‘FARGO’ ROLE ANOTHER STRONG ONE FOR CHICAGO’ S CARRIE CO ON
Carrie Coon knows exactly what she wants when it comes to choosing her stage and screen roles. She gravitates toward strong, smart women, she says, because at their core, they remind her of the Midwest, of the women she has grown up with her entire life. They are characters so well- written, it’s rare, Coon says, that an actress has the opportunity to take them on. Her latest such role is that of Gloria Burgle, the chief of police in a smallMinnesota town in the Emmy Awardwinning FX series “Fargo.”
The show’s third season ( which premieres April 19 at 9 p. m.) is set in 2010 in Eden Valley, with a storyline that centers on feuding brothers Emmit and Ray Stussy ( both portrayed by Ewan McGregor). Emmitt is a real estate developer, the self- proclaimed “Parking Lot King of Minnesota,” while Ray is a down- on- his- luck probation officer who must grovel for cash at every turn. The dark tale of the brothers’ anger- fueled relationship is peppered with a quirky set of supporting characters including Ray’s savvy bridge- playing fiancée ( and recent parolee) Nikki Swango ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead). There’s murder and mayhem aplenty, though it plays out quietly and at an ingenious snail’s pace.
For Coon, “Fargo” arrived at the perfect juncture in her career. She’s concurrently starring as Nora in the HBO series “The Leftovers,” which just began its seriesending season. Movie buffs also might recall her from a key role in the film “Gone Girl.” Closer to home, Coon is a familiar face to Chicago stage audiences, having starred at Steppenwolf Theatre in productions of “Mary Page Marlowe” and “Who’s Afraid of VirginiaWoolf?” ( She received a Tony Award nomination for the latter’s subsequent Broadway production.) “Woolf” is where she met Steppenwolf ensemble member and Pulitzer Prize- winning playwright Tracy Letts, then her co- star and now her husband.
“My friends sent me a picture of the New York subway where there’s a poster for ‘ Fargo’ next to a poster for ‘ Leftovers,’ and that was pretty weird,” Coon said with a chuckle during a recent phone conversation from Calgary, Alberta, where the actress is filming “Fargo.” “But honestly, I think a lot of people really don’t connect me to both projects from the posters, so that’s flattering, because they are two very distinct women. Although both share a dry sense of humor and tenacity, I suppose.”
Coon has not watched her “Fargo” episodes to date. “I like to watch the episodes with my husband in our house inWicker Park . . . not onmy computer inmy little apartment in Calgary. But I do watch my [ screen] performances because it’s how you get better. You look at the acting.”
Much like what drove her to her role on “The Leftovers,” Coon says she was immediately drawn to the character of Gloria on “Fargo.”
“I would have said yes without reading a script,” she admits. “Because I’d seen the first two seasons of [‘ Fargo’] and thought it was so smart and well- written [ by creator Noah Hawley]. Gloria is very much in my DNA because I grew up in Ohio and I went to school in Wisconsin. . . . What I see is Noah writing women that I know. . . . [ The same] for Nora [ created and written by Damon Lindelof for ‘ The Leftovers’]. These women look like the women I’ve known and respected my whole life.”
Coon’s life includes being born and raised in Copley, Ohio, a town founded by her ancestors in the late 1800s. She attended the University ofWisconsin at Madison. Her acting career began there out of necessity and logistics.
“I was inWisconsin at least eight months out of the year, so I got my storefront theater experience in Madison,” Coon said. “I kept trying to transition to Chicago, butWisconsin kept giving me work . . . so it was difficult to get to Chicago and work. But the directors I was working with inWisconsin were mostly Chicagobased, and eventually James Bohnen [ of Remy Bumppo] gave me my first job in Chicago in ‘ Bronte.’ And that was my big Chicago break. The second play I did there was with Anna Shapiro at the Goodman, who cast me in ‘ Magnolia.’ And then my third play was ‘ Virginia Woolf’ at Steppenwolf. And by the time ‘ VirginiaWoolf’ was slated for Broadway, that’s when I started working my way back through Chicago theater, atWriters, Next Theatre.”
Coon would return to Chicago to star in Steppenwolf productions of “The March” and Letts’ adaptation of “Three Sisters.” “And of course, ‘ Mary Page Marlowe’ [ another Letts vehicle]. … It’s been an unusual trajectory because most actors come up through Chicago storefronts and then crack [ companies like] the Goodman and Steppenwolf. I just had a very different path.”