Marlee Matlin

Profession:

Actress

Season:

season 6

Background:

Marlee Matlin received worldwide critical acclaim for her film debut in Paramount Pictures' "Children of a Lesser God," for which she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. At 21, she became the youngest recipient of the Best Actress Oscar and only one of four actresses to receive the honor for her film debut. In addition to the Oscar, Marlee received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama. On TV, Marlee made her debut starring opposite Lee Remick in CBS' "Bridge to Silence," a film that marked her first speaking role. Marlee went on to star in other telefilms including <i>Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story,</i> <i>Dead Silence,</i> <i>Freak City,</i> and <i>Where the Truth Lies.</i> Marlee starred in her own NBC series <i>Reasonable Doubts</i> opposite Mark Harmon and the Emmy Award winning <i>Picket Fences</i> on CBS. Marlee was twice nominated for both a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress as well as the People's Choice Awards and has been nominated for four Emmy awards for her guest turns on <i>Seinfeld, Picket Fences, The Practice</i> and <i>Law and Order: SVU.</i> For the last 7 years, Marlee guest starred on NBC's award winning drama, <i>The West Wing</i>, and most recently Executive Produced <i>Eddie's Milion Dollar Cook Off</i> for the Disney Channel as well as guest starred in ABC's <i>Extreme Makeover: Home Edition</i> and <i>Desperate Housewives</i>, CBS'<i> CSI: NY</i> and NBC's <i>My Name is Earl.</i> In 2007, she joins the cast of the Showtime series, <i>The L Word.</i>