Mare Winningham's Real Name: Mary Megan Winningham

Quick answer: Mare Winningham was born Mary Megan Winningham on May 16, 1959, in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Encyclopedia.com Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television profile and EBSCO Research Starters. A Library of Congress record gives the same birth name, date, and place. She works under the first name Mare; her birth first name is Mary.

Real name and early life

EBSCO says that as a child she moved with her parents and four siblings to Los Angeles. Encyclopedia.com says she was raised in California, the daughter of two educators, and later attended California State University, Northridge.

She first wanted to be a folk singer before turning to acting. As a teenager she could not afford a performing arts summer camp, so she went on NBC's The Gong Show and won the prize of just over $500 with a Beatles cover, EBSCO says. After she played Maria in The Sound of Music at Chatsworth High School, an agent who saw the show signed her.

Career highlights

She acted on television in her late teens, in the TV film Young Pioneers (1976) and on Police Woman and Starsky and Hutch. In 1980 she won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress for Amber Waves, and that year she made her film debut in Paul Simon's One Trick Pony, EBSCO says.

The Television Academy notes she was part of Hollywood's young "Brat Pack," co-starring in St. Elmo's Fire (1985) with Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and Emilio Estevez. She played Jennifer Jason Leigh's folk-singer sister in Georgia (1995), which earned her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. She won a second Emmy for playing Lurleen Wallace in George Wallace (1997).

Later TV work included Mildred Pierce (2011) and Hatfields & McCoys (2012), both Emmy-nominated roles, and the miniseries Dopesick (2021), for which the Television Academy lists a 2022 nomination. EBSCO says she also appeared across several seasons of American Horror Story and on The Affair.

She made her Broadway debut in a January 2013 revival of William Inge's Picnic. Her role in Casa Valentina (2014) earned a Tony nomination for best featured actress in a play. She has released folk albums including What Might Be (1992), Lonesomers (1998), Refuge Rock Sublime (2007), and What's Left Behind (2014). EBSCO says she married actor Anthony Edwards in 2021.

Name notes for searchers

Her birth first name is Mary, and she works professionally as Mare. Her middle name, Megan, appears in all three name records we checked. Encyclopedia.com notes that one of her earlier husbands, William Mapel, is spelled Maple in some sources, so searches may show both spellings.