Molly Parker

Molly Parker

 Molly Parker, actor (born at Maple Ridge, BC June 1972). Molly Parker is a Canadian actor known for her edgy, charismatic work in feature films and acclaimed television programs. In addition to mainstream success, Parker has appeared in many notable Canadian independent films. Her memorable depictions of unconventional, spirited women have distinguished her as a film and television actor of strength, conviction and integrity.

Raised in Pitt Meadows, BC, Parker was encouraged by her parents to pursue her artistic interests. As a young girl she attended various ballet classes, including instruction with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Following high school she studied at the Gastown Actors Studio in Vancouver.

Molly Parker's early work included the film My Son Johnny and roles in television programs such as The Highlander, The Outer Limits and Neon Rider. She appeared in the television movies Paris or Somewhere, for which she received a GEMINI Award nomination, and Serving in Silence. In 1994, Parker was offered a role in an independent Canadian film that marked a turning point in her career. Lynne Stopkewich's low-budget feature Kissed was an adaptation of Barbara Gowdy's short story "We So Seldom Look on Love." In Kissed, Parker played the lead role of Sandra Larson, a young woman whose emotional and erotic obsessions lead to necrophilia. Parker earned a GENIE Award for her performance in Kissed and subsequently was offered numerous film and television roles.

The following year she appeared in the films Under Heaven and Intensity. Parker starred in the 1998 Canadian feature From Morning On I Waited Yesterday, directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld. Parker continued to work steadily in film projects such as The Intruder, Sunshine and Wonderland. She returned to independent Canadian cinema in 1999 with Jeremy PODESWA's The Five Senses, featuring Gabrielle Rose and Daniel MACIVOR. In CBC's quirky dark comedy series Twitch City, Parker co-starred with Don MCKELLAR and Callum Keith RENNIE. Directed by Bruce MCDONALD, Twitch City became a cult favourite.

Parker was reunited with Lynne Stopkewich in 2000 for the production of Suspicious River. Parker played Leila Murray, a young married woman working as a receptionist in a motel, compelled to engage in sex with the male guests. In 2001, Parker appeared in Wayne Wang's The Center of The World as a Las Vegas escort and lap dancer. Other feature appearances that year included Sturla GUNNARSSON's Rare Birds and Bruce Sweeney's Last Wedding, for which Parker won a Genie Award for best supporting actress.

In 2002, Molly Parker appeared in 3 Canadian films including Paul GROSS's comic salute to curling, Men With Brooms. Parker worked again with director Wiebke von Carolsfeld in Daniel MacIvor's screen adaptation of his play Marion Bridge. She had a small role in Looking for Leonard and served as executive producer on the film. In the British film Pure, she played the heroin-addicted mother of a 10-year-old son. Also in 2002, Parker appeared on the acclaimed HBO series Six Feet Under in the recurring role of Rabbi Ari Hoffman. In HBO's popular dark western Deadwood, Parker starred as widow Alma Garret. She had a recurring role in the TV series Dexter and a co-starring role in Shattered, starring Callum Keith Rennie; she played the wife of a detective struggling with a personality disorder both on and off the job.

Parker's prolific film career has also included roles in numerous feature films such as The Good Shepherd, Hollywoodland and Neil LaBute's The Wicker Man. She won the best actress award from the Beverley Hills Film Festival for her role as the love interest of 2 men in Who Loves the Sun in 2006, and was the lead in the CBS series Swingtown. In 2010 she co-starred in Trigger alongside Tracy Wright as a one-time musical duo that reunites for a performance a decade after a public falling-out. As a nurse and mother desperate to save her kidnapped daughter, Molly Parker starred in Gone in 2011.

She plays Pauline Pfeiffer, the second wife of writer Ernest Hemingway, in the made-for-TV movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, and the alcoholic mother of 4 in The Playroom. Alongside Callum Keith Rennie, Josh Lucas and Juliette Lewis, Molly Parker co-stars in the TV series The Firm as the wife of a lawyer whose past actions continue to have dangerous repercussions in their lives.