Allison Tolman is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Molly Solverson in the first season of the FX television series '' Fargo'', earning

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

and

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

nominations, and Alma Fillcot in the second season of the

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

anthology series '' Why Women Kill''.

Early life and education

Allison Tolman was born to Valerie (née Clohecy) and Davis Nichols Tolman, a petroleum geologist. Tolman has two older brothers and a younger sister. Her family moved to England when she was a few months old and stayed until she was four years old. She spent the next five years in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

, before moving to Sugar Land, Texas. She started taking acting classes when she was 10 years old at the Fort Bend Community Theatre. She attended

Clements High School William P. Clements High School, more commonly known as Clements High School, is a public high school in Sugar Land, Texas. Named after former Texas governor Bill Clements, Clements High School is a part of the Fort Bend Independent School Dist ...

, graduating in 2000. She graduated from

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

in theatrical performance. After college, she moved to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, where she was one of the founding members of Second Thought Theatre. In 2009, she moved to

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, to study performance at The Second City Training Center.

Career

In 2014, Tolman starred in the first season of the FX black comedy crime series '' Fargo''. Inspired by the 1996

Coen brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the same name, ''Fargo'' starred veteran actors

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, singer and songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent film, independent Drama (film and television), drama f ...

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

and

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...

. Tolman received accolades for her performance as Minnesota police officer Molly Solverson, with '' Vanity Fair'' writing that she "calmly and assuredly stole the entire show". For her role, she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Miniseries and received Best Actress nominations at the

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

and for the Golden Globes. The same year, it was also announced Tolman would have a two-episode guest role on '' The Mindy Project'' as Abby Berman, a romance novelist. In 2015, she had a supporting role in Michael Dougherty's comedy horror film ''Krampus''. Following her breakout role on ''Fargo'', Tolman declined several supporting parts as mothers, wives and best friends, looking for a more unusual role. In 2017, Tolman starred in ABC's '' Downward Dog'', based on the Animal Media Group

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

, which was canceled after one season. She starred in the ABC drama series ''

Emergence In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole. Emergence plays a central rol ...

'', which premiered on September 24, 2019, and was cancelled after one season on May 21, 2020. She also guest starred in NBC's '' Good Girls''. In 2021, she starred as Alma Filcott in the second season of the drama series '' Why Women Kill'', and played Natalie Green in '' The Facts of Life'' portion of the third edition of '' Live in Front of a Studio Audience''. In the fall of 2024, Tolman joined the NBC sitcom '' St. Denis Medical'' as a leading actress, portraying the character Alex in a main role.

Personal life

In 2022, when Tolman spent months helping her mother care for her ill father, she watched sitcoms with her mother to cheer her up. Afterward, Tolman commented that getting the ''St. Denis'' ''Medical'' role “just seemed like kismet”.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolman, Allison Living people 21st-century American actresses American television actresses Baylor University alumni Actresses from Houston American film actresses Actresses from Dallas Actresses from Chicago Year of birth missing (living people)