Mare Winningham

MARE WINNINGHAM

Date of Birth: May 16, 1959

Born Mary Megan Winningham in Phoenix, Arizona, American actress and singer-songwriter Mare Winningham knew she wanted to act from a young age when she saw Kym Karath (Gretl in The Sound of Music) in the '60s on the TV show House Party. When Mare was in Grade 12, she starred with classmate/fellow actor Kevin Spacey in a production of The Sound of Music.

She made her TV acting debut at 16 in the TV movie Young Pioneers, which evolved into a 1978 television series. Roles in popular TV series at the time, such as Police Woman, Starsky and Hutch and Family were followed by a role as Marlene Burkhardt in the 1980 TV movie Amber Waves, for which Mare won her first Emmy. Her career received a big boost when she played in the 1985 film St. Elmo's Fire , which earned her membership into “The Brat Pack," a group of young actors in the 1980s. She also starred alongside Tom Hanks in 1989's Turner and Hooch and won a second Emmy Award in 1998 for the miniseries George Wallace.

In 1996, she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Georgia. She has worked steadily since then in numerous feature films and TV movies, as well as guest roles in TV series like ER, Touched by an Angel and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. She also played a recurring role as Meredith Grey's stepmother in Grey's Anatomy .

She secured the role of baker Margaret in the classic Snow White tale Mirror Mirror (2012), starring alongside Julia Roberts and Lily Collins, and played Polina in The Seagull (2018) based on Anton Chekov's famous play. She has also been seen on television in shows such as 24, Torchwood, American Horror Story, the critically-acclaimed Mildred Pierce and the History Channel series Hatfields & McCoys.

Mare has recorded three albums and received one Golden Globe nomination, one Oscar nomination and won two Emmy Awards. She has five children from her second marriage, but in 2005 she tragically lost her eldest son, Riley Mapel, when he committed suicide. Mare is married to producer Jason Trucco.

Filmography:

The Seagull (2018)
O.G. (2018)
Geostorm (2018)
Philomena (2013)
Mirror, Mirror (2012)
Brothers (2009)
Swing Vote (2007)
War Eagle, Arkansas (2007)
Dandelion (2004)
The Adventures of Ociee Nash (2003)
The Fireman (Bad Day on the Block) (1997)
Georgia (1995)
The War (1994)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Teresa's Tattoo (1994)
Sexual Healing (1993)
Hard Promises (1991)
Turner and Hooch (1989)
Miracle Mile (1988)
Made in Heaven (1987)
Shy People (1987)
Nobody's Fool (1986)
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
The Thorn Birds (1983)
Threshold (1981)
One Trick Pony (1980)