Mary Nell Steenburgen (; born February 8, 1953) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and songwriter. After studying at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse in the 1970s, she made her professional acting debut in the Western comedy film Goin' South (1978). Steenburgen went on to earn critical acclaim for her role in Time After Time (1979) and Jonathan Demme's comedy-drama film Melvin and Howard (1980), for which she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Steenburgen received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Miloš Forman's drama film Ragtime (1981). Her other films include A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), Cross Creek (1983), Back to the Future Part III (1990), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Philadelphia (1993), Nixon (1995), The Brave One (2007), Last Vegas (2013), A Walk in the Woods (2015), Book Club (2018), Nightmare Alley (2021), and Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023). She also played mothers in a string of comedy films including Parenthood (1989), Elf (2003), Step Brothers (2008), Four Christmases (2008), The Proposal (2009), Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009), The Help (2011), and Happiest Season (2020).
She received nominations for a BAFTA TV Award for the miniseries Tender Is the Night (1985) and a Primetime Emmy Award for the television film The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988). Steenburgen has worked as a singer-songwriter for numerous films, in some of which she starred. For her song "Glasgow (No Place Like Home)", written for the musical film Wild Rose (2018), she received the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song. Steenburgen was awarded with Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2025.
Early life and education
Mary Nell Steenburgen was born on February 8, 1953, in Newport, Arkansas, to Nellie Mae (née Wall), a school-board secretary, and Maurice Hoffman Steenburgen, a freight-train conductor who worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
In 1971, she enrolled at Hendrix College to study drama. but it was passed by the network. She appeared in the dark sitcom Wilfred from 2011 through 2013 as Catherine Newman, the title character's eccentric and mentally ill mother. Steenburgen had a recurring role as Diana Jessup on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock from 2012 to 2013.
In 2014, she began a recurring role as former Dixie Mafia boss Katherine Hale in the fifth and sixth seasons of Justified.
From 2015 to 2018, she starred as Gail Klosterman on the comedy series The Last Man on Earth.
From 2020 to 2021, she played the role of Maggie Clarke in the NBC musical comedy-drama series Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist for two seasons. She reprised the role for The Roku Channel television film Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas.
In 2025, she appeared with her husband, Ted Danson, in the second season of the Netflix show A Man on the Inside as the character Mona Margadoff.
Music career
In 2007, Steenburgen underwent minor surgery on her arm, which required a general anaesthetic; shortly thereafter, she began experiencing "music (...) playing in her head day and night". She subsequently took music lessons so that she could write down what she was hearing, and by 2013 had almost 50 songwriting credits. She has collaborated with musicians from Nashville and was also signed to Universal Music Group as a songwriter. She performs one of her own songs in Last Vegas.
In 2018, her composition "Glasgow (No Place Like Home)" as performed by Jessie Buckley featured as the climactic musical moment in the film Wild Rose and won Steenburgen several awards, including the 2019 Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song. On October 30, 2020, Steenburgen signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group.
Other activities
Steenburgen was a co-founder of Artists for a Free South Africa (later renamed Artists for a New South Africa) in 1989, along with a number of other Hollywood actors, including Alfre Woodard.
In September 2005, she and her husband Ted Danson gave a guest lecture for students at the Clinton School of Public Service, where they discussed their roles in public service as well as the foundations and causes in which they are involved.
Steenburgen is a friend of former senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and supported, with Danson, Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. She spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Steenburgen is involved with various groups ranging from human rights to environmental causes.
Honours
An alumna of Hendrix College, Steenburgen received an honorary doctorate from the institution in 1989. In 2006, Steenburgen received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas.
Personal life
In 1978, Steenburgen met and began dating actor Malcolm McDowell while they were co-starring in Time After Time. They married and had two children together, including film director/screenwriter Charlie McDowell. They divorced in 1990. On October 7, 1995, Steenburgen married actor Ted Danson, whom she had met on the set of the film Pontiac Moon, and became the stepmother to Danson's two daughters from his previous marriage.
Since 2014, Steenburgen's son Charlie McDowell has had a running joke at her expense, claiming on numerous occasions on social media that his mother is actress Andie MacDowell.
Acting credits
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1978
|Goin' South
| Julia Tate Moon
|
|-
|1979
|Time After Time
| Amy Robbins
|
|-
|1980
|Melvin and Howard
| Lynda West Dummar
|
|-
|1981
|Ragtime
| Mother
|
|-
|1982
| data-sort-value="Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, A" |A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
| Adrian
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1983
|Cross Creek
| Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
|
|-
|Romantic Comedy
| Phoebe Craddock
|
|-
|1985
|One Magic Christmas
| Ginny Grainger
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 1987
|Dead of Winter
| Julie Rose / Katie McGovern / Evelyn
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Whales of August, The" |The Whales of August
| Young Sarah
|
|-
|End of the Line
| Rose Pickett
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1989
|Miss Firecracker
| Elaine Rutledge
|
|-
|Parenthood
| Karen Buckman
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1990
|Back to the Future Part III
| Clara Clayton
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Long Walk Home, The" |The Long Walk Home
| Narrator
| Voice role
|-
|1991
| data-sort-value="Butcher's Wife, The" |The Butcher's Wife
| Stella Keefover
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1993
|What's Eating Gilbert Grape
| Betty Carver
|
|-
|Philadelphia
| Belinda Conine
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 1994
|Clifford
| Sarah Davis Daniels
|
|-
|Pontiac Moon
| Katherine Bellamy
|
|-
|It Runs in the Family
| Mrs. Parker (mother)
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 1995
|My Family
| Gloria
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Grass Harp, The" |The Grass Harp
| Sister Ida
|
|-
|Powder
| Jessie Caldwell
|
|-
|Nixon
| Hannah Milhous Nixon
|
|-
|rowspan=4| 2001
|Nobody's Baby
| Estelle
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Trumpet of the Swan, The" |The Trumpet of the Swan
| Mother
| Voice role
|-
|Life as a House
| Colleen Beck
|
|-
|I Am Sam
| Dr. Blake
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 2002
|Sunshine State
| Francine Pinkney
|
|-
|Mrs. Pilgrim Goes to Hollywood
| Mary
|
|-
|Wish You Were Dead
| Sally Rider
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 2003
|Hope Springs
| Joanie Fisher
|
|-
|Casa de los Babys
| Gayle
|
|-
|Elf
| Emily Hobbs
|
|-
|2005
|Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School
| Marienne Hotchkiss
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2006
| data-sort-value="Dead Girl, The" |The Dead Girl
| Leah's mother
|
|-
|Inland Empire
| Visitor No. 2
|
|-
|rowspan=5| 2007
|Elvis and Anabelle
| Geneva
|
|-
|Nobel Son
| Sarah Michaelson
|
|-
|Numb
| Dr. Blaine
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Brave One, The" |The Brave One
| Carol
|
|-
|Honeydripper
| Amanda Winship
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2008
|Step Brothers
| Nancy Huff
|
|-
|Four Christmases
| Marilyn
|
|-
|rowspan=5| 2009
|American Outrage
| Narrator
| Documentary film
|-
|In the Electric Mist
| Bootsie Robicheaux
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Proposal, The" |The Proposal
| Grace Paxton
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Open Road, The" |The Open Road
| Katherine
|
|-
|Did You Hear About the Morgans?
| Emma Wheeler
|
|-
|2010
|Dirty Girl
| Peggy
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2011
|Keepin' It Real Estate
| Claire
| Short film
|-
| data-sort-value="Help, The" |The Help
| Elaine Stein
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 2013
|Last Vegas
| Diana Boyle
|
|-
|Brahmin Bulls
| Helen West
|
|-
| data-sort-value="Tale of the Princess Kaguya, The" |The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
| The Bamboo Cutter's Wife
| Voice role
|-
|2014
|Song One
| Karen
|
|-
|2015
| data-sort-value="Walk in the Woods, A" |A Walk in the Woods
| Jeannie
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 2016
| data-sort-value="Book of Love, The" |The Book of Love
| Julia
|
|-
|Dean
| Carol
|
|-
|Katie Says Goodbye
| Maybelle
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2017
| data-sort-value="Discovery, The" |The Discovery
| Interviewer
|
|-
|I Do... Until I Don't
| Cybil Burger
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2018
|Book Club
| Carol
|
|-
|Antiquities
| Dr. Margot
|
|-
|2019
|Flannery
| Narrator
| Voice role
|-
|2020
|Happiest Season
| Tipper Caldwell
|
|-
|2021
|Nightmare Alley
| Mrs. Kimball
|
|-
|2023
|Book Club: The Next Chapter
| Carol
|
|-
| rowspan=3| 2025
| Bulldozer
| Cathy
| Short film
|-
| Easy's Waltz
|
| 2025 Toronto International Film Festival feature
|-
| Last Train to Fortune
|
| 2025 Ojai Film Festival feature
|-
| 2026
| The Dink
| Candace
| Post-production
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1983
|Faerie Tale Theatre
| Mary / Little Red Riding Hood
| Episode: "Little Red Riding Hood"
|-
|1985
|Tender Is the Night
| Nicole Warren Diver
| Miniseries
|-
|1988
| data-sort-value="Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank, The" |The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank
| Miep Gies
| TV movie
|-
|1991–1992
|Back to the Future
| Clara Clayton
| Main cast, voice role
|-
|1994
| data-sort-value="Gift, The" |The Gift
| Catherine
| TV short film
|-
|1995
|Frasier
| Marjorie
| Voice role, episode: "Retirement Is Murder"
|-
|1996
|Gulliver's Travels
| Mary Gulliver
| Miniseries, main cast
|-
|1996–1997
|Ink
| Kate Montgomery
| Main cast
|-
|1998
|About Sarah
| Sarah Elizabeth McCaffrey
| TV movie
|-
|1999
|Noah's Ark
| Naamah
|Miniseries
|-
|2000
|Picnic
| Rosemary Sydney
| TV movie
|-
|2000–2017
|Curb Your Enthusiasm
| Mary Steenburgen
| 6 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" |2002
|Living with the Dead
| Detective Karen Condrin
| TV movie
|-
|Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
| Grace Rinato
| Episode: "Denial"
|-
|2003–2005
|Joan of Arcadia
| Helen Girardi
| Main cast
|-
| rowspan="3" |2004
|Becker
| Patient
| Episode: "DNR"
|-
|It Must Be Love
| Clem Gazelle
| TV movie
|-
|Capital City
| Elaine Summer
| TV movie
|-
|2007
|Reinventing the Wheelers
| Claire Wheeler
| TV movie
|-
|2009
|Happiness Isn't Everything
| Audrey Veil
| TV movie
|-
|2010
|Southern Discomfort
| Mary Lou Dobson
| TV movie
|-
|2011–2013
|Wilfred
| Catherine Newman
| 4 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" |2011
|Robot Chicken
| Athena
| Voice role, episode: "The Core, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover"
|-
|Bored to Death
| Josephine
| Main cast (season 3)
|-
| rowspan="2" |2012
| data-sort-value="Thirty Rock" |30 Rock
| Diana Jessup
| 5 episodes
|-
|Outlaw Country
| Anastasia Lee
| TV movie
|-
|2014–2015
|Justified
| Katherine Hale
| Recurring role (seasons 5–6)
|-
|2015
|Togetherness
| Linda
| 2 episodes
|-
|2015–2017
|Orange Is the New Black
| Delia Powell
| 6 episodes
|-
|2015–2018
| data-sort-value="Last Man on Earth, The" |The Last Man on Earth
| Gail Klosterman
| Main cast
|-
| rowspan="2" |2015
| data-sort-value="Seven Days in Hell" |7 Days in Hell
| Louisa Pool
| TV movie
|-
|Turkey Hollow
| Aunt Cly
| TV movie
|-
|2016
|Blunt Talk
| Margaret Rudolph
| 4 episodes
|-
|2017
|Finding Your Roots
| Herself
| Episode: "Puritans and Pioneers"
|-
|2018
| data-sort-value="Conners, The" |The Conners
| Marcy Bellinger
| Episode: "Keep on Truckin'"
|-
|2019–2021
|Bless the Harts
| Crystalynn Poole
| Recurring role, voice role
|-
|2019
|On Becoming a God in Central Florida
| Ellen Joy Bonar
| 5 episodes
|-
|2020–2021
|Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
| Maggie Clarke
| Main cast
|-
| rowspan="2" |2020
|Grace and Frankie
| Miriam
| 2 episodes
|-
|The Good Place
| Music Teacher
| Episode: "Whenever You're Ready"
|-
|2021
|Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas
| Maggie Clarke
| TV movie
|-
|2022
|Mr. Mayor
| Adriana
| Episode: "Murder in the Old West"
|-
|2025
|A Man on the Inside
| Mona Margadoff
| Main cast (season 2)
|-
| 2026
| American Dad!
| Dr. Fay
| Voice role, episode: "The Flume Flume Room"
|}
Theater
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1992 || Candida || Candida || Roundabout Theatre Company, Broadway
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Work
! Result
|-
| 1978
| Golden Globe Awards
| New Star of the Year – Actress
| Goin' South
|
|-
| 1979
| Saturn Awards
| Best Actress
| Time After Time
|
|-
| rowspan="6" | 1980
| Academy Awards
| Best Supporting Actress
| rowspan="6" | Melvin and Howard
|
|-
| Boston Society of Film Critics
| Best Supporting Actress
|
|-
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
|
|-
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association
| Best Supporting Actress
|
|-
| National Society of Film Critics Awards
| Best Supporting Actress
|
|-
| New York Film Critics Circle
| Best Supporting Actress
|
|-
| 1981
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
| Ragtime
|
|-
| 1985
| Genie Awards
| Actress in a Leading Role
| One Magic Christmas
|
|-
| 1985
| British Academy Television Awards
| Best Actress
| Tender Is the Night
|
|-
| 1988
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
| The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank
|
|-
| 1989
| Chicago Film Critics Association
| Best Supporting Actress
| Miss Firecracker
|
|-
| 1990
| Saturn Awards
| Best Supporting Actress
| Back to the Future Part III
|
|-
| 1995
| rowspan="2" | Screen Actors Guild
| Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
| Nixon
|
|-
| 1998
| Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
| About Sarah
|
|-
| 2004
| Satellite Awards
| Best Supporting Actress – Television Series
| Joan of Arcadia
|
|-
| 2011
| Screen Actors Guild
| Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
| The Help
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2019
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards
| Best Song
| rowspan="3" | Wild Rose<br /><small>for "Glasgow (No Place Like Home)"</small>
|
|-
| Hollywood Critics Association
| rowspan="2" | Best Original Song
|
|-
| Houston Film Critics Society
|
|-
| 2025
| Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
| Bob Hope Humanitarian Award
|
|
|-
|}
In addition to these recognitions, Steenburgen received the 1,337th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 16, 2009.