Melissa Leo
Department: Acting
Biography
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).
Known For
21 Grams
2003
Frozen River
2008
Hide and Seek
2005
Bonnie
2022
Homicide: The Movie
2000
Welcome to the Rileys
2010
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
2005
Measure of Revenge
2022
Lullaby
2008
The House Is Burning
2006
Veronika Decides to Die
2009
According to Greta
2009
Everybody's Fine
2009
Black Irish
2007
Righteous Kill
2008
Coast
2022
Don McKay
2009
Runaway
2005
Charlie Countryman
2013
American Gun
2005
Conviction
2010
The Dry Land
2010
The Fighter
2010
Deadtime Stories
1986
Confess
2005
Queen of the Lot
2010
Red State
2011
Dear Lemon Lima
2009
Racing Daylight
2007
The Space Between
2011
Seven Days in Utopia
2011
The Ballad of Little Jo
1993
Oblivion
2013
Streetwalkin'
1985
The Sea Is All I Know
2011
Francine
2012
From Other Worlds
2004
Fear of Fiction
2000
The 24 Hour Woman
1999
Always … But Not Forever
1985
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
2014
Prisoners
2013
Carolina Skeletons
1991
King Ivory
2025
Olympus Has Fallen
2013
Santa Mesa
2008
Why Stop Now?
2012
The Limbo Room
2006
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
2013
I'm Only There...
1984
Last Summer in the Hamptons
1995
Bottled Up
2013
The View from Up Here
2017
The Equalizer 3
2023
Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy
2013
A Time of Destiny
1988
Dwegons and Leprechauns
2014
One Night
2007
Stephanie's Image
2009
Flight
2012
Stephanie Daley
2007
The Equalizer
2014
The Clean Up Crew
2024
London Has Fallen
2016
In the Line of Duty: Hunt for Justice
1995
Midnight Son
2007
The Ever After
2015
She's The Best Thing in It
2015
Nasty Boys
1989
Burn Country
2016
Hollywood Dreams
2007
Snowden
2016
The Big Short
2015
Code of Ethics
1999
All the Way
2016
Damnation: The Flashback
2015
The Cake Eaters
2007
The Knife
2025
Long Gone Heroes
2024
By a Thread
1992
The Most Hated Woman in America
2017
Novitiate
2017
I Believe in America
2007
The Bride in Black
1990
True Adolescents
2009
Immaculate Conception
1992
Venice/Venice
1992
The Ashram
2018
The Equalizer 2
2018
Dear Lemon Lima
2007
Unlovable
2018
Furlough
2018
After the Spill
2015
The Parting Glass
2018
Mabel, Mabel Tiger Trainer
2018
Silent Witness
1985
Mr. Woodcock
2007
Body Brokers
2021
The Alphabet Killer
2008
The Butterfly, The Harp, and The Timepiece
2015
Bomb
2007
Thunder Force
2021
Ida Red
2021
Alone Together
2022
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
1997
Jane
2022
AFTER: Poetry Destroys Silence
2024
Passenger
2026
Guns Up
2025
Ron Forever
—
The Rooster Prince
—
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000
Spenser: For Hire
1985
Veronica Mars
2004
Shark
2006
The Young Riders
1989
Miami Vice
1984
Cold Case
2003
The L Word
2004
Criminal Minds
2005
The Equalizer
1985
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001
Legacy
1998
Nasty Boys
1989
Treme
2010
Treme
2010
Law & Order
1990
Mildred Pierce
2011
Homicide: Life on the Street
1993
I'm Dying Up Here
2017
Law & Order
1990
Broad City
2014
Law & Order
1990
The Arsenio Hall Show
2013
I Know This Much Is True
2020
BoJack Horseman
2014
Dolly Parton's Heartstrings
2019
Wayward Pines
2015
Scarlett
1994