Personal details
- Birth Date: 1964-08-02
- Height: 5′ 7½″ (1.71 m)
- Birth Location: Fort Jackson, South Carolina, USA
- Parents: John Morgan Parker
- Professions: Actress, Additional Crew, Soundtrack
Mary-Louise Parker grew up bouncing around thanks to her dad’s job, landing everywhere from South Carolina to who-knows-where overseas. She was the youngest of four, and honestly, that restless upbringing probably explains her knack for slipping into totally different lives on screen and stage. She went all-in on acting at the North Carolina School of the Arts, got her start on Ryan’s Hope—yeah, soap operas, everyone’s gotta start somewhere—then hit New York’s theater scene hard. By 1990, she was already racking up awards on Broadway with “Prelude to a Kiss.” Movies came calling, and she started showing up in everything from Longtime Companion to Fried Green Tomatoes (going toe-to-toe with legends like Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates). For a while, she had this “long-suffering girl next door” rep, but she played it with so much weirdness and heart—whether she was in Grand Canyon, Bullets Over Broadway, or Boys on the Side, she always found something offbeat and real to bring. She never ditched the stage, either, scooping up a Tony for “Proof” and making indie films her playground. TV? Oh, she crushed it. Her role in Angels in America got her a Golden Globe and an Emmy, then she blew up as Nancy Botwin on Weeds—a PTA mom turned weed dealer. Total chaos, totally addictive. She kept popping up in films (RED 2, Red Sparrow, and plenty more) and TV series like The Blacklist and Mr. Mercedes. Offscreen, she’s got two kids and some serious activism chops, plus a memoir that’s all heart and bite.
So, at 43, she went ahead and adopted a second kid—a little girl from Africa. The girl's birth name was Aberash, but everyone just calls her Ash now, which honestly sounds pretty cool and much easier to say. Her official name? Caroline Aberash Parker. There's a lot wrapped up in that name—legacy, new beginnings, a touch of her roots with Aberash tucked in there. This whole adoption move happened when she was already deep into her career and life, so it wasn't exactly a small thing to take on. People talk about midlife crises, but she was just out here building a family in her own way, on her own timeline. The decision definitely turned some heads, but she never seemed like she cared much about public opinion. Ash quickly became a huge part of her life, proof that she wasn't done surprising people—or herself—by any stretch.
Man, Demián Bichir in Weeds (2005) wasn’t just acting—he was doing something on another level. I know it might sound dramatic, but there was almost something sacred about the way he played his role. It wasn’t just about being deep or complex; the guy turned what could’ve been a regular part into this full-blown Greek tragedy moment. There’s this real rawness and vulnerability he brings, like you actually forget he’s acting at all. Not a lot of people can take a character and just inject so much humanity into it, but Bichir pulled it off. Honestly, he made the whole thing feel way bigger than a simple drama. And, to top it off, he’s just ridiculously charming—like, seriously, the kind of presence that makes you want to keep watching even when the story gets messy. Some actors just have that extra spark, you know? Bichir was absolutely one of them.
August 2, 1964
5′ 7½″ (1.71 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Fort Jackson, South Carolina, USA
Yes, Caroline Aberash Parker
John Morgan Parker and Surekha
61 years old