- Born
- Birth nameMelissa Chessington Leo
- Height5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
- Melissa Leo is an American actress. She is known for her Academy Award-winning performance in the 2010 film The Fighter (2010). She was born on September 14, 1960, in New York City. Leo starred as the mother of boxer Micky Ward in the 2010 film The Fighter, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The role garnered her both Golden Globe (Best Supporting Actress) and Oscar awards. Other accolades include award nominations for the film Frozen River (2008) and the HBO series Mildred Pierce.- IMDb mini biography by: Drew Stern
- ChildrenJohn Matthew Heard
- ParentsPeggy Chessington LeoArnold Leo
- Beat Julia Roberts for the role of Linda Warner on the soap opera All My Children (1970).
- In March 1997, ex-boyfriend John Heard was charged with harassing Melissa via telephone misuse and trespassing.
- Was the runner-up for the 2004 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 21 Grams (2003).
- She is a natural redhead.
- Despite appearing and being billed in early trailers for Lee Daniels's The Butler (2013) as Mamie Eisenhower, her part ultimately was cut from the film.
- [Excerpt from her 2011 Academy Award acceptance speech] When I watched Kate Winslet two years ago, it looked so fucking easy - Oops!
- [on interpreting the title role in Francine (2012)] To play someone when the character masks their own emotions, doesn't understand their own emotions, has no release for their own emotions, and yet is full of emotion - that is a much harder character to play than someone who has somewhere to put it.
- Being an actor on a movie set is like going to the playground at recess.
- An actor's life is fairly lonely.
- I am a smoker, I'm ashamed to say. I had given it up for many years, then picked it up again. It's a horrible habit. I struggle with myself all the time. And I love to smoke.
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