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
Complete Filmography

Wolfs
2024
as Pam (voice)
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
2022
as Scarface Janz
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
2022
Producer
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
2022
as Self
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
2021
as Lady Macbeth
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
2021
Producer
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
2021
as Lucinda Krementz
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
2021
as Fern
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
2021
Producer
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
2020
as Jocosta
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
2018
as Self

Isle of Dogs
2018
as Interpreter Nelson (voice)
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
2017
as Mildred Hayes
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
2017
as Self (voice)
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!
2016
as C. C. Calhoun
When a Hollywood star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer to get him back.

The Good Dinosaur
2015
as Momma (voice)
An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.

Exploring the Set of 'Moonrise Kingdom'
2015
as Self / Mrs. Bishop
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
2015
as Self
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
2014
Producer
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
2012
as Sue Thomason
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
2012
as Captain Chantel DuBois (voice)
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
2012
as Mrs. Bishop
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
2011
as Jane
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
2011
as Mearing
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
2009
as Narrator (voice)
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
2008
as Linda Litzke
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
2008
as Guinevere Pettigrew
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
2006
as Jane
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
2005
as Handler
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
2005
as Glory
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
2003
as Zoe
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
2003
as Herself
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
2003
as Self
A collection of cast interviews and behind-the-scenes clips from the Coen brother's Academy Award-winning film Fargo.

Laurel Canyon
2003
as Jane
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
2002
as Michelle
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
2002
as Self
Rosanna Arquette talks to various actresses about the pressures they face as women working in the entertainment industry.

Upheaval
2002
as Anne
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
2001
as Doris Crane
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
2001
Thanks
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
2000
as The Adult Fannie (voice)
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
2000
as Elaine Miller
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
2000
as Sara Gaskell
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
1998
as Conlon
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
1998
as Miss Clavel
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
1998
as Alice
Johnny Scardino is working for blackmailers, photographing wealthy guys in seedy motels. One such assignment turns the wrong way and blackmailers die ...

Paradise Road
1997
as Dr. Verstak
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
1996
as Gus
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
1996
as Bunny
When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

Fargo
1996
as Marge Gunderson
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
1996
as Molly
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
1995
as Woman on T.V.
An ill-fated, tender romance between an adult white male tutor and his 17-year-old African-American female student.

Palookaville
1995
as June
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
1995
as Andy Bowman
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
1995
as Caro (segment "Handler")
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
1995
as Eve Calloway
An aging cowboy must choose between his desire to remain free and the responsibilities of maintaining a family.

American Cinema
1995
as Narrator
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
1993
as Betty Weathers
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
1993
as Self
A documentary insight behind the scenes of Roberts Altman's Short Cuts.

Crazy in Love
1992
as Clare
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
1992
as Nora Scanlan
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
1991
as Grace
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
1991
as Stage Actress (voice) (uncredited)
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Hidden Agenda
1990
as Ingrid Jessner
In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government...

Miller's Crossing
1990
as Mayor's Secretary (uncredited)
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.

Darkman
1990
as Julie Hastings
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'
1990
as Self
Documentary looking at the making-of and real-life stories behind the award-winning conspiracy thriller starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand and Br...

Chattahoochee
1990
as Mae Foley
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
1988
as Mrs. Pell
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
1987
as Dot
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
1986
as Brigette
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
1985
as Nun
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
1985
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
1984
as Abby
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
N/A
as Self (archive footage)
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...