Marcia Clark

Clark was born Marcia Rachel Kleks on August 31, 1953,{{cite web |title=Famous birthdays for Aug. 31: Richard Gere, Debbie Gibson |url=https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2022/08/31/Famous-birthdays-for-Aug-31-Richard-Gere-Debbie-Gibson/5331661707598/#:~:text=Famous%20birthdays%20for%20Aug.,%2C%20Debbie%20Gibson%20%2D%20UPI.com |publisher=UPI |access-date=25 May 2025 |date=31 August 2022}} the daughter of Rozlyn (née Masur) and Abraham Kleks. Her father was born in Mandatory Palestine and raised there and in Israel, and worked as a chemist for the FDA.{{cite news|last1=Adams|first1=Lorraine|title=The Fight of Her Life|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/08/20/the-fight-of-her-life/bc1c8614-336d-4bc5-858c-9cd1b618d405/|access-date=July 3, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 20, 1995}} Because of her father's job, the family moved several times, including living in California, New York, Michigan, and Maryland.

Kleks graduated from Susan E. Wagner High School, a public school in the Manor Heights section of Staten Island, New York City.{{cite web|url=http://www.nypl.org/branch/staten/index2.cfm?Trg=1&d1=1391 |title= Staten Island on the Web: Famous Staten Islanders | website= NYPL.org| publisher= The New York Public Library| access-date= July 15, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617160717/http://www.nypl.org/branch/staten/index2.cfm?Trg=1&d1=1391 |archive-date=June 17, 2008 }} She studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 1976 with a degree in political science, and then earned a Juris Doctor degree at Southwestern University School of Law.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Clark was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1979, where she continued to practice law.{{cite web|url=http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=90125|title= Marcia Rachel Clark|publisher= The State Bar of California| access-date= February 6, 2016}} She worked in private practice and as a public defender for the city of Los Angeles before she became a prosecutor in 1981.{{cite news|last1=Galloway|first1=Stephen|title=Marcia Clark on Her Rape, Scientology Flirtation and When She Last Saw O.J. |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/marcia-clark-her-rape-scientology-878889|access-date=February 10, 2017|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=March 30, 2016}} She worked as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, California and was mentored by prosecutor Harvey Giss.{{cite news| last1= Margolick |first1= David| title= The Murder Case of a Lifetime Gets a Murder Prosecutor of Distinction| url= https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/22/us/the-murder-case-of-a-lifetime-gets-a-murder-prosecutor-of-distinction.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=July 3, 2016| work= The New York Times|date=January 22, 1995}}

Clark is well known as the lead prosecutor in the 1995 trial of O. J. Simpson for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.{{cite news| first= Rebecca| last= Traister| url= https://nymag.com/thecut/2016/02/marcia-clark-redeemed-c-v-r.html | title= Marcia Clark Is Redeemed| work= New York Magazine| date= February 2016| access-date= March 3, 2016}} Prior to the Simpson trial, Clark's highest-profile trial occurred in 1991 when she prosecuted Robert John Bardo for the murder of television star Rebecca Schaeffer.{{cite web |url= http://www.wmeentertainment.com/marcia_clark/summary/ |title= Marcia Clark |publisher= WME Entertainment |access-date= February 6, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220090300/http://www.wmeentertainment.com/marcia_clark/summary/ |archive-date= December 20, 2016 |df= mdy-all }}{{cite web| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-23-me-151-story.html|title=Obsessed Fan of Actress Was 'Sick,' Doctor Says|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 23, 1991 |access-date=February 6, 2016}}{{cite news| first= Michael| last= Shulman| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/fashion/sarah-paulson-opens-up-about-dating-older-women-holland-taylor.html |title= Sarah Paulson Opens Up About Acting, Marcia Clark and Dating Older Women| work= The New York Times| date= March 2, 2016| access-date= March 3, 2016}} Clark said that the media attention that she received during the trial was "the hell of the trial," calling herself "famous in a way that was kind of terrifying."{{cite web |last=Felsenthal |first=Julia |date=January 28, 2016 |title=American Crime Story and the Vindication of O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Marcia Clark |url=http://www.vogue.com/13393265/american-crime-story-marcia-clark-interview/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421055145/https://www.vogue.com/article/american-crime-story-marcia-clark-interview |archive-date=April 21, 2023 |access-date=November 22, 2016 |website=Vogue.com}} Clark was advised by a jury consultant to "talk softer, dress softer, wear pastels" in order to improve her image. She subsequently changed her hairstyle into a perm, and the Los Angeles Times described her as resembling "Sigourney Weaver, only more professional."{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-04-12-mn-53816-story.html| title= A Good Hair Day: Prosecutor Maria Clark Sheds Curls for a New Look|last=Daunt|first=Tina| website= Los Angeles Times|date=April 12, 1995| access-date=November 22, 2016}} The New York Times commented that "the transformation was not entirely seamless."

Clark resigned from the district attorney's office after she lost the Simpson case. She and Teresa Carpenter wrote a book about the Simpson case, Without a Doubt, in a deal reported to be worth $4.2 million.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9701/09/briefs/clark.html|title= Marcia Clark resigns as prosecutor |date=January 9, 1997|publisher= CNN|access-date=February 9, 2017}}

Since the Simpson trial, Clark has made numerous appearances on television, including as a special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. She provided coverage of high-profile trials and reported from the red carpet at awards shows such as the Emmy Awards. She was a guest attorney on the short-lived television series Power of Attorney and was also featured on Headline News analyzing the Casey Anthony trial. In July 2013, Clark provided commentary for CNN during the Florida trial of George Zimmerman.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

Clark wrote a pilot script for a television series called Borderland, centering on "a very dark version of the DA's office." The series was purchased by FX but was never produced. Clark has contributed true-crime articles to The Daily Beast.{{cite web| url= http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/marcia-clark/|title=Marcia Clark |work= The Daily Beast |date=April 7, 2015 |access-date= February 9, 2017}}

Clark has written several novels. Her "Rachel Knight" series centers on a prosecutor in the Los Angeles district attorney's office, and includes Guilt By Association (2011),{{cite web |work=Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marcia-clark/guilt-association/ |title=Guilt By Association by Marcia Clark |date=April 5, 2011 |access-date=February 9, 2017}} Guilt By Degrees (2012),{{cite web |work=Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marcia-clark/guilt-by-degrees/ |title=Guilt By Degrees by Marcia Clark |date=May 7, 2012 |access-date=February 9, 2017}} Killer Ambition (2013){{cite web |work=Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marcia-clark/killer-ambition/ |title=Killer Ambition by Marcia Clark |date=June 17, 2013 |access-date=February 9, 2017}} and The Competition (2014).{{cite web |work=Kirkus Reviews |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marcia-clark/competition-clark/ |title=The Competition by Marcia Clark |date=June 16, 2014 |access-date=February 9, 2017}} Guilt by Association was adapted as a television pilot for TNT in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/marcia-clark-legal-drama-scores-923242|title=Marcia Clark Legal Drama Scores NBC Put Pilot Commitment|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=August 26, 2016 |first=Bryn Elise |last=Sandberg|access-date=February 9, 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2014/03/julia-stiles-to-topline-tnt-drama-pilot-guilt-by-association-693656/ |title=Julia Stiles To Topline TNT Drama Pilot Guilt By Association |first=Nellie |last=Andreeva |date=March 4, 2014 |website=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=February 9, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2016/08/marcia-clark-blood-defense-mandeville-tv-nbc-as-put-pilot-1201809058/|title=Legal Drama From Marcia Clark & Mandeville TV Lands At NBC As Put Pilot|first=Nellie|last=Andreeva|date=August 26, 2016|website=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=February 9, 2017}}

Clark's "Samantha Brinkman" series features a female defense attorney. It includes Blood Defense (2016), Moral Defense (2016) and Snap Judgment (2017), and was planned as a television adaptation series for NBC that Clark would cowrite. Clark did not expect to become an author, saying, "As a lawyer, I came to understand early that storytelling plays a very important part when you address a jury. So I guess my instincts have always kind of been there when it comes to weaving a narrative."{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-epting/author-marcia-clark-goes-_b_9995518.html|title=Author Marcia Clark Goes On the Defense|first=Chris |last=Epting |date=May 17, 2016|work=The Huffington Post}} She read Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys mystery fiction as a child and said "I have been addicted to crime since I was born. I was making up crime stories when I was a 4 or 5-year-old kid."{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-et-jc-marcia-clark-20160405-story.html|title=Marcia Clark on how her new book is different than the old Marcia, Marcia, Marcia|first=Kate|last=Tuttle|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 5, 2016|access-date=February 9, 2017}}

In August 2013, Clark appeared as attorney Sidney Barnes in the Pretty Little Liars episode on Freeform (formally ABC) titled "Now You See Me, Now You Don't".{{cite web|url=https://mobile.twitter.com/thatmarciaclark/status/357030390638182401|title=@imarleneking thank you so much for letting me play Sidney Barnes, it was SUCH incredible fun! Great to meet you! #PLLROCKS|date=July 29, 2013|access-date=July 16, 2013|work=twitter.com/thatmarciaclark}}

In 2015, Clark was parodied on the sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt through the character Marcia, implied to represent Marcia Clark in a relationship with Chris Darden. The character portrayed by Tina Fey,{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/03/09/pop-culture-was-vicious-to-marcia-clark-a-new-show-offers-an-overdue-apology/ |title=Pop culture was vicious to Marcia Clark. A new show offers an overdue apology. |newspaper=The Washington Post |first=Alyssa |last=Rosenberg |date=March 9, 2016 |access-date=February 7, 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/tina-fey-is-here-to-help-kimmy-schmidt-get-better-1798187539 |title=Tina Fey is here to help Kimmy Schmidt get better |work=The A.V. Club |first=Kayla Kumari |last=Upadhyaya |date=April 26, 2016 |access-date=February 7, 2017}} whose performance earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the role.{{cite web|url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2015/07/16/2015-emmy-nominees/30203481/|title= List: 2015 Primetime Emmy nominees|date=July 16, 2015|work=USA Today|access-date=July 17, 2015}}

Clark appears in the 2016 documentary miniseries O.J.: Made in America.{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/marcia-clark-tv-show|title=Marcia Clark Is Making a Semi-Autobiographical TV Series|first=Julie|last=Miller|work=Vanity Fair|date=August 26, 2016|access-date=February 10, 2017}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/01/oj-simpson-made-in-america|title=The Man Behind O.J. Simpson's ESPN Mini-series on Resisting the Kardashians and How Our Culture Was 'O.J.'d'|first=Julie|last=Miller|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=January 27, 2016|access-date=February 10, 2017}} That same year, she was portrayed by Sarah Paulson in the 2016 television series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which focuses on the Simpson trial. Paulson's performance as Clark earned wide acclaim, and she earned a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role.{{cite magazine|title=Sarah Paulson and Marcia Clark Pal Around on Emmys Red Carpet|url=https://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/18/emmys-2016-sarah-paulson-marcia-clark-red-carpet|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|first=Nick|last=Maslow|date=September 18, 2016 |access-date=January 9, 2017}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/awards/7647883/golden-globes-2017-winners-list|magazine=Billboard|date=January 8, 2017|access-date=January 8, 2017|title=Here Is the 2017 Golden Globes Winners List|first=Taylor|last=Weatherby}} Clark attended the Emmy Awards with Paulson on September 18, 2016. Katey Rich wrote in Vanity Fair that the series positions Clark as a "feminist hero."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/01/sarah-paulson-marcia-clark-feminism|title=How Sarah Paulson Is Turning Marcia Clark into a Feminist Hero on American Crime Story|first=Katey|last=Rich|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=January 22, 2016|access-date=February 10, 2017}}

In 2019, Clark appeared in the 18th season finale of Gordon Ramsay's reality series Hell's Kitchen as a VIP guest diner for winner and Season 6 veteran Ariel Contreras-Fox.

In 2024, Clark appeared on the third episode of comedian John Mulaney’s live comedy special Everybody’s in LA. While the episode was themed to and titled “Helicopters,” much of the discussion focused around the 1994 O.J. Simpson trial due to the presence of Clark and reporter Zoey Tur, who famously captured helicopter footage of the slow-speed Bronco chase. Clark and Tur had never met before their appearance on the show.

When Clark was 17 years old, she was raped on a trip to Israel. She has said that it was an experience with which she did not deal until later in life and that it greatly influenced her decision to become a prosecutor.

In 1976, Clark married Gabriel Horowitz, an Israeli professional backgammon player{{cite web|title= Gaby George Horowitz and Marcia Rachel Kleks|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VVM1-KLG|website=FamilySearch| access-date=July 3, 2016}} whom she had met as a student at UCLA. They obtained a "Mexican divorce" in 1980{{cite news| last1= Cochrane|first1=Kira|title=Marcia Clark: life after the OJ Simpson trial| url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/23/marcia-clark-after-simpson-trial|access-date=July 3, 2016|work=The Guardian |date= May 23, 2011}} and had no children. Horowitz was briefly in the news after he sold topless photos of Clark to the National Enquirer during the Simpson trial.

In 1980, Clark married her second husband, Gordon Clark, a computer programmer and systems administrator who was employed at the Church of Scientology.{{cite web|title=Gordon T Clark and Marcia R Kleks| url= https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6V5-5NF|website= FamilySearch|access-date=July 3, 2016}} They were divorced in 1995 and had two sons. Gordon argued at a custody hearing during the Simpson trial that he should receive full custody of their children given the long hours that Marcia had spent working for the trial.

Clark no longer considers herself religious, although she was raised Jewish and her first wedding was a Conservative Jewish ceremony. She was a member of the Church of Scientology until 1980.

Clark resides in Calabasas, California.

• Without a Doubt with Teresa Carpenter (1997). Viking Press. {{ISBN|978-0-670-87089-9}}
• Trial by Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth about the Case of Barbara Graham (2024). Thomas & Mercer. {{ISBN| 978-1-662-51596-5}}

• Guilt By Association (2011). Mulholland Books. {{ISBN|978-0-316-12951-0}}
• Guilt By Degrees (2012). Mulholland Books. {{ISBN|978-0-316-12953-4}}
• Killer Ambition (2013). Mulholland Books. {{ISBN|978-0-316-22094-1}}
• The Competition (2014). Mulholland Books. {{ISBN|978-0-316-22097-2}}
• If I'm Dead: A Rachel Knight Story (2012). Mulholland Books. Digital.
• Trouble in Paradise: A Rachel Knight Story (2013). Mulholland Books. Digital.

• Blood Defense (2016). Thomas & Mercer. {{ISBN|978-1-503-93619-5}}
• Moral Defense (2016). Thomas & Mercer. {{ISBN|978-1-503-93977-6}}
• Snap Judgment (2017). Thomas & Mercer. {{ISBN|978-1-542-04599-5}}
• Final Judgment (2020). Thomas & Mercer. {{ISBN|978-1-542-09117-6}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|1133849}}
• [http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/interview_view.aspx?interview_id=211 Interview in SHOTS Crime and Thriller Ezine June 2011]
• [http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=90125 California State Bar Entry for Marcia Clark]

{{O. J. Simpson murder trial}}

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Category:1953 births

Category:Living people

Category:American people of Israeli descent

Category:American prosecutors

Category:American Jews

Category:American lawyers

Category:California lawyers

Category:O. J. Simpson murder case

Category:People from Alameda, California

Category:People from Staten Island

Category:Southwestern Law School alumni

Category:Susan E. Wagner High School alumni

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Category:Writers from Los Angeles

Category:20th-century American women lawyers

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:21st-century American women