Mare Winningham: What the ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’ Actress Has Been Up To

The 1985 film St. Elmo’s Fire has been back in the news almost 40 years after its release, thanks to the documentary Brats and recent rumors around an upcoming sequel. The movie captured the spirit and aesthetic of the era, and provided breakout roles for its charismatic young cast, which included Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and others. Mare Winningham, who played Wendy Beamish, the sweetest and shyest of the ensemble, will forever be known for her role in the film, but she had a long career before and after it was released. Here’s a look at what she’s been up to.

How Mare Winningham got her start

Mare Winningham was born Mary Megan Winningham in 1959. She originally had ambitions to be a musician, and got her start performing on an episode of The Gong Show as a teen in 1976. The appearance led to her being noticed by an agent, and she began taking on small TV roles. Throughout the ’70s, she appeared in Police Woman (1978), The Young Pioneers (1978) and Starsky and Hutch (1979). In 1980, she made her film debut in One Trick Pony. She then had a role in the blockbuster 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds. 

While Winningham already had a number of credits to her name by the time she was cast in St. Elmo’s Fire, the movie raised her profile considerably. The film is synonymous with the Brat Pack, but it’s up for debate whether or not the actress was actually part of that group of decade-defining actors, as she was a bit older than some of her costars, and while many of them were known for their wild antics during the making of the film, she was married and pregnant, and admitted, “I felt like I was in a different world.”

After St. Elmo’s Fire, instead of appearing in more Brat Pack movies, Winningham acted in titles like Miracle Mile (1988) and Turner & Hooch (1989) and appeared in a number of TV movies. In a Vanity Fair interview, she said, “I might win the crown of TV-movie queen.” As the TV movie queen, she won Emmy Awards for her performances in Amber Waves (1980) and George Wallace (1997).

Mare Winningham in 1988

What Mare Winningham did after St. Elmo’s Fire

Winningham was acclaimed for her performances throughout the ’90s, and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the 1995 film Georgia. While she didn’t win, many have pointed out the fact that she’s the only St. Elmo’s Fire actor to earn this distinction. She also returned to her musical roots and released her debut album, What Might Be, in 1992. 

Mare Winningham in the ’80s

The cast of St. Elmo’s Fire (Left to right: Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson and Andrew McCarthy)

As the decade continued, Winningham kept up her TV movie streak and made appearances in shows like Mad About You (1997 to 1998) and ER (1998 to 1999). In the ’00s, she played Dr. Meredith Grey’s stepmother on Grey’s Anatomy. She then earned more Emmy nominations for her roles in two miniseries in a row, Mildred Pierce (2011) and Hatfields & McCoys (2012), and was in the casts of American Horror Story (2013 to 2017), The Affair (2014 to 2018) and The Outsider (2020).

Mare Winningham with her Emmy Award for George Wallace in 1998

Winningham has also kept acting in movies, with roles in Swing Vote (2008), Mirror Mirror (2012), Philomena (2013), Dark Waters (2019) and News of the World (2020). In 2022, she was nominated for yet another Emmy for her powerful work in the miniseries Dopesick, and she also appeared in the 2020 Broadway play Girl From the North Country, a musical centered on the songs of Bob Dylan, earning a Best Actress Tony nomination. Winningham can most recently be seen in a supporting role in the 2024 film Rob Peace.

Clearly, Winningham’s body of work goes far beyond the scope of the Brat Pack, and she’s earned a reputation as a versatile TV star and reliable supporting player in film. From acting in one of the most iconic movies of the ’80s to becoming a TV movie fixture to receiving award nominations for work on the big and small screens, as well as the stage, Winningham has proved she can do it all.