Frances McDormand was born on June 23, 1957 in Chicago. During her childhood, she moved around continuously with her family until they settled in Pennsylvania. While in Pennsylvania, she became interested in acting and graduated as the only theatre major of her year from Bethany College in West Virginia. After college, she entered Yale Drama School.

When she finished school, she moved to New York looking for work and in 1982, she traveled to Trinidad to perform in a play. This is where she made contacts with Joel and Ethan Coen, who were casting their debut horror film, Blood Simple. McDormand won the lead in the film, which received good reviews and jump-started her career.

McDormand has appeared in many different films and received numerous awards. She has a total of 3 Oscars’ for movies Mississippi Burning, Fargo, and Almost Famous.

Learn more:
Frances McDormand on IMDb
Frances McDormand – NY Times Biography