Mary Stuart Masterson Biography

Mary Stuart Masterson (born June 28, 1966) is an American film, stage and television actor, and director.

Early life

Masterson was born in Manhattan to writer-director Peter Masterson and actress Carlin Glynn. She has two siblings: Peter Masterson Jr., and Alexandra Masterson, who are both involved in the entertainment industry. As a teen, she attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York with actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Jon Cryer. Later, she attended schools in New York, including eight months studying anthropology at New York University.

Early career

Masterson's first film appearance was in The Stepford Wives (1975) at the age of eight, playing a daughter to her real-life father. Rather than continue her career as a child actor, she chose to continue her studies, although she did appear in several productions at the Dalton School. In 1985, she returned to cinema in Heaven Help Us as Danni, a rebellious high school dropout working at a soda fountain. She appeared with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken in the film At Close Range (1986) as Brad Jr's girlfriend Terry, a film based on an actual rural Pennsylvania crime family led by Bruce Johnston, Sr. during the 1960s and 1970s. She later starred as the tomboyish drumming Watts in the teenage drama Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). As a result, she is loosely connected with the Brat Pack. The same year Francis Ford Coppola cast her in Gardens of Stone in which she acted with her parents, hired by Coppola to play her on-screen parents. In 1989, she starred as Lucy Moore, a teenage girl giving up her first baby to a wealthy couple, played by Glenn Close and James Woods in Immediate Family. For her work in that film she received a "Best Supporting Actress" award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

1990s

Masterson continued acting in both films and television during the 1990s. In 1991, she starred in Fried Green Tomatoes, a film based on the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. The film was well-received, with film critic Roger Ebert applauding Masterson's work. The following year she was invited to host Saturday Night Live. In 1993, she played opposite Johnny Depp in Benny & Joon as Joon, his mentally ill love interest. In 1994, she acted in Bad Girls, playing Anita Crown, a former prostitute, who joins with three other former prostitutes (played by Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore) in traveling the Old West. In 1996, Masterson acted alongside Christian Slater in the romantic drama Bed of Roses.

2000s

Although Masterson carried on her work in the film industry, by 2000 she had made a move towards television. In 2001, she produced her own television series, Kate Brasher. The show received mediocre reviews and was canceled by CBS after six episodes. In 2004, Masterson starred in the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning HBO biographical drama Something the Lord Made. In 2004, she began guest starring on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Dr. Rebecca Hendrix, a role for which one critic wrote that "Masterson is perhaps best known...."

Masterson has appeared in Broadway theatre productions, and was nominated for a 2003 Tony Award as "Best Featured Actress in a Musical" in the Maury Yeston musical Nine: The Musical, directed by David Leveaux.

Masterson has narrated several audiobooks, including I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass, Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, and Look Again by Lisa Scottoline.

Directing

By May 1993, Masterson revealed she had written a screenplay for a film tentatively entitled Around the Block, a romantic comedy about a "woman who conquers her fears by becoming a singer"; in a cover story about Benny & Joons box office success, she told Entertainment Weekly she was going to direct it herself, with principal photography expected that autumn.

In 2001, she began her directing career with a segment titled "The Other Side" in the television movie On the Edge.

Masterson made her feature film directorial debut in 2007, with The Cake Eaters, which premiered at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival as well as the Ashland Independent Film Festival where it received awards for "Best Picture". Of her move to directing, Masterson said in an interview, "When I signed to do this, I wasn't scared but, yes, it was scary. I'm already 40, although we don't want to talk about that. In '92, I wrote my first screenplay, which I then was to direct, but I ended up taking an acting job because it takes forever to get a movie made."

Personal life

Masterson has been married three times. In 1990, she married George Carl Francisco; they divorced in 1992. In 2000, she married American film director Damon Santostefano; they divorced in 2004. In 2006, Masterson married actor Jeremy Davidson. Both had starred in the 2004 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Masterson gave birth to their son on October 11, 2009. Masterson gave birth to twins in August 2011. Their fourth child was born in October 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	'	Kim Eberhart
1985	Heaven Help Us	Danni
1986	At Close Range	Terry
1987	Some Kind of Wonderful	Watts
1987	Gardens of Stone	Rachel Feld
1987	My Little Girl	Franny Bettinger
1988	Mr. North	Elspeth Skeel
1989	Chances Are	Miranda Jeffries
1989	Immediate Family	Lucy Moore
1990	Funny About Love	Daphne
1991	Fried Green Tomatoes	Idgie Threadgoode
1992	Mad at the Moon	Jenny Hill
1993	Married to It	Nina Bishop
1993	Benny & Joon	Juniper 'Joon' Pearl
1994	Bad Girls	Anita Crown
1994	Radioland Murders	Penny Henderson
1996	Lily Dale	Lily Dale	Directed by Peter Masterson
1996	Bed of Roses	Lisa Walker
1996	Heaven's Prisoners	Robin Gaddis
1997	Dogtown	Dorothy Sternen
1997	'	Hope	Uncredited Role
1998	Digging to China	Gwen Frankovitz
1999	'	Penny McGuire
1999	'	Vikki
2002	West of Here	Genevieve Anderson
2002	Leo	Brynne
2005	'	Olga Prior
2005	Whiskey School	G.G.
2006	'	Director
2007	'		Director

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	City in Fear	Abby Crawford	ABC television film
1985	Love Lives On	Susan Wallace	ABC television film
1986	Amazing Stories	Cynthia Simpson	Segment: "Go to the Head of the Class (Book Two)"
1992	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: "Mary Stuart Masterson/En Vogue"
1996	Lily Dale	Lily Dale	Showtime television film
1997	On the 2nd Day of Christmas	Patricia "Trish" Tracy	Lifetime Television television film
1999	Black and Blue	Frances Benedetto	CBS television film
2001	Kate Brasher	Kate Brasher
2001	Three Blind Mice	Patricia Demming	CBS television film
2001	On the Edge		Director, Writer Segment: "On the Other Side"
2002	R.U.S./H.	Elaine Burba	Unsold CBS pilot
2003	Gary the Rat	Caroline Swanson	Voice role Episode: "Old Flame"
2004	Blue's Clues	Cinderella	Episode: "Love Day"
2004	Something the Lord Made	Dr. Helen Taussig	HBO television film
2004–06	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Rebecca Hendrix	Episodes: "Weak", "Contagious", "Identity", "Ripped" & "Philadelphia"
2006	Waterfront	Heather Centrella
2009	Cupid	Mira	Episode: "Live and Let Spy"
2010	Mercy	Dr. Denise Cabe	Episodes: "There is No Room For You on My Ass" & "Of Course I'm Not"
2012	Touch	Beth Cooper	Episodes: "The Road Not Taken"

Awards and nominations

Ashland Independent Film Festival

• 2008: Won, "Best Dramatic Feature" - The Cake Eaters

DVD Exclusive Awards

• 2001: Nominated, "Best Actress" - The Book of Stars

Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival

• 2007: Won, "Best American Indie" - The Cake Eaters

Lone Star Film & Television Awards

• 1997: Won, "Best TV Actress" - Lily Dale

MTV Movie Awards

• 1994: Nominated, "Best On-Screen Duo" - Benny and Joon (shared w/Johnny Depp)

National Board of Review of Motion Pictures

• 1989: Won, "Best Supporting Actress" - Immediate Family

Satellite Awards

• 2005: Nominated, "Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television" - Something the Lord Made