Mary Steenburgen

Played Ryan Reynolds' mother in the comedy "The Proposal"

Cast as Will Ferrell's mother in the comedy "Step Brothers"

Co-starred with Jodie Foster in the crime drama, "The Brave One"

Played the title role in Randall Miller's "Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School"

Cast as the title character's mother in the CBS drama "Joan of Arcadia"

Played the wife of James Caan in the Jon Favreau comedy "Elf"

Joined the ensemble cast of "Sunshine State" written and directed by John Sayles

Featured in the drama, "Life as a House" starring Kevin Kline

Appeared several times opposite real life husband, Ted Danson on Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO)

Returned to the NYC stage in "The Beginning of August"

Cast opposite real-life husband Ted Danson in the CBS sitcom "Ink"

Played the wife of the title character, opposite husband Ted Danson in the NBC miniseries, "Gulliver's Travels"

Portrayed the mother of Richard Nixon in the Oliver Stone biopic "Nixon"

Made Los Angeles stage debut in "Marvin's Room"

Made Broadway stage debut in the title role of "Candida"

Played an adulterous wife, having an affair with Johnny Depp in Lasse Hallström's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?"

Provided the voice of Clara Clayton for the CBS Saturday morning cartoon "Back to the Future: The Animated Series"

Played Clara Clayton, Doc's love interest, in Robert Zemeckis' "Back to the Future Part III"

Played Steve Martin's wife in the Ron Howard directed "Parenthood"

Earned an Emmy nomination for her role in the CBS movie "The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank"

Executive producing debut, "End of the Line"; also co-starred

Made London stage debut in Lindsay Anderson's "Holiday"

TV debut, playing the lead in the Showtime adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night"

Featured in Woody Allen's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy"

Won an Academy Award for her performance in Jonathan Demme's "Melvin and Howard" as the wife of a man who claims to have befriended reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes

First leading role in a feature, "Time After Time" playing a modern woman who falls in love with author H.G. Wells (played by husband-to-be Malcolm McDowell)

Made film debut in Jack Nicholson's western, "Goin' South"

Moved to NYC and sold books at Doubleday's while attending the first-year program at the Neighborhood Playhouse

Born and raised in Arkansas

Co-founded (with four other Playhouse graduates) and acted with Cracked Tokens, an improvisational comedy troupe

Invited to return for the second year program; eliminated her thick Southern accent

Performed with Cracked Tokens for the NYC Bureau of Alcoholism