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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
September 14, 1960
Place of Birth
Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
- Margaret May
- Melissa Chessington Leo
- ملیسا لیو
Melissa Leo
1.3 Popularity
Biography
Melissa Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in 1985, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue/Woman in the Drama Series “All My Children”. Her most notable role as was as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on “Homicide: Life on the Street” for the show's first five seasons from 1993–1997. Following several films, Leo received critical acclaim and national attention in earning several nominations and awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Leo earned several awards for her role as Alice Ward in the critically acclaimed film, “The Fighter” (2010). For this role Leo won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Leo currently appears on the television series Treme. Leo currently resides in Stone Ridge, New York and two sons John Matthew Heard (born 1987), and Adam (adopted - born 1984).
Known For
Credits
The Knife
as Detective Carlsen
2025
0.0
Guns Up
as Michael Temple
2025
6.6
King Ivory
as Ginger Greene
2025
7.1
AFTER: Poetry Destroys Silence
2024
0.0
Long Gone Heroes
as Olivia
2024
5.8
The Clean Up Crew
as Siobhan
2024
5.5
The Equalizer 3
as Susan Plummer
2023
7.3
Bonnie
as Self
2022
5.3
Jane
as Principal Rhodes
2022
5.4
Alone Together
as Deborah
2022
5.1
Coast
as Olivia
2022
4.6
Measure of Revenge
as Lillian
2022
4.6
Ida Red
as Ida ‘Red’ Walker
2021
5.7
Thunder Force
as Allie
2021
5.5
Body Brokers
as Dr. White
2021
6.1
I Know This Much Is True
as Concettina Ipolita Tempesta 'Ma' Birdsey
2020
7.6
Dolly Parton's Heartstrings
as Amelia Meegers
2019
6.7
Unlovable
as Maddie
2018
5.6
The Equalizer 2
as Susan Plummer
2018
6.8
The Parting Glass
as Al
2018
5.4
Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer
as Narrator
2018
0.0
Furlough
as Joan Anderson
2018
5.7
The Ashram
as Chandra
2018
5.6
Novitiate
as Reverend Mother
2017
6.4
The View from Up Here
as Claire
2017
6.0
I'm Dying Up Here
as Goldie
2017
6.4
The Most Hated Woman in America
as Madalyn Murray O'Hair
2017
6.2
Snowden
as Laura Poitras
2016
7.1
All the Way
as Lady Bird Johnson
2016
6.7
Burn Country
as Gloria
2016
5.0
London Has Fallen
as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
2016
6.2
The Big Short
as Georgia Hale
2015
7.4
🎬
Damnation: The Flashback
as Noda Marra
2015
1.0
After the Spill
as Narrator
2015
7.0
The Butterfly, The Harp, and The Timepiece
as Papillon
2015
0.0
Wayward Pines
as Nurse Pam
2015
6.9
She's The Best Thing in It
as Self
2015
1.0
The Ever After
as Penny
2015
5.7
The Equalizer
as Susan Plummer
2014
7.3
BoJack Horseman
as Ma Nguyen (voice)
2014
8.5
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
as Bette Altmann
2014
5.6
Dwegons and Leprechauns
as Grandma Fitz / Butterfly McDweg / Mrs. Fitzgerald
2014
1.4
Broad City
as Lori
2014
7.1
Prisoners
as Holly Jones
2013
8.1
The Arsenio Hall Show
as Self
2013
5.7
Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy
as Self - Narrator (voice)
2013
6.6
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
as Robin
2013
6.9
Bottled Up
as Fay
2013
5.7
Oblivion
as Sally
2013
6.7
Olympus Has Fallen
as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
2013
6.4
Charlie Countryman
as Kate
2013
6.4
Francine
as Francine
2012
3.4
Why Stop Now?
as Penny
2012
5.4
Flight
as Ellen Block
2012
6.9
The Space Between
as Montine
2011
6.6
Seven Days in Utopia
as Lily
2011
5.6
Red State
as Sara
2011
6.1
The Sea Is All I Know
as Sara
2011
0.0
Mildred Pierce
as Lucy Gessler
2011
7.0
The Fighter
as Alice Ward
2010
7.4
Queen of the Lot
as Aunt Bee
2010
2.6
Welcome to the Rileys
as Lois Riley
2010
6.6
Conviction
as Nancy Taylor
2010
7.1
The Dry Land
as Martha
2010
4.5
Treme
2010
7.6
Treme
as Toni Bernette
2010
7.6
Everybody's Fine
as Colleen
2009
6.8
According to Greta
as Karen
2009
6.0
Dear Lemon Lima
as Mrs. Howard
2009
5.5
Veronika Decides to Die
as Mari
2009
5.9
Don McKay
as Marie
2009
4.9
True Adolescents
as Sharon Mitchell
2009
5.7
Stephanie's Image
as Stephanie
2009
0.0
The Alphabet Killer
as Kathy Walsh
2008
5.1
Righteous Kill
as Cheryl
2008
5.9
Frozen River
as Ray Eddy
2008
6.6
Santa Mesa
as Maggie
2008
5.0
Lullaby
as Stephanie
2008
10.0
Black Irish
as Margaret McKay
2007
6.5
Mr. Woodcock
as Sally Jansen
2007
5.0
Racing Daylight
as Sadie / Anna
2007
3.3
I Believe in America
as Soto
2007
0.0
Hollywood Dreams
as Aunt Bee
2007
2.4
The Cake Eaters
as Ceci Kimbrough
2007
5.5
Dear Lemon Lima
as Mrs. Howard
2007
0.0
Stephanie Daley
as Miri Daley
2007
5.7
Midnight Son
as Rita
2007
1.0
🎬
Bomb
2007
0.0
🎬
One Night
as Wendy
2007
6.4
The House Is Burning
as Mrs. Miller
2006
6.3
Shark
as Elizabeth Rourke
2006
6.7
The Limbo Room
as KC Collins
2006
0.0
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
as Rachel
2005
7.0
Confess
as Agnes Lessor
2005
4.1
Criminal Minds
as Sheriff Georgia Davis
2005
8.3
American Gun
as Louise
2005
5.6
Runaway
as Lisa Adler
2005
6.5
Hide and Seek
as Laura
2005
6.3
From Other Worlds
as Miriam
2004
3.6
Veronica Mars
as Julia Smith
2004
7.8
The L Word
as Winnie Mann
2004
7.6
Cold Case
as Tayna Raymes (1994 & 2007)
2003
7.8
21 Grams
as Marianne Jordan
2003
7.3
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
as Maureen Curtis
2001
7.6
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
as Sybil Perez
2000
7.6
🎬
Fear of Fiction
as Sigrid Anderssen
2000
0.0
Homicide: The Movie
as Kay Howard
2000
6.8
🎬
Code of Ethics
as Jo DeAngelo
1999
0.0
The 24 Hour Woman
as Dr. Suzanne Pincus
1999
3.0
Legacy
1998
8.0
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
as Self
1997
6.6
Last Summer in the Hamptons
as Trish Axelrod
1995
5.5
In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice
as Carol Manning
1995
4.0
Scarlett
as Suellen O'Hara Benteen
1994
6.5
The Ballad of Little Jo
as Beatrice Grey
1993
5.8
Homicide: Life on the Street
as Kay Howard
1993
8.1
🎬
By a Thread
as Helen
1992
0.0
Immaculate Conception
as Hannah
1992
4.9
Venice/Venice
as Peggy
1992
6.5
Carolina Skeletons
as Cassie
1991
6.8
The Bride in Black
as Mary Margaret
1990
6.0
Law & Order
as Donna Cheponis
1990
7.4
Law & Order
as Defense Attorney Alice Sutton
1990
7.4
Law & Order
as Sherri Quinn
1990
7.4
Nasty Boys
as Katie Morrissey
1989
6.5
Nasty Boys
as Katie Morrissey
1989
5.5
The Young Riders
as Emma Shannon
1989
7.3
A Time of Destiny
as Josie Larraneta
1988
4.8
Deadtime Stories
as Judith 'MaMa' Baer
1986
4.9
Silent Witness
as Patti Mullen
1985
4.4
Always … But Not Forever
as Peggy
1985
3.8
Spenser: For Hire
1985
6.7
Streetwalkin'
as Cookie
1985
4.8
The Equalizer
as Irina Dzershinsky
1985
7.1
Miami Vice
as Kathleen Gilfords
1984
7.5
I'm Only There...
as Maggie
1984
0.0
Ron Forever
as Hilda
N/A
0.0
🎬
Passenger
N/A
0.0