Melissa Leo

Melissa Leo is exactly the sort of actor I find most compelling: a Manhattan-bred craftswoman who built her career through grit rather than hype. Her Oscar-winning turn in The Fighter was a masterclass in fierce, lived-in intensity, and the Emmy and Golden Globe alongside it confirm she is no fluke. What I admire most is the refusal to coast on glamour; she disappears into damaged, complicated women and even lends her voice to animation. In an industry obsessed with surface, Leo keeps betting on substance, and that makes her one of the more quietly indispensable performers of her generation.

Name (English)

Melissa Leo

Name (Japanese)

メリッサ・レオ

Reading

めりっさ・れお

Born

September 14, 1960 (age 65)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Rat

Origin

Manhattan, New York, United States

Occupation

actor / film actor / television actor / voice actor

University

State University of New York at Purchase

Awards & achievements

• 2011 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
• 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
• 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

• Official sitehttps://www.melissaleo.com/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa%20Leo
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AC%E3%82%AA
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q229410

Tags

• New York
• actor
• film actor
• television actor

Last updated

2026-06-16

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.