It’s been quite the career for Melissa Leo, who has built an enviable reputation for portraying complex, tough, often unconventional women across more than 100 screen roles. We count her latest, where she plays a probing detective in psychological drama The Knife, as her 102nd.

Back in the day, Leo broke through playing Linda Warner in US soap opera All My Children in 1984, earning an Emmy nomination for outstanding younger actress. Since then she’s guest-starred in tons of TV shows, from Miami Vice to Law & Order, The L Word, HBO drama Treme and HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce. She even won an Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for her guest spot on Louie.

Her appearances on the big screen have twice earned her Oscar recognition. She was nominated for best actress for her breakthrough indie role as a desperate human trafficker in 2008 crime drama Frozen River, then won the best supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg’s domineering mother in 2010’s The Fighter. Other standouts include 2003 crime thriller 21 Grams with Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro; 2013 thriller Prisoners with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal; 2014’s The Equalizer with Denzel Washington and Chloë Grace Moretz; and as the secretary of defence hostage in 2013 action-thriller Olympus Has Fallen and 2016’s London Has Fallen. More recently, she’s starred in 2024 crime comedy The Clean Up Crew with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Antonio Banderas and 2024 action thriller Long Gone Heroes with Frank Grillo and Andy García.

So please get thinking about your favourite Melissa Leo moment to ask her about. And, fingers crossed, she has plenty of favourite Melissa Leo moments to reply with. Please get your questions in by 6pm on Tuesday 13 January, and we’ll print her answers in Film & Music on 16 January.

• The Knife is available on digital platforms