That same year she was nominated for an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her role in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. In addition she received an Outer Circle Critics Award as well as nominations from the Drama Desk and Drama League for her performance. Her fellow-nominated co-stars in the play included James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels. In 2009 it was her exceptional Broadway performance in this role that garnered her the Best Actress Tony Award. In 2011 she reprised the role she originated on Broadway in the Tony Award®-winning play God of Carnage, along with the original cast, in a tremendously successful stage run at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.
Harden has chosen a life away from mainstream Hollywood, crossing between independent and studio films, and television and theatre. Her films The Wine of Summer and The Librarian, which she shot in Costa Rica, are in post-production. Harden is filming Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom on HBO, and recently wrapped production on Elsa & Fred, starring the legendary Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer, as well as CBS Films' Get a Job, with Bryan Cranston, Anna Kendrick and John Cho. Her character portraits have been described by critics as "searing," "heartbreaking," "inventive," "astonishing," "authentic" and "sensuous." From the glamorous Ava Gardner in Sinatra to artist Lee Krasner in Pollock (for which she won Best Supporting Actress Oscar®) to the down and out Celeste in Mystic River (another Academy Award® nomination), Harden has created a signature style based in character transformation in such films as Miller's Crossing, The First Wives Club, Meet Joe Black, Mona Lisa Smile, The Hoax and Used People. Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden has forged a remarkable body of work.