Melissa Leo

Melissa Chessington Leo was born in New York on September 14, 1960. And although she studied at the state university, at Purchase College, she did not graduate.

As an actress, her career has not been easy, she has had to climb with real “baby steps”. In fact, she would not debut on the small screen until 1984, with the All My Children series . And it was a minor role, as would be others that she incarnated in different and more or less popular television series over the course of twenty years, such asMiami Vice , Spenser, Private Detective ,young riders ,Homicide , Veronica Mars , CSI ,Shark ,law and order andCriminal minds Her aspect of a strong woman, who knows that life is hard, made her ideal to have a presence in police stories and even the Wild West. But she was also picked for the rather unsuccessful attempt to resurrect the Scarlet O’Hara saga inScarlett , the sequel toGone with the Wind , which allowed it to be in a period story.

A born currant, Leo did what he was told with commendable professionalism, without letting himself be discouraged by the fact that some roles barely amounted to a couple of lines and little else. It also happened to him in the movies, where he has coincided with Robert De Niro in brief appearances ofthe hide andRighteous murder . With Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga he was present in21 grams , and something must have caught the attention of Tommy Lee Jones , who directed Arriaga ‘s scriptThe three burials of Melquiades Estrada , since he gave him a role in his debut behind the camera. For a change a bit, he has had the opportunity to do comedy, the rather goofy oneQuestion of balls (Mr. Woodcock) .

Given such an unexciting trajectory, one must conclude thatFrozen River has been like a gift from heaven for Melissa Leo, who gave her the Silver Shell for best actress in San Sebastián and made her nominate for the Oscar for best leading actress in 2009. The actress told me that it helped her in the film the fact of being a mother and her family experience, since she had a son with the actor John Heard, although they broke their relationship a long time ago: “I have a 21-year-old son. I have played many mothers in my career, and to play all the roles I have brought my son to them in one way or another. The relationship that my character has with his eldest son is similar to the one my mother had with my brother, more than the one I can have with my son. My brother did soon become someone responsible, the head of the family, the man of the family.” If the thing will help him to chain projects of greater interest than those that have occupied him to date, it remains to be seen. At the moment he has several films pending release with a leading or important role. From Stephanie’s Image to Greta , through Veronika Decides To Die, based on a work by Paulo Coelho. And so up to seven titles in 2009 that are in filming or post-production, which confirms that Leo is not willing to let the streak of good luck that has hit him pass. Let it last