Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in Dances with Wolves and May-Alice Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and Rose in Donnie Darko. She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor during seasons 5–7 of the TNT series The Closer and starred as Commander Sharon Raydor in the spin-off series Major Crimes on the same network.

Early life
Mary Eileen McDonnell was born April 28, 1952, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, one of six children born to Eileen (née Mundy) and John "Jack" McDonnell, a computer consultant. She is of Irish descent and was raised Roman Catholic. As a child, McDonnell relocated with her family to Ithaca, New York, where she spent the remainder of her upbringing.

After graduating from the State University of New York at Fredonia, she attended drama school and joined the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, where she worked for three months. McDonnell's father died when she was 21 years old.