FrameThrower · Actors · Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
8 films · 802 frames · top-billed in 1 · 2003–2025
Born 14 September 1960 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Melissa Leo is an American actress. She made her acting debut in 1985, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue/Woman in the Drama Series “All My Children”. Her most notable role as was as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on “Homicide: Life on the Street” for the show's first five seasons from 1993–1997.
Following several films, Leo received critical acclaim and national attention in earning several nominations and awards, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Leo earned several awards for her role as Alice Ward in the critically acclaimed film, “The Fighter” (2010).…
Awards
On FrameThrower we have: 8 films · 802 frames · top-billed in 1 · 2003–2025
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress2011
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture2011
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series2013
How their films are shot
Measured across 802 frames from the 8 films we hold. This is the look of the work Melissa takes, not a claim about any single frame — we index the cast of a film, never the people in a shot.
Across the 8 films we hold, 49% of their frames are night, 47% low key — the look of the work Melissa takes.
Time of day
Lighting
Shot size
Camera angle
Mood
Films in the library
Every poster opens that film — stills, cinematography notes and colour palette.
A reference database for filmmakers
FrameThrower is a fully machine-searchable film database and visual reference library — all 802 frames from Melissa Leo's 8 films, and 5,000+ films besides, indexed frame by frame and readable by AI. Search it in plain language, from a reference image, or by colour; call it from an API, an MCP server or an SDK. It's the reference layer for making the next movie.