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).

Filmography

• 2026Passenger — Diana Larson
• 2025Guns Up — Michael Temple
• 2025King Ivory — Ginger Greene
• 2025The Knife — Detective Carlsen
• 2024AFTER: Poetry Destroys Silence
• 2024Long Gone Heroes — Olivia
• 2024The Clean Up Crew — Siobhan
• 2023The Equalizer 3 — Susan Plummer
• 2022Alone Together — Deborah
• 2022Coast — Olivia
• 2022Jane — Principal Rhodes
• 2022Measure of Revenge — Lillian
• 2021Body Brokers — Dr. White
• 2021Ida Red — Ida ‘Red’ Walker
• 2021Thunder Force — Allie
• I Know This Much Is True — Concettina Ipolita Tempesta 'Ma' Birdsey
• Dolly Parton's Heartstrings — Amelia Meegers
• 2018Furlough — Joan Anderson, Producer
• 2018Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer — Narrator
• 2018The Ashram — Chandra
• 2018The Equalizer 2 — Susan Plummer
• 2018The Parting Glass — Al
• 2018Unlovable — Maddie
• I'm Dying Up Here — Goldie
• 2017Novitiate — Reverend Mother
• 2017The Most Hated Woman in America — Madalyn Murray O'Hair
• 2017The View from Up Here — Claire
• 2016All the Way — Lady Bird Johnson
• 2016Burn Country — Gloria
• 2016London Has Fallen — Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
• 2016Snowden — Laura Poitras
• 2015After the Spill — Narrator
• 2015Damnation: The Flashback — Noda Marra
• 2015The Big Short — Georgia Hale
• 2015The Butterfly, The Harp, and The Timepiece — Papillon
• 2015The Ever After — Penny
• Wayward Pines — Nurse Pam
• BoJack Horseman — Ma Nguyen (voice)
• Broad City — Lori
• 2014Dwegons and Leprechauns — Grandma Fitz / Butterfly McDweg / Mrs. Fitzgerald
• 2014The Angriest Man in Brooklyn — Bette Altmann
• 2014The Equalizer — Susan Plummer
• 2013Bottled Up — Fay, Producer
• 2013Call Me Crazy: A Five Film — Robin
• 2013Charlie Countryman — Kate
• 2013Oblivion — Sally
• 2013Olympus Has Fallen — Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
• 2013Prisoners — Holly Jones
• 2012Flight — Ellen Block
• 2012Francine — Francine
• 2012Why Stop Now? — Penny
• Mildred Pierce — Lucy Gessler
• 2011Red State — Sara
• 2011Seven Days in Utopia — Lily
• 2011The Sea Is All I Know — Sara
• 2011The Space Between — Montine
• 2010Conviction — Nancy Taylor
• 2010Queen of the Lot — Aunt Bee
• 2010The Dry Land — Martha
• 2010The Fighter — Alice Ward
• Treme — Toni Bernette
• 2010Welcome to the Rileys — Lois Riley
• 2009According to Greta — Karen
• 2009Dear Lemon Lima — Mrs. Howard
• 2009Don McKay — Marie
• 2009Everybody's Fine — Colleen
• 2009Stephanie's Image — Stephanie
• 2009True Adolescents — Sharon Mitchell
• 2009Veronika Decides to Die — Mari
• 2008Frozen River — Ray Eddy
• 2008Lullaby — Stephanie
• 2008Righteous Kill — Cheryl
• 2008Santa Mesa — Maggie
• 2008The Alphabet Killer — Kathy Walsh
• 2007Black Irish — Margaret McKay
• 2007Bomb
• 2007Dear Lemon Lima — Mrs. Howard
• 2007Hollywood Dreams — Aunt Bee
• 2007I Believe in America — Soto
• 2007Midnight Son — Rita
• 2007Mr. Woodcock — Sally Jansen
• 2007One Night — Wendy
• 2007Racing Daylight — Sadie / Anna
• 2007Stephanie Daley — Miri Daley
• 2007The Cake Eaters — Ceci Kimbrough
• Shark — Elizabeth Rourke
• 2006The House Is Burning — Mrs. Miller
• 2006The Limbo Room — KC Collins
• 2005American Gun — Louise
• 2005Confess — Agnes Lessor
• Criminal Minds — Sheriff Georgia Davis
• 2005Hide and Seek — Laura
• 2005Runaway — Lisa Adler
• 2005The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada — Rachel
• 2004From Other Worlds — Miriam
• The L Word — Winnie Mann
• Veronica Mars — Julia Smith
• 200321 Grams — Marianne Jordan
• Cold Case — Tayna Raymes (1994 & 2007)
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent — Maureen Curtis
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — Sybil Perez
• 2000Fear of Fiction — Sigrid Anderssen
• 2000Homicide: The Movie — Kay Howard
• 1999Code of Ethics — Jo DeAngelo
• 1999The 24 Hour Woman — Dr. Suzanne Pincus
• Legacy — Emma Bradford
• 1998Under the bridge — Kathy
• 1995Garden — Elizabeth
• 1995In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice — Carol Manning
• 1995Last Summer in the Hamptons — Trish Axelrod
• Scarlett — Suellen O'Hara Benteen
• Homicide: Life on the Street — Kay Howard
• 1993The Ballad of Little Jo — Beatrice Grey
• 1992By a Thread — Helen
• 1992Immaculate Conception — Hannah
• 1992Venice/Venice — Peggy
• 1991Carolina Skeletons — Cassie
• Law & Order — Donna Cheponis, Defense Attorney Alice Sutton, Sherri Quinn
• 1990The Bride in Black — Mary Margaret
• 1989Nasty Boys — Katie Morrissey
• The Young Riders — Emma Shannon
• 1988A Time of Destiny — Josie Larraneta
• 1986Deadtime Stories — Judith 'MaMa' Baer
• 1985Always … But Not Forever — Peggy
• 1985Silent Witness — Patti Mullen
• Spenser: For Hire
• 1985Streetwalkin' — Cookie
• The Equalizer — Irina Dzershinsky
• 1984I'm Only There... — Maggie
• Miami Vice — Kathleen Gilfords
• Ron Forever — Hilda
• Supermax
• The Mannequin — Executive Producer
• The Rooster Prince — Elaine

Appearances as themselves (5)

• 2022Bonnie — Self
• 2015She's The Best Thing in It — Self
• 2013Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy — Self - Narrator (voice)
• The Arsenio Hall Show — Self
• 1997Who Is Henry Jaglom? — Self