Amy Madigan accepts the Oscar® for Actress in a Supporting Role during the 98th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 15, 2026. Credit/Provider: Trae Patton / The Academy. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.
It took 40 years but actress Amy Madigan is finally an Oscar winner!
Beginning her career in the early ’80s appearing in classic films like ‘Places in the Heart‘ and ‘Streets of Fire‘, Madigan received her first Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Academy Awards for her performance in ‘Twice in a Lifetime‘, but lost to Anjelica Huston in ‘Prizzi’s Honor‘.
She would go on to appear in more beloved movies like ‘Field of Dreams‘, ‘Uncle Buck‘, and ‘Gone Baby Gone‘, before being cast as the creepy Aunt Gladys in director Zach Cregger‘s ‘Weapons‘, which finally earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In honor of her recent Oscar win, Moviefone is counting down the 20 best movies of Amy Madigan’s long and impressive career, including ‘Weapons’.
Let’s begin!
Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Weapons’
Amy Madigan in ‘The Dark Half’. Photo: Orion Pictures.
Following the public’s realization that Thad Beaumont and George Stark (Timothy Hutton) are one and the same, the former stages a mock funeral, only for a series of gruesome murders to begin occurring as in his books.
“There are very good reasons to be afraid of the dark.”
Release Date: Apr 23, 1993
Run Time: 2 hr 2 min
Budget: $15,000,000
The unconventional love story of an aspiring actress (Lily Collins), her ambitious driver (Alden Ehrenreich), and their eccentric boss, the legendary billionaire Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty).
Release Date: Nov 23, 2016
Run Time: 2 hr 7 min
Budget: $25,000,000
After discovering a box of old love letters sent to her mother by a mysterious stranger, Anna (Jamie Lee Curtis), a young radio deejay, begins a torrid affair with a married man. Burning attraction brings them together, but the reality does not come close to the passion expressed in the letters.
“Sometimes It’s Right To Do the Wrong Thing”
Release Date: Jan 27, 1984
Run Time: 1 hr 28 min
Budget: $550,000
Marine officer Rob Cutter (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and his wife Barbara (Madigan) have a son named Johnny (Robin MacEachem). Rob discovers that two newly delivered helicopters in his squadron have crashed because a defective part, a C-ring, has been made of a weaker, less expensive alloy. Before Rob can go public with this, Rob is killed on the orders of corrupt General Howard (John Colicos), who did not want Rob to go public with the defective part. Howard believes that Barbara, who is also a marine, now has the part, so Howard and his henchmen set out to kill Barbara and Johnny and get the part, but Howard is underestimating what Barbara is willing to do to protect Johnny.
Release Date: Jul 17, 1987
Run Time: 1 hr 24 min
Actress Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) has been offered a small fortune by a book editor if she can secure for publication the love letters that her father (Ed Harris), a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. Returning to Michigan, Reese finds that an ex-grad student (Amelia Warner) and a would-be musician (Will Ferrell) have moved in with her father, who cares more about his new friends than he does about his own health and well-being.
“Sometimes you go looking for something you want. . . and find what you need.”
Release Date: Feb 7, 2006
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min
Budget: $3,500,000
(L to R) Ed Harris and Amy Madigan in ‘Alamo Bay’. Photo: Tri-Star Pictures.
A despondent Vietnam veteran (Ed Harris) in danger of losing his livelihood is pushed to the edge when he sees Vietnamese immigrants moving into the fishing industry in a Texas bay town.
“Alamo Bay. A place where everyone risked everything for a piece of the American Dream.”
Release Date: Apr 3, 1985
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min
A former valedictorian (Kristen Bell) quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.
“This Summer Growing Up is Optional”
Release Date: Aug 30, 2013
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min
In the late 1800s, a fanatical religious leader (Jason Isaacs), a renegade Sheriff (Ed Harris), and a former prostitute (January Jones) collide in a blood triangle on the rugged plains of the New Mexico Territory.
Release Date: Oct 11, 2013
Run Time: 1 hr 36 min
Budget: $7,000,000
The true story of Terry Jean Moore (Madigan), a young woman who is imprisoned for seven years on account of a “five-dollar” robbery. While in prison, she gets pregnant by a jailer (Beau Bridges) and must fight to keep her child.
“At 19 they took away her freedom. At 20 they tried to take her baby.”
Release Date: Oct 15, 1982
Run Time: 1 hr 36 min
Budget: $50,091
After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel (Michael Peña), a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife (Madigan). After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife (Eva Longoria) tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff (Ed Harris) tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.
“Truth is the only justice.”
Release Date: Sep 5, 2014
Run Time: 1 hr 43 min
(L to R) Ike Barinholtz and Amy Madigan in ‘The Hunt’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted (Betty Gilpin) turns the tables on her pursuers.
“Only designated people may be hunted at the manor.”
Release Date: Mar 13, 2020
Run Time: 1 hr 30 min
Budget: $14,000,000
A small-town Oregon teacher (Keri Russell) and her brother (Jesse Plemons), the local sheriff, discover a young student (Jeremy T. Thomas) is harbouring a dangerous secret that could have frightening consequences.
“Pray it desires not you.”
Release Date: Oct 29, 2021
Run Time: 1 hr 39 min
Budget: $17,000,000
In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: “Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?” The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called “an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew.” As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock (Ed Harris) began a downward spiral.
“A true portrait of life and art.”
Release Date: Sep 6, 2000
Run Time: 2 hr 12 min
Budget: $6,000,000
In 1935 rural Texas, recently widowed Edna Spaulding (Sally Field) struggles to survive with two small children, a farm to run, and very little money in the bank – not to mention a deadly tornado and the unwelcome presence of the Ku Klux Klan. Edna is aided by her beautician sister, Margaret (Lindsay Crouse); a blind boarder, Mr. Will (John Malkovich); and a would-be thief, Moze (Danny Glover), who decides to teach Edna how to plant and harvest cotton.
“The story of a woman fighting for her children, for her land, for the greatest dream there is… the future.”
Release Date: Sep 11, 1984
Run Time: 1 hr 51 min
Budget: $9,500,000
When 4 year old Amanda McCready (Madeline O’Brien) disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl’s aunt, Beatrice McCready (Madigan) hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they’re not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.
“Everyone wants the truth… until they find it.”
Release Date: Oct 19, 2007
Run Time: 1 hr 53 min
Budget: $19,000,000
(L to R) Gene Hackman, Ann-Margret, Ellen Burstyn, Amy Madigan, Ally Sheedy and Brian Dennehy in ‘Twice in a Lifetime’. Photo: Bud Yorkin Productions.
A middle-aged steelworker (Gene Hackman) is content with his job and his family, but feels that something is missing in his life. On his 50th birthday, he stops in at a local bar for a drink to celebrate. He finds himself attracted to the young, very sexy barmaid (Ann-Margret)–and, to his surprise, he finds that she is also very attracted to him.
Release Date: Oct 23, 1985
Run Time: 1 hr 51 min
Raven Shaddock (William Dafoe) and his gang of merciless biker friends kidnap rock singer Ellen Aim (Diane Lane). Ellen’s former lover, soldier-for-hire Tom Cody (Michael Paré), happens to be passing through town on a visit. In an attempt to save his star act, Ellen’s manager (Rick Moranis) hires Tom to rescue her. Along with a former soldier (Madigan), they battle through dangerous cityscapes, determined to get Ellen back.
“Tonight is what it means to be young.”
Release Date: Jun 1, 1984
Run Time: 1 hr 33 min
Budget: $14,500,000
Buck Russell (John Candy), a lovable but slovenly bachelor, suddenly becomes the temporary caretaker of his nephew and nieces (Macaulay Culkin and Gaby Hoffmann) after a family emergency. His freewheeling attitude soon causes tension with his older niece Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly), loyal girlfriend Chanice (Madigan) and just about everyone else who crosses his path.
“He’s crude. He’s crass. He’s family.”
Release Date: Aug 16, 1989
Run Time: 1 hr 40 min
Budget: $15,000,000
Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice telling him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond. He does, but the voice’s directions don’t stop — even after the spirits of deceased ballplayers turn up to play.
“All his life, Ray Kinsella was searching for his dreams. Then one day, his dreams came looking for him.”
Release Date: May 5, 1989
Run Time: 1 hr 45 min
Budget: $15,000,000
Amy Madigan as Gladys in New Line Cinema’s ‘Weapons,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Quantrell Colbert. Copyright: © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
“Last night at 2:17 AM, every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class went missing.”
Release Date: Aug 8, 2025
Run Time: 2 hr 9 min
Budget: $38,000,000