A graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and winner of the Theatre World award for her performance in the Broadway production of Prelude to a Kiss, Mary Louise Parker has developed into the Mae Marsh of the 1990s: the eternal victim. Poor, put-upon Parker seems to have "kick me" emblazoned on her forehead in most of her screen appearances. However, unlike silent star Marsh, Parker's characters usually enjoy a satisfying "worm has turned" moment -- one of her first major film roles was as the abused wife in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) A more self-reliant Parker was seen in the 1990 AIDS-related TV movie Longtime Companion, as the supportive "earth mother" to a group of urban homosexual men. Still, there's a foredoomed quality in Mary-Louise Parker's performances that can't be easily shaken. While her film career thrives, Parker is also busy on stage and occasionally television. Parker received a Tony nomination for her work in a Broadway production of Prelude to a Kiss. She also appears on productions all over the country. On television Parker appears in television movies such as Sugartime and Saint Maybe (1998).
Mary-Louise Parker
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- Raised in Tennessee, Texas, Thailand, Germany and France (her father served in the U.S. Army).
- Classmates at the North Carolina School of the Arts included Peter Hedges and Joe Mantello.
- Listed as one of 12 Promising New Actors of 1990 in Screen World.
- Her break-out film role was Ruth in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991).
- Organized and produced "Don't Pick the Wrong Fight," a series of public-service announcements promoting tolerance toward Arab-Americans in the wake of Sept. 11.
- The 2002 song "Butterfly in Reverse" by the band Counting Crows was written for her.