Mary Nell Steenburgen (born February 8, 1953) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and songwriter. After studying at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse in the 1970s, she made her professional acting debut in the Western comedy film Goin' South (1978). Steenburgen went on to earn critical acclaim for her role in Time After Time (1979) and Jonathan Demme's comedy-drama film Melvin and Howard (1980), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

KNOWN FOR

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2018
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2026
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
2002
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2021
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2020
American Dad!
2026
The View
2003
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2013
The Jennifer Hudson Show
2025
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
2025
Frasier
1995
Curb Your Enthusiasm
2000

FILMOGRAPHY

All
Movies
TV
Acting
151
Producing
4
Crew
1
2026
Last Train to Fortune
as Miss Maybelle
2026
Let's Have Kids!
as Sue · unreleased
2026
The Dink
as Candace
2026
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas
as Claire · unreleased
2026
American Dad!
as (voice)
2026
American Dad!
as Dr. Fay Petit (voice)
2026
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self - Guest
2025
Easy's Waltz
2025
BULLDOZER
as Kathy
2025
A Man on the Inside
as Mona Margadoff
2025
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
as Self - Guest
2025
The Jennifer Hudson Show
as Self - Guest
2024
In the Kitchen with Harry Hamlin
as Self
2023
Book Club: The Next Chapter
as Carol
2023
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
as Self
2022
Celebrating Betty White: America's Golden Girl
as Self
2022
Mr. Mayor
as Adriana
2021
Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas
as Maggie Clarke
2021
Nightmare Alley
as Mrs. Kimball
2021
Late Night with Seth Meyers
as Self - Guest
2020
Happiest Season
as Tipper
2020
30 Rock: A One-Time Special
as Mary Steenburgen
2020
Bless the Harts
as Crystalynn (voice)
2020
The Kelly Clarkson Show
as Self - Guest
2020
Stars in the House
as Self
2020
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
as Maggie Clarke
2020
The Good Place
as Teacher
2020
Reunited Apart
as Self
2020
Grace and Frankie
as Miriam
2019
Antiquities
as Dr. Margot
2019
Flannery
as Flannery O'Connor (voice)
2019
On Becoming a God in Central Florida
as Ellen Joy Bonar
2018
Katie Says Goodbye
as Maybelle
2018
Book Club
as Carol
2018
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
as Self - Guest
2018
The Conners
as Marcy Bellinger
2017
The Book of Love
as Julia Mureaux
2017
I Do... Until I Don't
as Cybil Burger
2017
The Discovery
as Interviewer
2017
Finding Your Roots
as Self
2016
Dean
as Carol
2015
7 Days in Hell
as Louisa Poole
2015
Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow
as Aunt Cly
2015
A Walk in the Woods
as Jeannie
2015
Orange Is the New Black
as Delia Powell
2015
The Last Man on Earth
as Gail Klosterman
2015
Togetherness
as Linda
2014
Song One
as Karen Ellis
2014
The One I Love
as Mom (voice)
2014
Justified
as Katherine Hale
2013
Brahmin Bulls
as Helen West
2013
Last Vegas
as Diana Boyle
2013
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
as Self
2012
Outlaw Country
as Anastasia Lee
2012
30 Rock
as Diana Jessup
2011
Fight for Your Right Revisited
as Café Patron
2011
The Help
as Elaine Stein
2011
Wilfred
as Catherine Newman
2011
Bored to Death
as Josephine
2010
Dirty Girl
as Peggy
2010
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
as Mrs. Yankovic
2010
Tales from the Future
as Self
2010
The Talk
as Self
2009
In the Electric Mist
as Bootsie Robicheaux
2009
The Proposal
as Grace Paxton
2009
Clarkworld
as Self
2009
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
as Emma Wheeler
2009
The Open Road
as Katherine
2008
Step Brothers
as Nancy Huff
2008
Four Christmases
as Marilyn
2007
The Brave One
as Carol
2007
Nobel Son
as Sarah Michaelson
2007
Numb
as Dr. Blaine
2007
Elvis & Anabelle
as Geneva Leigh
2007
Honeydripper
as Amanda Winship
2006
The Dead Girl
as Leah's Mother
2006
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School
as Marienne Hotchkiss
2006
O Lucky Malcolm!
as Self
2006
Inland Empire
as Visitor #2
2005
The Tony Danza Show
as Self - Guest
2004
Remembering Ragtime
as Mother (archive footage)
2004
It Must Be Love
as Clem Gazelle
2004
Elf: That's a Wrap
as Self
2004
Becker
as Patient (uncredited)
2004
Good Day Live
as Self
2004
E!'s 101
as Self
2003
Elf
as Emily
2003
Hope Springs
as Joanie Fisher
2003
Casa de los Babys
as Gayle
2003
Mrs. Pilgrim Goes to Hollywood
as Mary
2003
Dinner for Five
2003
Joan of Arcadia
as Helen Girardi
2003
The View
as Self
2003
The Oscars
as Self
2002
Wish You Were Dead
as Sally Rider
2002
Living with the Dead
as Detective Karen Condrin
2002
Sunshine State
as Francine Pinkney
2002
Character Building: Inside 'Life As a House'
as Self
2002
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Grace Rinato
2002
Living with the Dead
as Detective Karen Condrin
2001
Nobody's Baby
as Estelle
2001
The Trumpet of the Swan
as Mother (voice)
2001
Life as a House
as Colleen Beck
2001
I Am Sam
as Dr. Blake
2000
Picnic
as Rosemary Sydney
2000
The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story
2000
Curb Your Enthusiasm
as Mary Steenburgen
1999
Noah's Ark
as Naamah
1998
About Sarah
as Sarah Elizabeth McCaffrey
1998
Ellen
as Self (uncredited)
1996
The Grass Harp
as Sister Ida
1996
Ink
as Kate Montgomery
1996
Gulliver's Travels
as Mary Gulliver
1995
Nixon
as Hannah Nixon
1995
Powder
as Jessie Caldwell
1995
My Family
as Gloria
1995
Frasier
as Marjorie (voice)
1994
Clifford
as Sarah Davis
1994
Pontiac Moon
as Katherine Bellamy
1994
It Runs in the Family
as Mrs. Parker (Mother)
1993
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
as Betty Carver
1993
Philadelphia
as Belinda Conine
1993
Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories
as Narrator (voice)
1992
Earth and the American Dream
as Reader (voice)
1991
The Butcher's Wife
as Stella Keefover
1991
Back to the Future: Dickens of a Christmas
as Clara Clayton Brown (voice)
1991
Back to the Future
as Clara Clayton (voice)
1990
Back to the Future Part III
as Clara Clayton
1990
The Long Walk Home
as Narrator (voice)
1990
The Secrets of the 'Back to the Future' Trilogy
as Self
1990
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret
as Self
1989
Parenthood
as Karen Buckman
1989
Miss Firecracker
as Elaine Rutledge
1989
Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre
as Self (voice)
1988
The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank
as Miep Gies
1987
The Whales of August
as Young Sarah
1987
End of the Line
as Rose Pickett
1987
Dead of Winter
as Julie Rose / Katie McGovern / Evelyn
1985
One Magic Christmas
as Ginny Grainger
1985
Tender Is the Night
as Nicole Diver (née Warren)
1983
Romantic Comedy
as Phoebe Craddock
1983
Cross Creek
as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1983
Little Red Riding Hood
as Little Red Riding Hood a.k.a. Mary
1983
Faerie Tale Theatre
as Mary / Little Red Riding Hood
1982
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
as Adrian
1981
Ragtime
as Mother
1980
Melvin and Howard
as Lynda Dummar
1979
Time After Time
as Amy Robbins
1978
Goin' South
as Julia Tate
Happiness Isn't Everything
as Audrey Veill
Southern Discomfort
as Mary Lou Dobson