

Madeline

1998

as Miss Clavel

6.2
Acting

Horrified at the prospect of her beloved school being sold, a young French girl named Madeline uses her wit and craftiness to attempt to save it, maki...

Johnny Skidmarks

Johnny Skidmarks

1998

as Alice

5.8
Acting

Johnny Scardino is working for blackmailers, photographing wealthy guys in seedy motels. One such assignment turns the wrong way and blackmailers die ...

Paradise Road

Paradise Road

1997

as Dr. Verstak

6.4
Acting

A group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women creates a vocal orchestra while being imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp on Sumatra during Wor...

Hidden in America

Hidden in America

1996

as Gus

5.1
Acting

Story of a man whose pride in being the head of his family won't let him accept help from his sick daughters doctor. He has to prove to his kids that ...

Lone Star

Lone Star

1996

as Bunny

7.0
Acting

When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

Fargo

Fargo

1996

as Marge Gunderson

7.9
Acting

Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife ...

Primal Fear

Primal Fear

1996

as Molly

7.7
Acting

An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has ...

Bleeding Hearts

Bleeding Hearts

1995

as Woman on T.V.

3.8
Acting

An ill-fated, tender romance between an adult white male tutor and his 17-year-old African-American female student.

Palookaville

Palookaville

1995

as June

5.8
Acting

Jerry and his two pals, Russ and Syd, are just looking for some easy money to help them break out of their nowhere lives in their nowhere town. Despit...

Beyond Rangoon

Beyond Rangoon

1995

as Andy Bowman

6.6
Acting

Dr. Laura Bowman is a young widow who's unwittingly drawn into political turmoil while vacationing in Burma in the late 1980s. Bowman initially left S...

Talking With

Talking With

1995

as Caro (segment "Handler")

Acting

Adapted from the group of stage monologues by the pseudononymous "Jane Martin," this is a series of characters snake handler, daughter, baton twirler,...

The Good Old Boys

The Good Old Boys

1995

as Eve Calloway

6.7
Acting

An aging cowboy must choose between his desire to remain free and the responsibilities of maintaining a family.

American Cinema

American Cinema

1995

as Narrator

Acting

The history of Hollywood and filmmaking comes alive in this spectacular nine hour celebration of movie magic. It's a mesmerizing, epic analysis that c...

Short Cuts

Short Cuts

1993

as Betty Weathers

7.2
Acting

Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a bo...

Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country

Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country

1993

as Self

6.0
Acting

A documentary insight behind the scenes of Roberts Altman's Short Cuts.

Crazy in Love

Crazy in Love

1992

as Clare

4.4
Acting

Three generations of women live on a small island off the coast of Washington state with their men with whom they have no end of problems.

Passed Away

Passed Away

1992

as Nora Scanlan

5.1
Acting

Thrown for a loop by the unexpected news that Dad has suddenly gone to his reward, the grieving eccentric Scanian clan are drawn together in a test of...

The Butcher's Wife

The Butcher's Wife

1991

as Grace

5.7
Acting

A clairvoyant woman thinks that she's met her future husband because she's seen him in a dream. They marry and he takes her back to his butcher shop i...

Barton Fink

Barton Fink

1991

as Stage Actress (voice) (uncredited)

7.5
Acting

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Hidden Agenda

Hidden Agenda

1990

as Ingrid Jessner

6.9
Acting

In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government...

Miller's Crossing

Miller's Crossing

1990

as Mayor's Secretary (uncredited)

7.5
Acting

Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.

Darkman

Darkman

1990

as Julie Hastings

6.4
Acting

Dr. Peyton Westlake is on the verge of realizing a major breakthrough in synthetic skin when his laboratory is destroyed by gangsters. Having been bur...

The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'

The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'

1990

as Self

Acting

Documentary looking at the making-of and real-life stories behind the award-winning conspiracy thriller starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand and Br...

Chattahoochee

Chattahoochee

1990

as Mae Foley

5.7
Acting

In 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.

Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning

1988

as Mrs. Pell

7.7
Acting

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where...

Raising Arizona

Raising Arizona

1987

as Dot

7.1
Acting

When a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicate...

Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo

Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo

1986

as Brigette

6.0
Acting

A true story of the lives of a family from South Carolina torn apart after the murder of Bill and Myrtle Moon. Although the killer is caught the judic...

Crimewave

Crimewave

1985

as Nun

5.5
Acting

Fed up of his business partner, Ernest Trend hires the services of two exterminators. When things go drastically wrong and they murder the wrong man, ...

Scandal Sheet

Scandal Sheet

1985

5.0
Acting

The publisher of a celebrity gossip tabloid sets out to destroy an aging actor, whose career is foundering and who is also facing a battle with alcoho...

Blood Simple

Blood Simple

1984

as Abby

7.2
Acting

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings,...

Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy's Life

Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy's Life

N/A

as Self (archive footage)

Acting

Explores Caton-Jones' rise from his humble roots in the working class mining village of Broxburn, West Lothian to the dizzy heights of Hollywood, wher...