Mary Steenburgen
Jeannie
Academy Award®-winning actress MARY STEENBURGEN (Jeannie) is a Hollywood veteran, having appeared in countless roles on the big and small screens. Her role in Melvin and Howard garnered her an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress. She is also a Golden Globe Award nominee for her debut film performance in the Jack Nicholson-directed Goin’ South.
Most recently, Mary was seen costarring alongside Will Forte in the first season of the hit FOX comedy The Last Man on Earth. Mary will return to the second season of the series premiering this fall.
Mary appeared as a guest star in the fifth and sixth season of the FX hit Justified. She also starred in the independent film Song One with Anne Hathaway that premiered in January 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2013, Mary starred in the CBS Films comedy Last Vegas opposite Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro and Kevin Kline for director Jon Turteltaub. She also appeared in the hit NBC series 30 Rock recurring as Diana Jessup, the highly spirited mother of Avery (Elizabeth Banks). In her multi-episode role, Steenburgen’s character continuously butts heads with Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin.
In 2011, Steenburgen appeared alongside her husband, Ted Danson as Josephine in the last four episodes of the final season of the HBO series Bored to Death, as well as guest-starring on FX’s acclaimed series Wilfred with Elijah Wood, a role that continued through 2012 and 2013. Also in 2011, Steenburgen appeared in the critically acclaimed ensemble cast of The Help. The Help won numerous accolades and was nominated for four Academy Awards®.
Steenburgen appeared in the film Dirty Girl, co-starring opposite Juno Temple and William H. Macy. The drama focused on a notorious high school tramp who journeys from Oklahoma to California to find her father. The Weinstein Company purchased the film at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, where it premiered. Steenburgen also co-wrote “Rainbird,” the featured song for the film, with Melissa Manchester.
Steenburgen has continued to redefine herself through challenging roles in films such as Philadelphia, Parenthood and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. S he’s also shown her comedic talents in memorable roles in The Proposal, Four Christmases and Stepbrothers. All three films were released within a year’s span of one another and grossed over $100 million domestically each. Steenburgen has also appeared as herself alongside husband, Ted Danson, in the HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Throughout her longstanding career in Hollywood, Mary has also proven herself as a: producer (she executive-produced the TV series Ink); performer (she’s a singer/songwriter for Universal Music Publishing Group; has written with acclaimed songwriters Matraca Berg, Troy Verges, Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna; and recently co-wrote music for Grammy Award-winning country artist Tim McGraw); philanthropist (she founded Artists for a New South Africa with fellow actress Alfre Woodard and is an avid supporter of Heifer International, a global nonprofit that gives out gifts of livestock, seeds and trees and extensive training to those in need, and Oceana, an international marine conservation and advocacy organization); and entrepreneur (she, along with her daughter, Lilly McDowell, has created a beautiful, eco-friendly and socially conscious candle company called Nell’s Compass. Nell’s Compass is sold at Mary’s California boutiques Rooms and Gardens, which showcases furniture, antiques and interior design). Mary’s latest entrepreneurial venture is South on Main—an exciting restaurant partnership with Amy Kelley Bell, chef Matthew Bell and the Oxford American, the Southern magazine of good writing, in Little Rock, Arkansas; it serves Southern cuisine and also provides a performance space for musicians and artists.
