But for Harden's best performance on film, see the bizarre psychological shocker Crush (1992), from New Zealand. Harden won an Oscar playing Lee Krasner opposite Ed Harris's Jackson Pollock in Pollock (2000). Most of her movies since have been forgettable, and most of her film roles have been small. She broke into movies as the 'gun-toting, cigarette-smoking, poker-faced moll' (in her words) in Miller's Crossing. On film, she had a key role in the 1986 flop thriller The Imagemaker, then returned to the stage for four years. On stage, Harden was nominated for a Tony for Angels in America. When her acting career didn't take off as quickly as she wanted, she completed her MFA at New York University. In college, Harden decided she would be an actress, earning her Bachelor's in theater.

She grew up in Japan, Greece, Germany and various places about the United States, always the new kid in a new school in a new town. Marcia Gay Harden was raised in an itinerant military family.

Executive summary: Verna in Miller's Crossing