Former TYR actress will pair up with another Academy award-winning actor.

LOS ANGELES -- Melissa Leo just got a job.

The veteran actress, still riding high off of her turn as the wife of Benicio Del Toro's character in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "21 Grams," found out on Friday that she will play Robert De Niro's neighbor, Laura, in the psychological thriller "Hide and Seek" for helmer John Polson and 20th Century Fox. And while she's happy to talk about her upcoming gig, she's seems more content to chat about "Grams."

"Part of why I laud the writing so much is that I didn't need to do a lot of research and work," said Leo, whose character Marianne Jordan spends most of the film trying to keep her family together in the wake of a tragic accident caused by her husband, Del Toro's Jack Jordan.

"It was very apparent to me who she was and where she had come from and why this would mean so much to her to hang onto. Having seen what this woman must've seen in her life and to be the kind of woman to want to hang on to that man, played by Benicio Del Toro, it was very clear to me. And with Benicio opposite me, off we went."

The "Grams" ride for Leo, she says, has been the highest profile of her 20-year-career. (Leo, seen here with partner  Biff Russell, also had a five-year run on "Homicide: Life on the Street.")

"This is the biggest thing I have ever done," she says. "But we knew when we were shooting it that it seemed liked quality stuff, and we could tell that it would be very special."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter 
Photo credit: Brian Brooks/I\indieWIRE
December 21, 2003

Extra!!! Critics roar for Leo's performance

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association honored Melissa Leo's stunning portrayal of strength and grief in "21 Grams." Leo was runner-up in the supporting actress category. The supporting-actress honor went to Shohreh Aghdashloo for "House of Sand and Fog."

And here's a slice of an article from USA Today about performances they critics, editors and movie fans fear will be overlooked because of the shortened Oscar season: Melissa Leo, 21 Grams. In a strong ensemble, Leo stands out as the tough wife of an ex-con. "While the major stars were chewing up the scenery, Leo plays Benicio Del Toro's long-suffering wife with Shakespearean tragedy and a Budweiser chaser," says Thelma Adams, critic for Us Magazine. Adds USA TODAY critic Claudia Puig: "Her character could easily have become a throwaway, clichéd, white-trashy role. Instead, there was so much more nuance to it."