Marcia Gay Harden

Marcia Gay Harden is the third of the five siblings who were born to La Jolla on 14 August 1959. Her mother, Beverly (Bushfield) is a domestic worker, and her dad, Thad Harold Harden, was a soldier. The family relocated often -- she first became interested with theatre when the family moved to Greece and had attended plays in Athens. Harden began her college education at American institutions in Europe and returned to the US to complete her studies at the University of Texas in 1983 followed by an MFA at NYU, and, thereafter began her acting career. Although she had acted in a film as early as 1986, in the largely unnoticed The Imagemaker (1986), her debut role in the mainstream which was in conjunction with TV film work, was an edgy femme fatale in the Coen Brothers' cleverly offbeat tribute to the film of the same name, Miller's Crossing (1990). Harden was widely praised by critics for her stunning performance as Verna. Harden worked hard in the role of a supporting actress, acting as Ava Gardner in Sinatra (92) which was a biopic made for TV of Frank Sinatra.