Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden is trying her hand at something new. The actress has landed the lead role in NBC's latest comedy pilot, "Isabel."
Harden will play Francis, the matriarch of a "normal middle-class family that wrestles with the challenges of everyday life while raising a daughter (Sophia Mitri Schloss from 'Grimm') who has magical qualities," according to Entertainment Weekly.
"Isabel" will have Howard Busgang ("The Closer") and Tom Nursall ("Single White Spenny") as its showrunners.
This is the third time in the past four years that Harden has signed on for a TV pilot. Last year, she did ABC's sitcom "Smothered," and in 2008, she did CBS' "The Tower." But neither made it to air.
Could the magic "Isabel" prove that third time's the charm?
Harden is quite the accomplished actress of film, stage and television. Besides her Academy Award for "Pollock," she received a Tony Award for "God of Carnage," was nominated for two Emmy Awards (one for a guest stint on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and the other for TV movie, "The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler"), and also earned two Screen Actors Guild Award nods for "Mystic River" and "Into the Wild."
"Isabel," which is one of five pilots that NBC has ordered in the past few months, is clearly new territory for the largely dramatic actress. In the past couple years, Harden has spent a lot of time on the small screen, with multiple-episode arcs on both "Damages" and "Royal Pains."
She is also slated to appear in the NBC comedy "Bent," according to TV Line.