Mary McDonnell is the consummate American film, stage, and television actress, a two-time Oscar-nominee known for portraying powerful and complex female characters. By melding vulnerability and strength, she has created distinctive characters on Broadway (the title role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles), in films (Stands With a Fist in Dances with Wolves) and on TV (President Laura Roslin on “Battlestar Galactica”).

Earning an Emmy nomination on TNT’s “The Closer,” McDonnell continued her portrayal of Commander Sharon Raydor, a woman navigating leadership in the male-dominated field of law enforcement for six seasons on the hit spin-off, “Major Crimes.”

Join McDonnell as she discusses her career with Elizabeth Blair, senior Arts Desk producer and reporter at NPR.