Melissa Leo is an American actress best known for her role as Alice Eklund-Ward, mother and manager of boxers Micky and Dicky Ward, in the 2010 Academy Award-winning film, for which she received multiple nominations, and Awards including the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Leo got her first breakthrough role as a detective and later Sergeant Kay Howard in the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993-1997). She is also known for her appearance on the television shows “All My Children” and “The Young Riders”.
With her naturalistic depictions of tough, unemotional, and nondescript women dealing with difficult circumstances, she has received multiple awards, including an Oscar, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics’ Choice Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award . In addition, Leo is not yet married and is survived by their 2 sons.
What is Melissa Leo famous for?
- Famous for her role as Alice in the 2010 Oscar winning film The Fighter.
Where was Melissa Leo born?
Melissa Leo was born on September 14, 1960 in Manhattan, New York City, USA. Her maiden name is Melissa Chessington Leo. Your nationality is American. Leo belongs to the white ethnicity, while Virgo is their zodiac sign.
Melissa was born into a wealthy family of Arnold Leo III (father) and Margaret Chessington (mother). Her father Arnold was an editor at Grove Press, a fisherman, and a former spokesman for the East Hampton Baymen’s Association, while her mother Margaret was a teacher.
She grew up on the Lower East Side with her brother Erik Leo. However, Leo’s parents divorced and her mother moved them to Red Clover Commune in Putney, Vermont. She spent her summers with her father in Springs, a neighborhood in East Hampton, New York.
Melissa attended Bellows Falls High School in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and then moved to London at the age of 15 to study acting at Mountview Theater Arts, a premier drama school and SUNY Purchase. She didn’t graduate, however, and instead moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. She also took acting classes at the Brattleboro Center for the Performing Arts and performed with the Bread and Puppet Theater Company as a child.
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Melissa Leo’s career highlights
- Melissa Leo made her acting debut, which was her first career break in 1984, starring as Linda Warner in the soap opera “All My Children”. She stayed on the show for over 4 years until she received the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Ingénue / Woman in a Drama Series at the 12th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1988.
- She then starred as Patti Mullen in a television movie, “Silent Witness” in 1985. She also appeared in “A Time of Destiny”, “Last Summer in the Hamptons” and “Venice / Venice”.
- Leo received much recognition for her role as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard, a detective and later sergeant in the 1993 television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” for the first five seasons through 1997. She repeated her role in the television movie “Homicide: The Movie “.
- Leo’s further breakthrough came three years later in the 2003 Alejandro González Iñárritu film “21 Gramm”. For her role, she received the 2003 Phoenix Film Critics Society’s Best Ensemble Award.
- In 2005 Melissa appeared in the films “Hide and Seek”, “American Gun” and played a supporting role in “Mr. Woodcock”.
- In the same year she appeared with Tommy Lee Jones in a French-American neo-western film “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”, for which she and Jones won the Bronze Wrangler at the 2006 Western Heritage Awards.
- In 2008, she gave an intense performance as the heroic woman, Ray Eddy in a crime film, “Frozen River,” for which she received multiple critical praise as well as multiple awards and nominations, including an Oscar for best performance by an actress in one Main role.
- She gave a dazzling performance in a Darrell Roodt film, “Lullaby,” for which she won the Geraldine Page Award and the Maverick Actor Award at the 10th Method Fest in 2008.
- Melissa then appeared in the films “Righteous Kill” (2008) and in 2009 “Stephanie’s Image”, “True Adolescents” and “Veronika Decides to Die”.
- Another breakthrough came with her role as Alice Eklund-Ward, mother and manager of boxers Micky and Dicky Ward, in David O. Russell’s 2010 Oscar-winning film “The Fighter”. She has received multiple awards and accolades, including an Oscar for best supporting actress.
- Leo then appeared on the HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce” (2011) as Ruth McMillan, Secretary of Defense in “Olympus Has Fallen” (2013), “Oblivion” (2013).
- In 2013 she appeared in several films including “Queen of the Lot”, “Prisoners”, “Call Me Crazy: A Five-Movie”, “Bottled Up” and “Charlie Countryman”.
- Leo then appeared in films such as “The Equalizer”, “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn” and was the voice of “Dwegons and Leprechauns” and “BoJack Horseman” in 2014.
- After a year in 2015, she marked her further appearance in films such as “She’s the Best In It” and “The Ever After”.
- Leo then played the role of Ruth McMillan in the action thriller “London Has Fallen”, Gloria in “Burn Country” and Laura Poitras in “Snowden” in 2016.
- She also appeared as Lady Bird Johnson in a 2016 bio TV movie “All the Way”.
- In 2017 she appeared as Reverend Mother Marie Saint-Clair in the drama “Novitiate” and as Madalyn Murray O’Hair in the bio-drama “The Most Hated Woman in America”.
- In 2018 Leo starred in the films “Unlovable”, “Furlough”, “The Parting Glass” and “The Equalizer 2”.
- Leo will be in upcoming films like “Thunder Force”, “Body Brokers” and “Leave Not One Alive”.
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Awards
- 2 National Board of Review Award
- Primetime Emmy Award
- California Independent Film Festival Slate Award
- Rhode Island International Film Festival Award
- Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards
- Phoenix Film Critics Society Award
- Bronze Wrangler Award
- Florida Film Critics Circle Award
- Gotham Awards
- Independent Spirit Awards
- Women Film Critics Circle Award
- Method Fest Independent Film Festival Award
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Who is Melissa Leo’s husband?
Melissa Leo is not yet married, although she will be 59 as of 2020. Leo was previously in a relationship with John Heard Jr., an American actor known for his films like “Heart Beat” (1980), “Cutter’s Way” (1981), “Deceived” (1991). With her late Heard’s former boyfriend she had a son named John Matthew Heard, who was born in 1987.
The couple split after a three-year relationship, but split with a legal battle over custody of the son, which was eventually turned over to Melissa in 1994. She later adopted another son named Adam Leo. She currently lives in Stone Ridge, New York, and is survived by her two sons.
What is the net worth of melissa leo?
Melissa Leo has made pretty good earnings from her professional acting career. Having started her career in 1984, Leo has advanced her successful career for over 35 years and has undoubtedly made a healthy fortune from her various films and series appearances.
With all of their sources of income, Leo has an estimated net worth of around $ 10 million.
Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo is a beautiful woman who looks gorgeous even in her late 50s. With her wonderful acting and charming personality, Leo has managed to win several hearts around the world. She stands tall with a height of 5 feet. 1.63 m (4 inches) while her body weighs about 60 kg (132 lbs).
She has a well-groomed slim body of 34-24-35 inches with 34 B as a bra size and 4 (US) as a dress size. She has a fair complexion with brown hair and black eyes.
