Melissa Leo
Born: September 14 1960
Where: New York, USA
After years of quietly impressive work, the actress received critical accolades for her performance as a trailer trash mom who smuggles illegal immigrants in Frozen River.
Other notable big screen outings have included Tommmy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and the multi-stranded drama 21 Grams.
She is also well-known for playing the tough-minded cop Sgt Kay Howard on the award-winning TV series Homicide: Life on the Street.
The daughter of a teacher and an editor, Leo studied at the State University of New York but failed to graduate.
Her career hit the ground running when she beat Julia Roberts to the role of Linda Warner in the American soap opera All My Children in 1970.
She was subsequenly happy with smaller, character roles and made her big screen debut in romantic drama Always in 1985.
Subsequent appearances included Miami Vice and The Young Riders before she started an acclaimed stint in Homicide.
In 2003, she starred alongside Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts in Alejandro González Iñárritu's acclaimed drama 21 Grams.
She went on to star in the horror-thriller Hide and Seek with Robert De Niro and played Rachel in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
Supporting roles followed in movies ranging from the drama American Gun with Donald Sutherland to the sports comedy Mr Woodcock alongside Billy Bob Thornton.
In 2008, she landed the acclaimed role of Ray Eddy in the drama Frozen River oppposite Misty Upham.
