1980–2010 In the early 1980s, Martindale worked for four years at the
Actors Theatre, Louisville, Kentucky, where she became good friends with fellow actress
Kathy Bates. One of her first television roles came in the miniseries
Lonesome Dove (1989). Martindale starred in several
off-Broadway stage productions, most notably originating the role of Truvy Jones in the first production of
Steel Magnolias, and starring in its first national tour. Martindale has been described as a
character actress. A series of character and guest appearances followed in a wide range of TV shows. Martindale played recurring character
Camilla Figg on the first three seasons of
Dexter and had a recurring role in the
A&E courtroom drama
100 Centre Street with
Alan Arkin. From 2007 to 2008, she had a recurring role as Nina Burns, a neighbor of the Malloy/"Rich" family in
The Riches with
Minnie Driver and
Eddie Izzard.
2011–present In 2011, Martindale joined the cast of
Justified for the second season. She played the role of Mags Bennett, matriarch of the Bennett crime family which controlled much of the drug activity in the fictional version of
Harlan County, Kentucky. She won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance. After learning of the nomination, Martindale told
CNN she hoped that it would open up more doors for older women in Hollywood. "People really identify with this character [Mags Bennett] and I think it's because it is a character that is powerful and older and extremely mean", she said. She won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the
Critics' Choice Television Awards for her role as Mags Bennett. In February 2012 it was announced Martindale had been cast in the ABC comedy pilot
Counter Culture, which was not picked up. Martindale had a role in
August: Osage County (2013), a film adaptation of the
Pulitzer Prize-winning play by
Tracy Letts. She played Mattie Fae Aiken, the sister of lead character Violet Weston (
Meryl Streep). Filming took place in the fall and winter of 2012. Martindale returned to television in late January 2013 in the spy drama
The Americans on
FX Network. She played Claudia, the
KGB "
handler" of two
Soviet spies living in 1980s
Cold War America. She co-starred in the sitcom
The Millers on CBS. In 2015, she began a recurring role as Ruth Eastman, Peter Florrick's new campaign manager on
The Good Wife. Martindale took up the role of Ruth again in 2018 in season two of
The Good Fight, the sequel to
The Good Wife. She appears as a fictionalized version of herself on the Netflix animated comedy
BoJack Horseman. Her fictional version is easily angered and temperamentally violent, moonlighting as a bank robber and going on frequent criminal heists. BoJack consistently refers to her as "Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale", while most other characters begin addressing her with "Beloved." Martindale played Audrey Bernhardt, matriarch of the family on the Amazon series
Sneaky Pete starring
Giovanni Ribisi, for the 2015 pilot, the first season which aired in January 2017, and the second and third seasons as well. She also played Mike's Aunt Rosemary in two episodes of
Mike & Molly.
I Spy, a podcast hosted by Martindale and produced by
Foreign Policy, was released in November 2019. She portrayed Ruth Eastman in
The Good Fight (2018–2021) and Senator
Elizabeth Guthrie in
Your Honor (2020–2021). For her performance as US Congresswoman
Bella Abzug on the FX miniseries
Mrs. America (2020) for which she received a nomination for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. ==Personal life==