Since the early 1990s she has appeared in
off-Broadway plays. Marvel appeared in many stage productions throughout her career. Her first professional role was as Isabella in
Measure for Measure at Canada's
Stratford Festival in 1992. She has won
Obie Awards for her work in
Thérèse Raquin and
Misalliance (1998),
A Streetcar Named Desire (2000) and
Hedda Gabler (2005). She returned to the role she originated Off-Broadway of Brooke Wyeth in
Other Desert Cities, which was played by
Rachel Griffiths in its Broadway premiere. In 2009, for her performance in
Fifty Words, she was nominated for a
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. Marvel first gained widespread attention on television, with her four seasons playing the regular role of Nancy Parras in the CBS series
The District (2000–04). She played a variety of guest and recurring roles on
Lights Out,
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,
Nurse Jackie,
Person of Interest,
30 Rock,
The Good Wife, and
The Newsroom. In film, Marvel has appeared in
Burn After Reading (2008), directed by the
Coen brothers, and in
True Grit (2010), as the adult Mattie Ross. She appeared in
The Bourne Legacy (2012),
Lincoln (2012), and
Hyde Park on Hudson (2012). In 2009 she played
Louisa May Alcott in scenes from the writer's life in the documentary profile "Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women'" that aired on the PBS series
American Masters. In 2013, she was cast as lead in the CW family drama pilot
Blink, opposite
John Benjamin Hickey. She was noted for portraying Heather Dunbar in
Netflix's political drama
House of Cards. In 2016, she was cast as President-elect Elizabeth Keane for the sixth and seventh seasons of Showtime drama series
Homeland. ==Personal life==