Molly Parker

Biography

Molly Parker is a Canadian actress, writer, and director. She is best known for her roles in independent films, as well as television. Her accolades include two Genie Awards, one Independent Spirit Awards nomination, one Primetime Emmy Award nomination, and three nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award.

Raised on a commune, she described as “a hippie farm” in Pitt Meadows, B.C., Parker got the acting bug when she was 16 years old, after 13 years of ballet training. Parker’s uncle was an actor, and his agent took her on as a client, enabling her to launch her career in small roles on Canadian television. She enrolled at Vancouver’s Gastown Actors’ Studio after she graduated from high school, and continued to act on TV in series and TV-movies while learning her craft at acting school.

On TV, Parker was part of the cast of CBC-TV’s six-part sitcom Twitch City (1998), playing the girlfriend of Don McKellar, which enabled her to showcase her comedic skills. Other memorable TV roles was the female rabbi on Home Box Office’s series Six Feet Under (2001) and, of course, the regular role on HBO’s Deadwood (2004). She has appeared in many ambitious films, including Jeremy Podeswa’s The Five Senses (1999), István Szabó’s Sunshine (1999) and Michael Winterbottom’s Wonderland (1999). She also re-teamed with director Lynne Stopkewich for Suspicious River (2000).

In October 2016, Parker divorced her husband, Bissonnete, after a protracted seven-year separation.