In a great new interview with Women of Upstate New York magazine, Mary McDonnell discusses her early career, what’s ahead for Sharon Raydor this year on Major Crimes, and why, when it comes to the glass ceiling, she’s not worried. ‘No, that’s not the ceiling, I can’t see the ceiling yet. I don’t even know where the ceiling is.”
Mary McDonnell is one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading ladies. Nominated for two Oscars — one in 1991 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Dances With Wolves, she was again a nominee in 1993 for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Passion Fish. She has also been nominated for two Primetime Emmy awards — both for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performances as Dr. Carter’s mother on ER (2002) and as Capt. Sharon Raydor in The Closer (2011).
“In my freshman year, I started to be introduced to the theatre. I auditioned for and did my first play called The Crucible,” Mary said. “That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, that is what I am supposed to do.’” Eventually she developed her talents as an actress, moving from off-Broadway productions to Broadway, television and film.
“There were many years in NY, that I was pursuing it as something I love to do, but I was paying to be able to do it,” Mary said. “I was waitressing or doing this or doing that, while I worked for free. It wasn’t as if I had a career path in front of me that I kept trying to pursue or create. I was on an artistic path and knew that this was the way I would express myself and I knew that there was a world of commerce associated with it. So I knew eventually I wanted to make a living doing it.”
“The biggest thing that changed my life was Dances with Wolves. Part of it was getting a role that was extraordinary and that I could use my talent in a way that was extreme. But the movie itself was… so desperately needed by our culture, so it became iconic…. the respect and opportunity that came from that moment in my life is the gift that keeps on giving.”
Now, at age 62, McDonnell 
stars as Los Angeles Police Captain Sharon Raydor in TNT’s hit television series Major Crimes, where she “heads up a special squad within the LAPD that deals with high-profile or particularly sensitive crimes.” The series is a spin-off of ‘The Closer’ (starring Kyra Sedgwick).
“When you represent a character, your job is to represent an authentic human being and your job is to champion whatever character you are asked to play,” Mary said.
McDonnell is conscious of her own influence on her portrayal and how much of herself she brings to the characters she plays on screen.
“I think you bring a lot of yourself,” Mary said. “You may be more visible or not depending on the character. Whether or not you use your particular personality, you are still using yourself in the role. It’s your energy. It’s your emotional background. It’s your imagination. It’s your brain, your pattern. You change them. You alter them. But you do use the self in your work. It’s very dangerous being an actor to listen to yourself every time. You have to find a way to use it without it costing you.”
In Season 3, fans can expect to see a more personal side of Sharon Raydor. McDonnell said she has learned more in the first six episodes about the private life of her character than she did in the first two seasons of Major Crimes. Perhaps most inspiring about her character is that she is a strong woman in a leadership role.
“It is the perfect time for Sharon Raydor. Because this is the moment in time when women of a certain age are expanding even more, as opposed to retreating into retirement, or disappearing or having never broken the glass ceiling to begin with,” Mary said. “I don’t think it is a glass ceiling, it’s a lot more subtle. It’s like a vapor. How do you push it out? How do you keep pushing it? There are so many women of my generation who are expanding the vapor. They’re just saying, ‘No, that’s not the ceiling, I can’t see the ceiling yet. I don’t even know where the ceiling is.’”
“Not only can we continue to shine, but if you really look at the world, and what women are doing now, they are essential. Women and their years of wisdom, putting it out into the world, and using the wise woman as an archetype in the world in a major way, whether it’s business, politics, entertainment, whatever it is, is essential to the balance of things. Because we’ve been in trouble for a long time. And we are starting to see that women in those positions are actually creating balance, creating money, creating healing, creating a lot of very interesting things. The whole idea that women couldn’t handle all of that, that’s just gone,” Mary said.
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