Molly Parker(I)
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Molly Parker, the extremely talented and versatile Canadian actress is
best known in the United States for playing the Western widow "Alma
Garret" on the cable-TV series
Deadwood (2004). Raised on a
commune, she described as "a hippie farm" in Pitt Meadows, B.C., Parker
got the acting bug when she was 16 years old, after 13 years of ballet
training. Parker's uncle was an actor, and his agent took her on as a
client, enabling her to launch her career in small roles on Canadian
television. She enrolled at Vancouver's Gastown Actors' Studio after
she graduated from high school, and continued to act on TV in series
and TV-movies while learning her craft at acting school.
Parker began attracting attention when she appeared as the daughter of
a lesbian military officer in the TV-movie
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995).
She earned a Gemini nomination (the Canadian TV industry's equivalent
of the Emmy) for her performance in the TV-movie
Paris or Somewhere (1994).
However, it was her debut in theatrical films that gave her her big
breakthrough, playing a necrophiliac in
Lynne Stopkewich's 1996 film
Kissed (1996). It was "Kissed" that set
Molly's career into overdrive.
A friend got her an audition for the low-budget independent feature
film, and she hit if off with the director, who not only cast her, but
became her friend. As the character "Sandra Larson", a poetic soul
obsessed with death who engages in sexual congress with a corpse,
Parker created a sympathetic character in a difficult role. The film
garnered her rave revues and she won a Genie Award, the Canadian
cinema's Academy Award, for her performance. She parlayed the accolades
into a sustained career on film and in TV.
On TV, Parker was part of the cast of CBC-TV's six-part sitcom
Twitch City (1998), playing the
girlfriend of Don McKellar, which enabled
her to showcase her comedic skills. Other memorable TV roles was the
female rabbi on Home Box Office's series
Six Feet Under (2001) and, of
course, the regular role on HBO's
Deadwood (2004). She has appeared in
many ambitious films, including
Jeremy Podeswa's
The Five Senses (1999),
István Szabó's
Sunshine (1999) and
Michael Winterbottom's
Wonderland (1999). She also re-teamed
with director Lynne Stopkewich for
Suspicious River (2000).
Parker made waves with another provocative film with sex as its
subject, director Wayne Wang's
The Center of the World (2001).
In the movie, Parker played a San Francisco lap dancer who becomes a
paid escort to a Silicon Valley nerd. For her performance, she was
nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2002, she was nominated
twice as best supporting actress at the Genies for her roles in the
British/Canadian co-production
War Bride (2001) and
Bruce Sweeney's
Last Wedding (2001), winning for her
appearance in the latter film.
Parker's reputation as an outstanding actress is based on her assaying
of strong, yet flawed, definitely complex women in character-leads and
supporting parts in challenging films. Not only does she convey
intelligence, but there is an unconscious elegance to her, a true inner
beauty that radiates on-screen. She will be gracing the screen, both
large and small, with her unique presence for many years to come.
best known in the United States for playing the Western widow "Alma
Garret" on the cable-TV series
Deadwood (2004). Raised on a
commune, she described as "a hippie farm" in Pitt Meadows, B.C., Parker
got the acting bug when she was 16 years old, after 13 years of ballet
training. Parker's uncle was an actor, and his agent took her on as a
client, enabling her to launch her career in small roles on Canadian
television. She enrolled at Vancouver's Gastown Actors' Studio after
she graduated from high school, and continued to act on TV in series
and TV-movies while learning her craft at acting school.
Parker began attracting attention when she appeared as the daughter of
a lesbian military officer in the TV-movie
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995).
She earned a Gemini nomination (the Canadian TV industry's equivalent
of the Emmy) for her performance in the TV-movie
Paris or Somewhere (1994).
However, it was her debut in theatrical films that gave her her big
breakthrough, playing a necrophiliac in
Lynne Stopkewich's 1996 film
Kissed (1996). It was "Kissed" that set
Molly's career into overdrive.
A friend got her an audition for the low-budget independent feature
film, and she hit if off with the director, who not only cast her, but
became her friend. As the character "Sandra Larson", a poetic soul
obsessed with death who engages in sexual congress with a corpse,
Parker created a sympathetic character in a difficult role. The film
garnered her rave revues and she won a Genie Award, the Canadian
cinema's Academy Award, for her performance. She parlayed the accolades
into a sustained career on film and in TV.
On TV, Parker was part of the cast of CBC-TV's six-part sitcom
Twitch City (1998), playing the
girlfriend of Don McKellar, which enabled
her to showcase her comedic skills. Other memorable TV roles was the
female rabbi on Home Box Office's series
Six Feet Under (2001) and, of
course, the regular role on HBO's
Deadwood (2004). She has appeared in
many ambitious films, including
Jeremy Podeswa's
The Five Senses (1999),
István Szabó's
Sunshine (1999) and
Michael Winterbottom's
Wonderland (1999). She also re-teamed
with director Lynne Stopkewich for
Suspicious River (2000).
Parker made waves with another provocative film with sex as its
subject, director Wayne Wang's
The Center of the World (2001).
In the movie, Parker played a San Francisco lap dancer who becomes a
paid escort to a Silicon Valley nerd. For her performance, she was
nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2002, she was nominated
twice as best supporting actress at the Genies for her roles in the
British/Canadian co-production
War Bride (2001) and
Bruce Sweeney's
Last Wedding (2001), winning for her
appearance in the latter film.
Parker's reputation as an outstanding actress is based on her assaying
of strong, yet flawed, definitely complex women in character-leads and
supporting parts in challenging films. Not only does she convey
intelligence, but there is an unconscious elegance to her, a true inner
beauty that radiates on-screen. She will be gracing the screen, both
large and small, with her unique presence for many years to come.