Patricia Clarkson, born and raised in New Orleans, was acting in school plays in her early teens.
After studying speech at Louisiana State University for two years, she transferred to Fordham University in New York, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in theatre arts. She earned her M.F.A. at the prestigious Yale School of Drama, where she appeared in Electra, Pacific Overtures, Pericles, La Ronde, The Lower Depths and The Misanthrope at the Yale Theatre.
She made her professional acting debut on the New York stage, where she has appeared in Eastern Standard both on and off Broadway; Nicky Silver's Raised in Captivity and The Maiden's Prayer, for which she received Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award nominations; and the Manhattan Theatre Club's presentations of Wolfman, Oliver, Oliver and Richard Greenberg's acclaimed Three Days of Rain.
Her regional credits include stagings at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the South Coast Repertory and the Yale Repertory. She also co-starred in John Guare's Tony-winning House of Blue Leaves at Lincoln Center, and had to leave her role of the deaf movie star in that play to make her movie debut as Eliot Ness' wife in Brian DePalma's highly-praised 1987 gangster epic, The Untouchables.
While maintaining a busy career on the stage, she continued with movie roles in such projects as Simply Irresistible, Pharaoh's Army, Jumanji, Rocket Gibraltar, Everybody's All-American, The Dead Pool and Tune in Tomorrow.
She won raves for her role of Greta in the critically acclaimed independent drama High Art.
The awards began pouring in during 2002, when Clarkson won an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" for the TV series Six Feet Under, a "Best Female Performance" award from the Deauville Film Festival for her role in The Safety of Objects (2001) and a New York Film Critics Circle "Best Supporting Actress" award for her supporting role in the feature film Far From Heaven (2002). The awards kept piling up the following year when she won a National Society of Film Critics Award for her role in Far From Heaven (2002) and a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her role in The Station Agent (2003). In 2004, she received her highest actor honor to date -- an Academy Award nomination for her role as a dying mother in Pieces of April.
Taking a break from the whirlwind couple years onscreen, Clarkson took on the coveted role of Blanche DuBois in a Washington D.C. production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 2004 and made her next impression in Craig Lucas’ satirical and provocative Hollywood-set indie The Dying Gaul (2004). She followed up with a nicely etched supporting turn in George Clooney's second directorial effort Good Night and Good Luck (2005), evidencing warm chemistry with Robert Downey, Jr. as a pair of broadcast journalists on Edward R. Murrow's news team who try to keep their marriage a secret. Clarkson was a natural casting choice for Steve Zaillian’s film adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s tale of a corrupt 1940s New Orleans politician in All The King’s Men (2006) which unfortunately met with critical backlash, though the actress rebounded with a second Emmy Award for her continuing guest appearances on Six Feet Under.
In 2007, she had a supporting role in the successful box office romance No Reservations (2007) and played a doctor whose patient is having a relationship with a life-sized, mail-order doll in the charming indie hit, Lars and the Real Girl (2007).
Actor-director Stanley Tucci tapped Clarkson to play opposite him as grieving parents in Blind Date (2008), after which she played opposite Chris Cooper as a restricted 1940s housewife whose seemingly perfect marriage to a successful corporate exec is not all that it seems in Married Life (2008).
Clarkson enjoyed a pivotal supporting role in Woody Allen’s acclaimed Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), following up that high profile offering with a wonderful performance as the supportive drama teacher of a gifted but emotionally troubled girl (Elle Fanning) in Phoebe in Wonderland (2009). She teamed with Allen again in the filmmaker’s return to New York-set films, Whatever Works (2009).