Melissa Leo received an Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award for her tour de force performance in The Fighter. She also received Oscar and SAG nominations for her starring role in Frozen River, for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and a Spotlight Award from the National Board of Review among countless other accolades

Leo shared a Best Ensemble acting award from the Phoenix Film Critics Society for her outstanding work in 21 Grams opposite Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn.

Her most recent films include Universal’s Oblivion opposite Tom Cruise which was released in April, 2013, Paramount’s Flight opposite Denzel Washington for director Bob Zemeckis, The Butler opposite Oprah Winfrey for director Lee Daniels, and Olympus Has Fallen for Antoine Fuqua opposite Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart. She will next star in Prisoners opposite High Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano.

Other notable film work includes Conviction opposite Hilary Swank, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada in which she starred opposite Dwight Yoakam and Tommy Lee Jones, and Hide and Seek in which she starred opposite Robert DeNiro.

Leo was nominated for an Emmy for her work in Mildred Pierce, the HBO miniseries directed by Todd Haynes in which Melissa stars opposite Kate Winslett. Leo’s television work includes the HBO series Treme from executive producer David Simon, and she is known for her groundbreaking portrayal of Detective Kay Howard on Homicide: Life on the Streets. She recently guest starred on Louie CK’s F/X comedy Louie in a hilarious and outrageous performance which People magazine called the best performance on television all year.

Leo studied Drama at Mount View Theatre School in London, England and later at the SUNY Purchase Acting Program.