Margo Martindale

Early life

Martindale was born July 18, 1951 in Jacksonville, Texas, the youngest of three children and only daughter of William Everett and Margaret (Pruitt) Martindale. In addition to owning and operating a lumber company in Jacksonville, her father was known as a champion dog handler in Texas and throughout the southern United States.

Her oldest brother is professional golfer and golf course designer Billy Martindale. Middle child, brother Bobby Tim, died in 2004. Margo Martindale participated in golf, cheerleading and drama while in school and was crowned "Football Sweetheart" as well as "Miss Jacksonville High School 1969."

Following graduation from Jacksonville High School in 1969, Martindale attended Lon Morris College, then transferred to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. While at Michigan, she did summer study at Harvard University, appearing onstage with future movie and TV stars Jonathan Frakes and Christopher Reeve.

Theater

In the early 1980s, Martindale worked for four years at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky. While there she became good friends with fellow actress Kathy Bates. Martindale made her Broadway debut in 2004 as Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play, for her work in the role. Prior to that, Martindale had starred in several Off-Broadway stage productions, most notably originating the role of Truvy Jones in the first production of Steel Magnolias Off-Broadway, as well as starring in the first national tour of the play. Other Off-Broadway appearances include Always...Patsy Cline and The Sugar Bean Sisters.

Film

Her film roles include turns as Susan Sarandon's character's fellow nun in Dead Man Walking, and, again with Sarandon, in Lorenzo's Oil. She appeared as Leonardo DiCaprio's character's doctor in Marvin's Room; and as Hilary Swank's character's selfish mother in Million Dollar Baby. Other films include The Human Stain with Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, Nobody's Fool with Paul Newman, 28 Days with Sandra Bullock, Proof of Life with Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan, and Practical Magic, again with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. She was also featured in Paris, je t'aime, starring in the final segment directed by Alexander Payne. She played Mama Cox in the 2007 film Walk Hard and played Ruby, Miley Stewart's maternal grandmother, in Hannah Montana: The Movie and Miss Elizabeth Ham in the movie Secretariat, starring Diane Lane.

Martindale had a role in August: Osage County (2013), a film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Letts. She played Mattie Fae Aiken, the sister of lead character Violet Weston (Meryl Streep). Other major cast in the project included Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, and Sam Shepard. Filming took place in the fall and winter of 2012.

Television

One of Martindale's first television roles came in the miniseries Lonesome Dove. A series of character and guest appearances followed in a wide range of TV shows. Martindale played recurring character Camilla Figg on the first three seasons of Dexter and had a recurring role in the A&E courtroom drama 100 Centre Street with Alan Arkin. From 2007 to 2008, she had a recurring role as Nina Burns, a neighbor of the Malloy/"Rich" family in The Riches with Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard.

In 2011, Martindale joined the cast of Justified for the second season. She played the role of Mags Bennett, matriarch of the Bennett crime family which controlled much of the drug activity in the fictional version of Harlan County, Kentucky. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance. After learning of the nomination, Martindale told CNN she hoped that it would open up more doors for older women in Hollywood. "People really identify with this character [Mags Bennett] and I think it's because it is a character that is powerful and older and extremely mean," said Martindale.

She won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the Critics' Choice Television Awards for her role as Mags Bennett. In her acceptance speech Martindale said "Who said turning sixty was a bad thing" and "I'm so excited, and dead on this show," making reference to the self-inflicted demise of her character in the Justified season 2 finale.

In February 2012 it was announced Martindale had been cast in the ABC comedy pilot Counter Culture, which was not picked up.

Martindale returned to television in late January 2013 in the spy drama The Americans on FX Network. She plays Claudia, the KGB "handler" of two Soviet spies living in 1980s Cold War America. She also starred in the sitcom The Millers on CBS. In 2015, she began a recurring role as Ruth Eastman, Peter Florrick's new campaign manager on The Good Wife.

Martindale also appears as a fictionalized version of herself on the Netflix animated comedy BoJack Horseman. BoJack and most other characters consistently refer to her as "Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale."

Martindale portrayed a Dry-cleaning employee in a Yoplait yogurt commercial.

Martindale has played Audrey Bernhardt, matriarch of the family on the Amazon series Sneaky Pete starring Giovanni Ribisi, for the 2015 pilot and the first season which aired in January 2017.

Personal life

Margo Martindale has been married to musician Bill Boals since 1986. They have a daughter, Margaret.