Barbara Hershey

Barbara Hershey is a multi-award-winning actress who has showcased her talents in some of Hollywood's most memorable films, television movies, miniseries and drama series. Hershey won an Emmy and Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special for "A Killing in a Small Town," alongside Brian Dennehy and Hal Holbrook. She garnered unprecedented back-to-back Best Actress Awards at the Cannes Film Festival for her performances in Shy People and A World Apart, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for The Portrait of a Lady, starring Nicole Kidman, and a BAFTA nomination for Black Swan, opposite Natalie Portman.

Hershey was  seen as Cora, mother to Lana Parilla's Regina Mills/Evil Queen in the second season of the ABC hit series "Once Upon a Time." In late 2012 Hershey was seen in "Left to Die," a telefilm for Lifetime directed by Leon Ichaso (a multi-award winner for Piñero). Based on true events, the film stars Hershey as Sandra Chase, an innocent woman who is imprisoned in Ecuador after being arrested for drug trafficking.

Hershey co-starred opposite Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson in James Wan's Insidious, the story of a family beset by vengeful spirits from another realm. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to become one of the year's most profitable films.

After early supporting roles in The Baby Maker and Boxcar Bertha, the Hollywood native catapulted to headline status. She starred in The Stunt Man, with Peter O'Toole; The Right Stuff, with Ed Harris, Sam Shepard and Scott Glenn; The Natural, with Robert Redford and Robert Duvall; Hannah and Her Sisters, with Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest and Michael Caine; Hoosiers, with Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper; Tin Men, with Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito; Shy People, with Jill Clayburgh; The Last Temptation of Christ, with Willem Dafoe and Harvey Keitel; Beaches, with Bette Midler and John Heard; and A World Apart, with Tim Roth.

Hershey also enjoyed a string of television successes, including her portrayal of Clara Allen in the miniseries "Return to Lonesome Dove," alongside Jon Voight and Louis Gossett, Jr., and in her role as Dr. Francesca Alberghetti in David E. Kelly's "Chicago Hope" on CBS.

During the same period, Hershey remained active in feature films. She starred in Merchant-Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries in addition to the award-winning mystery Lantana, from acclaimed Australian director Ray Lawrence.

In 2007 Hershey starred in both The Bird Can't Fly, directed by Threes Anna, and Love Comes Lately, directed by Jan Schütte. The films premiered to critical acclaim at the San Sebastian and Toronto film festivals, respectively.

Hershey again returned to television to star with Shirley McClaine in Kevin Sullivan's "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning" for PBS, for which she received a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries.

Hershey co-starred opposite Jeroen Krabbé as Helene in Albert Schweitzer, Gavin Millar's biopic about the Nobel Peace Prize-winning physician, philosopher and theologian. In December 2009 she co-starred as the iconic Mrs. Hubbard in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, part of the new "Poirot" film series.

Sony Pictures