Martha Plimpton

Martha Plimpton is an American actress who began her career as a child model before transitioning to act in film, television, and theater. She rose to prominence in the 1985 adventure film The Goonies and established a wide-ranging career across screen and stage. Over her career, she has earned a Primetime Emmy Award along with nominations for three Tony Awards. She is also a member of the Carradine acting family.

Plimpton was born in New York City to actors Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton, who met during the original Broadway run of Hair. Her paternal grandfather was actor John Carradine, and she is related to writer George Plimpton and cartoonist Bill Plympton. Raised in New York, she attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan. Her earliest stage experiences occurred when her mother brought her on stage during curtain calls for Broadway plays including The Leaf People and The Ass and the Heart.

In the early 1980s, Plimpton began modeling, notably appearing in a campaign for Calvin Klein. She made her feature film debut in the 1981 political thriller Rollover, followed by a role in The River Rat (1984). Her breakthrough role arrived in 1985 as Stef Steinbrenner in The Goonies. Following this success, she was frequently cast in rebellious tomboy roles, including performances in The Mosquito Coast (1986), Shy People (1987), Stars and Bars (1988), and the drama Running on Empty (1988), for which she received a Young Artist Award nomination.

During her late teens and the 1990s, Plimpton balanced film roles with stage work, performing in regional theater in Seattle. Her film credits from this period include Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), Parenthood (1989), Stanley & Iris (1990), Zwei Frauen (1990), Samantha (1991), Inside Monkey Zetterland (1993), I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Pecker (1998), and 200 Cigarettes (1999). On television, she appeared in television films such as Daybreak and The Defenders trilogy, alongside a recurring role on the medical drama ER.

Plimpton made her Broadway debut in the 2004 play Sixteen Wounded. She earned critical acclaim on stage, receiving three consecutive Tony Award nominations for her performances in The Coast of Utopia (2006–2007), Top Girls (2007–2008), and the musical Pal Joey (2008–2009). For her work in The Coast of Utopia, she won a Drama Desk Award. Her other Broadway credits include Shining City, Cymbeline, and a 2014 revival of A Delicate Balance.

On television, Plimpton earned wide recognition for her recurring role as attorney Patti Nyholm on the legal drama The Good Wife (2009–2013), winning a Primetime Emmy Award in 2012. She gained additional Emmy nominations for a guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and for her lead performance as Virginia Chance in the sitcom Raising Hope (2010–2014). She also starred in the sitcom The Real O'Neals from 2016 to 2017.

In animated film, Plimpton voiced Miss Crumbles in Hair High (2004) and Yelena in Frozen 2 (2019). She starred in the 2021 drama film Mass, sharing an Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the cast. Her television work includes the series Generation, the miniseries The Regime, and the 2025 series Task, playing an FBI agent.