Mary Steenburgen

Mary Nell Steenburgen was born on February 8, 1953, in Newport, Arkansas, to Nellie Mae (née Wall), a school-board secretary, and Maurice Hoffman Steenburgen, a freight-train conductor who worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In 1971, she enrolled at Hendrix College to study drama. She subsequently traveled to Dallas at the suggestion of her drama teacher, where she successfully auditioned for New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. ==Career==

Steenburgen moved to Manhattan in 1972 after the Neighborhood Playhouse offered her an opportunity to study acting. She worked as a server at The Magic Pan and for Doubleday while studying under William Esper. but it was passed by the network. She appeared in the dark sitcom Wilfred from 2011 through 2013 as Catherine Newman, the title character's eccentric and mentally ill mother. Steenburgen had a recurring role as Diana Jessup on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock from 2012 to 2013. In 2014, she began a recurring role as former Dixie Mafia boss Katherine Hale in the fifth and sixth seasons of Justified. From 2015 to 2018, she starred as Gail Klosterman on the comedy series The Last Man on Earth. From 2020 to 2021, she played the role of Maggie Clarke in the NBC musical comedy-drama series ''Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist for two seasons. She reprised the role for The Roku Channel television film Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas''. In 2025, she appeared with her husband, Ted Danson, in the second season of the Netflix show A Man on the Inside as the character Mona Margadoff. Music career In 2007, Steenburgen underwent minor surgery on her arm, which required a general anaesthetic; shortly thereafter, she began experiencing "music (...) playing in her head day and night". She subsequently took music lessons so that she could write down what she was hearing, and by 2013 had almost 50 songwriting credits. She has collaborated with musicians from Nashville and was also signed to Universal Music Group as a songwriter. She performs one of her own songs in Last Vegas. In 2018, her composition "Glasgow (No Place Like Home)" as performed by Jessie Buckley featured as the climactic musical moment in the film Wild Rose and won Steenburgen several awards, including the 2019 Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song. On October 30, 2020, Steenburgen signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group. ==Other activities==

Steenburgen was a co-founder of Artists for a Free South Africa (later renamed Artists for a New South Africa) in 1989, along with a number of other Hollywood actors, including Alfre Woodard. In September 2005, she and her husband Ted Danson gave a guest lecture for students at the Clinton School of Public Service, where they discussed their roles in public service as well as the foundations and causes in which they are involved. Steenburgen is a friend of former senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and supported, with Danson, Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. She spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Steenburgen is involved with various groups ranging from human rights to environmental causes. Honours An alumna of Hendrix College, Steenburgen received an honorary doctorate from the institution in 1989. In 2006, Steenburgen received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas. ==Personal life==

In 1978, Steenburgen met and began dating actor Malcolm McDowell while they were co-starring in Time After Time. They married and had two children together, including film director/screenwriter Charlie McDowell. They divorced in 1990. On October 7, 1995, Steenburgen married actor Ted Danson, whom she had met on the set of the film Pontiac Moon, and became the stepmother to Danson's two daughters from his previous marriage. Since 2014, Steenburgen's son Charlie McDowell has had a running joke at her expense, claiming on numerous occasions on social media that his mother is actress Andie MacDowell. ==Filmography==

Film Television Stage ==Awards and nominations==

In addition to these recognitions, Steenburgen received the 1,337th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 16, 2009. ==References==