My Favorite TV Actresses!
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Jane Seymour was born as Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg in 1951 in Middlesex, England, to a nurse mother and gynaecologist/obstetrician father. She is of Polish Jewish (father) and Dutch (mother) descent. She adopted the acting name of "Jane Seymour" when she entered show business as it was easier for people to remember (and the name of one of King Henry VIII's wives). She attracted the attention of the James Bond film producers when they saw her on British television. She was cast as the main Bond girl, "Solitaire", in Live and Let Die (1973). The role gained her international recognition but she was in danger of losing it all like the previous Bond girls, so she came to the U.S.
A casting director advised her to lose her English accent and acquire an American accent to land roles on American television. She did and started getting roles, earning five Emmy nominations, resulting in one win for Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988) for playing Maria Callas. She won Golden Globe awards for both East of Eden (1981) and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), where she played the title role for 5 years. She occasionally appeared in feature films, memorably in Somewhere in Time (1980) and in Wedding Crashers (2005).
Married and divorced four times, she gave birth to four children and is a stepmother to two. They have children of their own, making her a grandmother. As of 2018, she has been acting in television movies and making guest-appearances.- Actress
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Roma Downey is an Emmy-nominated actress and producer who has been creating inspirational content for 25 years. Born in Northern Ireland, she was classically trained in London. She has performed on stage with the famed Abbey Theater and has appeared both on and off Broadway. For almost a decade, Roma starred on the hit CBS show, "Touched by an Angel". In her role as the tender-hearted angel, Monica, she garnered multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
Downey is President of LightWorkers, the joint venture owned by MGM, Downey and her husband Mark Burnett. Under the LightWorkers banner, Downey and Burnett produced "The Bible" series on HISTORY that was viewed by more than 100 million people in the U.S. alone, and was nominated for three Emmy awards. Downey and Burnett also produced the feature film "Son of God" that stunned the box office when it became one of the highest faith movie openings of all time. Downey also won the Movie Guide Grace Award for her role as Mother Mary in the film. In 2016, Downey received the Irish Diaspora Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Screen from the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA), as well as a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Hollywood trade publication Variety recognized Downey as a "Trailblazer" and The Hollywood Reporter profiled her on its 100 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood issue and featured her on their list of Most Influential People of 2013. In 2014, Downey was also honored as a woman of impact in Variety's 2014 Women's Impact Report. More recently Downey was awarded an OBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
In addition to "The Bible" and "Son of God," Downey has produced numerous television series under LightWorkers including "Messiah" and "Country Ever After" for Netflix, "The Women of the Bible" for Lifetime, "The Dovekeepers" for CBS, "A.D. The Bible Continues" for NBC, and "Answered Prayers" for TLC .She also was the Executive Producer on the feature films "Little Boy" for Open Road Films, "Woodlawn" for PureFlix, "Ben-Hur" for MGM and Paramount, and the documentary "Faithkeepers" about the persecution of Christians and other minorities in the Middle-East. She executive produced the Irish comedy "A Bump Along the Way " with Bronagh Gallagher and the short award winning movie "Rough". She is Executive Producer on "Redeeming Love", based on the best selling novel by Francine Rivers. Downey produced "On A Wing and A Prayer" for LightWorkers and MGM in 2023. The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Heather Graham and Jessie Metcalfe. The film closed the Sarasota Film Festival, at which Downey was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also the Executive Producer on "The Baxters", releasing in Spring of 2024 on Amazon Prime Video, based on the Karen Kingsbury best selling book series. In the series, Roma also plays the role of Elizabeth Baxter.
Roma has also authored several books, among them, the New York Times best seller "Box of Butterflies", her 90-day devotional "Unexpected Blessings", and her most recent, best-selling book "Be an Angel: Devotions to Inspire and Encourage Love and Light Along the Way".- Actress
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Parminder Nagra was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Bend It Like Beckham (2002), ER (1994) and The Blacklist (2013). She was previously married to James Stenson.- Actress
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On the viewing horizon since the late 1980s, actress Maura Tierney has been a steady product of independent features, some hits and some misses, for close to a decade and a half. An odd and compelling beauty, she came from an upscale Bostonian family and was raised in the Hyde Park district.
Born February 3, 1965, the eldest child of three of Pat, a real estate agent, and Joseph M. Tierney, a prosperous politician and city councilman, Maura Lynn Tierney initially studied at New York University. She left school prior to graduation when she hooked up with the Circle-in-the-Square theater school. Following some stage plays including "Baby with the Bathwater" and "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," she moved to the West Coast in the late 1980s finding minor roles here and there in TV-movies and making the rounds on episodic shows such as Growing Pains (1985), Family Ties (1982) and Law & Order (1990). She met actor/husband Billy Morrissette after both were fired from the set of an eventually-scrapped Ralph Macchio series.
After a few other failed pilots and a short-lived TV series, Maura made a minor film debut with The Linguini Incident (1991) and progressed to leading lady status in the B-movie spoof Dead Women in Lingerie (1991), which didn't go over well. She finally hit paydirt on TV when she won a female co-lead as smart but insecure newswriter Lisa Miller on the comedy series NewsRadio (1995). The show sailed along for a number of seasons due to the fine comedy instincts of Dave Foley, Andy Dick and the late Saturday Night Live (1975) player Phil Hartman. The show lost its oomph, however, as well as its audience after Hartman's tragic 1998 gunshot slaying, despite an assured replacement in fellow Saturday Night Live (1975) alumni Jon Lovitz. The show couldn't escape its bad aura, and it was gone the following year.
Maura's work on the TV sitcom thrust her into the film comedy limelight with prominent roles in such films as the Jim Carrey vehicle Liar Liar (1997). She also showed up as sly, darker-edged femmes in the thriller Primal Fear (1996), Primary Colors (1998) and Instinct (1999).
Into the millennium, Maura received one of her best art-house roles as a heavy in her husband's feature Scotland, Pa. (2001) which he wrote and directed. Following that came a mixture of offbeat parts in such films as the mystery thriller Insomnia (2002) starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams; the romantic comedy Welcome to Mooseport (2004) with Gene Hackman and Ray Romano; the Paul Rudd dramedy Diggers (2006); the sports comedy Semi-Pro (2008) with Will Ferrell and Steve Guttenberg; the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler slapstick comedy Baby Mama (2008); and, more recently, Nature Calls (2012), Anything (2017) and Beautiful Boy (2018) opposite Steve Carell.
She also found steady TV work with the role of Abby, who was first a nurse and then a doctor, in the long-established and critically-acclaimed medical drama series ER (1994), where she remained on the staff until the show left the air in 2009. She also found recurring roles on Rescue Me (2004), The Good Wife (2009) and The Affair (2014), and co-starred in the short-lived legal drama The Whole Truth (2010) with Rob Morrow.- Actress
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Melina Kanakaredes is an Emmy-nominated actor, writer, director, and philanthropist. She's best known for her starring role as Stella Bonasera in CSI: New York. Prior to that, she starred as Dr. Sydney Hansen in NBC's Providence. Most recently, Melina starred as Dr. Lane Hunter in Fox's The Resident. Melina's roots are in theatre, and throughout her career she's continued to work on stage, both in Los Angeles and New York City. One of her favorites; starring on Broadway as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Film credits include Snitch, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and 15 Minutes. Melina is also a successful writer, and has multiple projects in development, including an autobiographical comedy about growing up in a candy factory, produced by Sony. Away from the set, Melina enjoys celebrating her Greek heritage with friends and family, and travels to Greece as often as possible. She's also dedicated to working with many charitable organizations: LACHSA Foundation, Americans for the Arts, Jhpiego, and Xprize to name a few.- Actress
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Amy Frederica Brenneman was born in New London, Connecticut, to Frederica (Shoenfield), a judge in the Connecticut State Superior Court, and Russell Langdon Brenneman, Jr., an environmental lawyer. Amy's mother was one of the first women to graduate from Harvard. Amy is also a graduate of Harvard, where she majored in comparative religion. She spent one semester studying sacred dances in Nepal. While in college, she formed the Cornerstone Theater Company, a touring production company that takes classics to small towns and encourages locals to participate in them. After touring for five years, she moved to New York, where she became a teacher in Brooklyn. She landed her first TV role in 1992.- Actress
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Alex Kingston was born on 11 March 1963 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for ER (1994), Doctor Who (2005) and Alpha Dog (2006). She has been married to Jonathan Stamp since 18 July 2015. She was previously married to Florian Haertel and Ralph Fiennes.- Actress
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Lori Loughlin was born on 28 July 1964 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Summerland (2004), When Calls the Heart (2014) and Full House (1987). She has been married to Mossimo Giannulli since 27 November 1997. They have two children. She was previously married to Michael Burns.- Actress
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Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California, to actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow. Her father was Greek, and her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Italian descent. Jennifer spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family. Her family then relocated to New York City where her parents divorced when she was nine. Jennifer was raised by her mother and her father landed a role, as "Victor Kiriakis", on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives (1965). Jennifer had her first taste of acting at age 11 when she joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. It was also at the Rudolf Steiner School that she developed her passion for art. She began her professional training as a drama student at New York's School of Performing Arts, aka the "Fame" school. It was a division of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts. In 1987, after graduation, she appeared in such Off-Broadway productions as "For Dear Life" and "Dancing on Checker's Grave". In 1990, she landed her first television role, as a series regular on Molloy (1990). She also appeared in The Edge (1992), Ferris Bueller (1990), and had a recurring part on Herman's Head (1991). By 1993, she was floundering. Then, in 1994, a pilot called "Friends Like These" came along. Originally asked to audition for the role of "Monica", Aniston refused and auditioned for the role of "Rachel Green", the suburban princess turned coffee peddler. With the success of the series Friends (1994), Jennifer has become famous and sought-after as she turns her fame into movie roles during the series hiatus.- Actress
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Debra Messing was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the daughter of Jewish American parents, Sandra (née Simons), who has worked as a professional singer, banker, travel and real estate agent, and Brian Messing, a sales executive for a jewelry manufacturer. When Messing was three, she moved with her parents and her older brother, Brett, to East Greenwich, a small town outside Providence, Rhode Island.
During her high school years, she acted (and sang) in a number of high school productions, including the starring role in the musical "Annie" and "Fiddler On the Roof." Messing took lessons in dance, singing, and acting. In 1986, she was Rhode Island's Junior Miss and competed in Mobile, Alabama in the America's Junior Miss scholarship program. While her parents encouraged her dream of becoming an actress, they also urged her to complete a liberal arts education before deciding on acting as a career. Following their advice, she attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
In 1990, after graduating summa cum laude from Brandeis with a bachelor's degree in theater arts, Messing gained admission to the elite Graduate Acting Program (which accepts only about 15 new students annually) at New York University, where she earned a master's degree in fine arts after three years.
In 1998, Messing played a lead role as the bio-anthropologist Sloan Parker on ABC's dramatic science fiction television series Prey. During this time her agent approached her with the pilot script for the television show Will & Grace. Messing was inclined to take some time off, but the script intrigued her, and she auditioned for the role of Grace Adler, beating out Nicollette Sheridan, who later guest-starred on the show as a romantic rival of Grace's. Will & Grace became a ratings success, and Messing gained renown.
In 2002, she was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People Magazine. TV Guide picked her as its "Best Dressed Woman" in 2003. Messing met her husband, Daniel Zelman (an actor and screenwriter), on their first day as graduate students at NYU. The two were married on September 3, 2000, and live in New York City. On April 7, 2004, Messing gave birth to their son, Roman Walker Zelman.- Actress
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Audra McDonald was born on July 3, 1970 in Berlin, Germany as Audra Ann McDonald. She's an actress and singer, best known for her many roles on Broadway. Her mother was a university administrator and her father was a high school principal stationed in West Berlin with the U.S. Army. She has a younger sister and grew up in Fresno, California. She graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and went on to study classical singing at Julliard, from which she graduated in 1993. A year later, she won her first Tony Award for her role in Carousel. In 1998, she released her first solo album Way Back to Paradise. She was nominated for her first Emmy Award in 2001 for her role in Wit (2001). In 2006, she debuted as an opera singer in a production of a one-act opera La Voix humaine at the Houston Grand Opera. By 2014, she had won 6 Tonys, becoming the first person to win the award in all 4 acting categories. She planned to make her West End debut in 2016 but postponed it in order to go on maternity leave, eventually debuting at the Wyndham's Theater in the West End in June 2017. She has made many TV and movie appearances, most notably in 4 seasons of Private Practice (2007) & in Disney's remake of Beauty and the Beast (2017). She also performs at concerts throughout the U.S. She was married to Peter Donovan from 2000 to 2009, they have a daughter, Zoe Madeline. Since 2012 she's been married to Will Swenson, they have a daughter, Sally James.- Actress
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Kate Walsh was born in San Jose, California, on October 13, 1967. She grew up partly in San Jose and partly in Tucson, Arizona, later attending the University of Arizona, where she got involved in regional theater. She later moved to Chicago where she began working with the Piven Theatre Workshop and, later, the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory. She performed on National Public Radio in the production of the radio play "Born Guilty". Walsh later moved to New York City and joined the comedy troupe "Burn Manhattan", performing in a number of Off-Broadway plays.
Her first major television appearance came on The Drew Carey Show (1995) where she portrayed Niki Fifer, Drew's girlfriend and a woman struggling with her weight. She went on to portray Carol Nelson in HBO's The Mind of the Married Man (2001) television series, and played Norm MacDonald's romantic interest in the sitcom Norm (1999). She continues to appear on television programs in supporting or bit parts.- Actress
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Julianna Margulies was born on June 8, 1966 in Spring Valley (near New York City), as the youngest of three daughters of Francesca (Goldberg), a teacher and dancer in American Ballet, and Paul Margulies, an advertising writer and philosopher. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage (from Romania, Austria, Hungary, and Russia). Until beginning high school in New Hampshire at age 14, she lived several years with her family in Paris and in England. She obtained a B.A. degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College, where she appeared in several plays on campus. She jobbed as a waitress until her first role as a prostitute looking to go straight in Out for Justice (1991). It took more than a year to find another role; during that time, she managed to support herself from several regional theater productions and national TV ads. Until she became a regular in ER (1994), she guest starred in several television series and a pilot. Since then, she has starred in several films, including Ghost Ship (2002), Evelyn (2002), and Snakes on a Plane (2006), and headlines the CBS drama The Good Wife (2009), for which she has won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.- Actress
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Courteney Cox was born on June 15th, 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama, into an affluent Southern family. She is the daughter of Courteney (Bass) and Richard Lewis Cox (1930-2001), a businessman. She was the baby of the family with two older sisters (Virginia and Dottie) and an older brother, Richard, Jr. She was raised in an exclusive society town, Mountain Brook, Alabama. Courteney was the archetypal daddy's girl, and therefore was understandably devastated when, in 1974, her parents divorced, and her father moved to Florida.
She became a rebellious teen, and did not make things easy for her mother, and new stepfather, New York businessman Hunter Copeland. Now, she is great friends with both. She attended Mountain Brook High School, where she was a cheerleader, tennis player and swimmer. In her final year, she received her first taste of modeling. She appeared in an advert for the store, Parisians. Upon graduation, she left Alabama to study architecture and interior design at Mount Vernon College. After one year she dropped out to a pursue a modeling career in New York, after being signed by the prestigious Ford Modelling Agency. She appeared on the covers of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat and Little Miss, plus numerous romance novels. She then moved on to commercials for Maybeline, Noxema, New York Telephone Company and Tampax.
While modeling, she attended acting classes, as her real dream and ambition was to be an actress. In 1984, she landed herself a small part in one episode of As the World Turns (1956) as a young débutante named Bunny. Her first big break, however, was being cast by Brian De Palma in the Bruce Springsteen video "Dancing in The Dark". In 1985, she moved to LA to star alongside Dean Paul Martin in Misfits of Science (1985). It was a flop, but a few years later, she was chosen out of thousands of hopefuls to play Michael J. Fox's girlfriend, psychology major Lauren Miller in Family Ties (1982).
In 1989, Family Ties (1982) ended, and Cox went through a lean spell in her career, featuring in unmemorable movies such as Mr. Destiny (1990) with Michael Caine. Fortunes changed dramatically for Cox, when in 1994, she starred alongside Jim Carrey in the unexpected hit Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), and a year later she was cast as Monica Geller on the hugely successful sitcom Friends (1994). It was this part that turned her into an international superstar and led to an American Comedy Award nomination. In 1996 Cox starred in Wes Craven's horror/comedy Scream (1996) . This movie grossed over $100 million at the box office, and won Cox rave reviews for her standout performance as the wickedly bitchy and smug TV reporter Gale Weathers. She went on to play this character again in each of the three sequels. Not only did her involvement in this movie lead to critical acclaim, but it also led to her meeting actor husband David Arquette. He played her on-screen love interest Dewey, and life imitated art as the two fell in love for real. Their wedding took place in San Francisco, at the historic Grace Cathedral atop Nob Hill, on June 12th, 1999. Joined by 200 guests, including Cox's film star friends Liam Neeson and Kevin Spacey, the happy couple finally became Mr. and Mrs. Arquette.- Actress
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Kimberly Payne Williams-Paisley is an American actress known for her co-starring roles on According to Jim and Nashville, as well as her breakthrough performance in Father of the Bride (1991), for which she was nominated for several awards, and its sequel, Father of the Bride Part II (1995). Throughout her acting career, she has guest-starred on TV shows including Tales from the Crypt, George Lopez and Less Than Perfect. She is also known for her roles in made-for-TV movies, including Safe House, The Christmas Shoes, and Lucky 7, and also her role as Laura Parker in Shade, a short film that she also wrote and directed. Williams is married to country musician Brad Paisley, with whom she has two sons; actress Ashley Williams is her sister.- Actress
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Melissa grew up in Sayville, New York. Her acting career started at the age of four, when she did a commercial for a bathtub toy called Splashy. Her mother, Paula Hart, has been her agent from the beginning. Melissa is the oldest of eight children, some from her mother's second marriage. Six sisters, Trisha Hart, Elizabeth Hart, Emily Hart, Alexandra Hart-Gilliams, Samantha Hart, and Mackenzie Lee Hart, who is the only sibling who never appeared on Melissa's TV series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). Her brother is Brian Hart.
Melissa performed in two plays as the youngest member of New York's Circle Repertory Lab Company: "Beside Herself" in 1989 (starring Lois Smith and William Hurt) and "Imagining Brad" in 1990. She was also in the National Actors Theater production of "The Crucible" on Broadway with Martin Sheen (as understudy of three of the children in the play). Melissa cites Shirley Temple and Audrey Hepburn as early acting inspirations and still collects memorabilia of the former. For the past few years, she has been juggling acting and attending New York University. She's now living in Connecticut.- Actress
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Kellie Martin is an American actress from California. She has often worked as a voice actress in animation. Her most notable roles include the amateur detective Daphne Blake in the animated series "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (1988-1991), the nerdy daughter Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher in the drama series "Life Goes On" (1989-1993), schoolteacher Christy Huddleston in the period series "Christy" (1994-1995), leading lady Roxanne in the musical comedy "A Goofy Movie" (1995), medical student Lucy Knight for two seasons of the medical drama "ER" (1998-2000), amateur detective and bookshop owner Samantha Kinsey in the film series "Mystery Woman" (2003-2007), and therapist and retired prosecutor Hailey Dean in the film series "Hailey Dean Mysteries" (2016-2019).
In 1975, Martin was born in Riverside, California. Riverside is the most populous city in the Inland Empire region, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city was established in the early 1870s, and served as a center for California's citrus industry. Martin's parents were the retail executive Doug Martin and the kindergarten teacher Debbie Jett.
Martin made her acting debut in 1982, at the age of 7. One of her aunts was an employee of actor Michael Landon (1936-1991), who served as an executive producer of the Western series "Father Murphy" (1981-1983). The aunt helped Martin land a guest spot in this Western series.
Martin went to have guest appearances in several then-popular television series, such as the soap opera "Dallas", the short-lived sitcom "Life with Lucy" (1986), and the sitcom "My Two Dads". She made her debut as a voice actor in the short-lived animated series "Potato Head Kids" (1986-1987), cast as the regular character Lolly. The series only lasted for 23 episodes.
Martin landed her first major role in animation when cast as co-protagonist Daphne Blake in "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" (1988-1991). In previous depictions of Daphne, the character was depicted as either an adolescent or a young adult. In this series, Daphne was an elementary student who still lived with her wealthy parents. The series emphasized Daphne's haughty behavior and sarcastic personality. She was also the resident skeptic of the mystery-solving group, outright rejecting any explanation involving the existence of ghosts or the supernatural. The series lasted for 4 seasons and 27 episodes. It was the last animated series in the "Scooby-Doo" franchise to be produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, as the next series in the franchise was produced in 2002 by a different company.
Martin receive her first regular live-action role in the drama series "Life Goes On" (1989-1993), cast as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher. The series was set in the suburbs of Chicago, and initially focused on the challenges the Thatcher family faced in raising a son diagnoses with Down Syndrome. The series later focused on the challenges faced by Becca in her everyday life. She was depicted as an intelligent and nerdy girl, but socially awkward and unlucky in her love life. Her first boyfriend Tyler Benchfield (played by Tommy Puett) was killed in a car accident, while drunk driving. Her second boyfriend Jesse McKenna (played by Chad Lowe) was HIV positive, and was uncertain about how long he would be able to survive with his medical condition. The series lasted for 4 seasons and 83 episodes. The final season also depicted a middle-aged version of Becca (played by Pamela Bellwood) , reminiscing abut her own past.
Martin's next regular role in animation was voicing Molly Tazmanian Devil in the animated sitcom "Taz-Mania" (1991-1995). Her character was depicted as the adolescent sister of protagonist Taz (voiced by Jim Cummings). Molly was an image-conscious valley girl. She was far more sophisticated than her older brother, but had a fiery temper of her own. The series lasted for 4 seasons and 65 episodes.
Martin next joined the cast of the fantasy series "Aladdin" (1994-1995), voicing recurring antagonist Sadira. In the series, Sadira was a female street rat who had an unrequited love for Aladdin, and was upset that her love interest was already engaged to another woman. After acquiring magical powers of her own, Sadira set out to win Aladdin's heart and to replace Princess Jasmine. Martin's character lacked actual malice, but had obsessive tendencies. She only appeared in 4 episodes, but was one of the most popular antagonists in the series.
Martin was cast as protagonist Christy Huddleston in the period series "Christy" (1994-1995), which was loosely based on the novel "Christy " (1967) by Catherine Marshall. In the series, Christy was the new schoolteacher of a rural settlement in Tennessee during the early 1910s. She was depicted as an outsider in the rural community, whose values clashed with the traditions of the permanent residents. The series acquired a cult following, but its production cost exceeded the advertising revenues. It was canceled after only 2 seasons. The series inspired three sequel television films, but Martin did not reprise her role.
Martin was cast as the leading lady Roxanne in the musical comedy "A Goofy Movie" (1995). In the film, Roxanne is a kind-hearted high school student who wants to date Maximilian "Max" Goof (voiced by Jason Marsden), the troubled adolescent son of Goofy. Their first date is canceled when Goofy insists on taking Max with him in a cross-country fishing trip, under the impression that he is rescuing his son from bad influences. Roxanne continues to pine for Max, while Max tries to impress her through a publicity stunt. The film under-performed at the box office, only earning a worldwide total of 37.6 million dollars in its initial release. It was nominated for the "Annie Award for Best Animated Feature", but lost to "Pocahontas". However the film sold well in the video market, acquired a cult following, and inspired a sequel film. Roxanne did not appear in the sequel film, and Martin never returned to this role.
From 1995 to 1998, Martin's roles were mainly limited to television films. In 1998, she joined the cast of the long-running medical drama "ER" (1994-2009), portraying the new regular character Lucy Knight. The character was portrayed as a hard-working medical student, but better suited to the psych department rather than emergency medicine. Martin remained a regular in the series for seasons 5 and 6, but wanted to leave the show. She agreed with the producers that her character was going to leave the series with a definite finale to her story. In her final episodes, Lucy is the only member of the medical staff who takes an interest in helping a schizophrenic patient. She is alone with the patient when he stabs her, and she dies shortly after. Lucy's final episode was broadcast in early 2000, but her death continued to haunt her colleagues.
Martin graduated from Yale University in 2001, with a degree in art history. For a few years, she willingly limited herself to minor acting appearances, in order to properly deal with changes in her personal life. In 2003, she was cast as protagonist Samantha Kinsey in the mystery film series "Mystery Woman". A total of 11 television films in this series were produced between 2003 and 2011.
In 2012, Martin joined the cast of the drama series "Army Wives" (2007-2013), portraying the recurring character of Captain Nicole Galassini. Her character was an Army intelligence officer who was injured in an ambush. Nicole was a lesbian, but the the "don't ask, don't tell" policy left her reluctant to make public appearances with her long-term partner Charlotte "Charlie" Mayfield (played by Ryan Michelle Bathe). Martin remained a recurring cast member for the 6th season of the series, but did not return for the 7th and last season.
In 2016, Martin was cast as protagonist Hailey Dean in the mystery film series "Hailey Dean Mysteries". A total of 9 films were released between 2016 and 2019. Hailey was depicted as a retired prosecutor for the District Attorney's office, who had started a new career as a therapist. But she unofficially investigated crime cases, and used old law enforcement contacts to assist her. Martin took a hiatus from acting in 2019, though her name is attached to at least one upcoming project.
By 2022, Martin was 46-years-old. She has never fully retired from acting, but she devotes time to operating her own store. She has two young daughters, and has admitted in interviews that she tries to be there for her family. Which at times affects her career choices. Martin remains popular with film and television audiences due to an ever-increasing number of memorable roles.- Actress
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Shiri jumped in front of the lens as a youngster appearing in Norman Lear Sunday Dinner and Lawrence Kasden's I Love You To Death. At 19 she had her breakout performance on the series Roswell, playing the leading role of Liz Parker. She went on to appear in ER, Six Degrees, as well as Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War, HBO's GIRLS, CW's Life Unexpected, before starring in Lifetime's critically acclaimed dramady UnReal, playing Rachel Goldberg, a producer working behind the scenes of a dating competition show, which received the Peabody Award. In 2016, Shiri was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for her work on the show. Shiri directed four episodes of UnReal before focusing most of her attention on directing. Shiri has directed shows such as Minx, UnPrisoned, Blackish, New Amsterdam, Young Sheldon, and many others, across all platforms.- Actress
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Shoshannah Stern was born on 3 July 1980 in Walnut Creek, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Jericho (2006), The Hammer (2010) and This Close (2018). She has been married to Ricky Mitchell since 3 June 2012.- Actress
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Lauren Graham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Donna Grant and Lawrence Graham, a candy industry lobbyist. Her father was from New York and her mother was from the American South, and Lauren has Irish, English, and Scottish ancestry. She grew up in Northern Virginia, USA (Fairfax, Arlington, and Great Falls, VA) Graduate of Langley High School, McLean, VA Graduate of Barnard College with a Bachelor's Degree in English. Graduate of Southern Methodist University with a Master's Degree in Acting. She was raised by a single parent, her father. Her parents divorced when she was 5. Growing up she wanted to be a jockey but her height precluded it. She traveled extensively with her father during her childhood and discovered acting while in elementary school. Her resume includes theatre, film and television.- Actress
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Kimberly Alexis Bledel was born in Houston, Texas, to Nanette (Dozier) and Martin Bledel. Her parents are both Spanish-speakers (her mother was born in Arizona and raised in Mexico, and her father was born in Argentina), and Alexis's ancestry includes Danish, Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, and French.
Alexis made her television debut in Gilmore Girls (2000), after spending years in front of the camera as a model. Bledel's parents encouraged her to try community theater in Houston when she was 8 years old, hoping it would help their daughter overcome her shyness. She went on to perform in productions of Our Town, The Wizard of Oz and Aladdin, and later was scouted in a local mall to model. She began her modeling career while still in high school, traveling all over to locations like Tokyo, Milan, New York and Los Angeles. After graduating, she enrolled at NYU as a film major. In the Spring of 2000, Bledel landed a manager through her modeling agency and headed to Los Angeles for her first pilot season, where she quickly landed the coveted role of Rory on Gilmore Girls (2000).
When she's not working, Bledel enjoys writing, reading, shooting photography, going to the movies and spending time with her family. She was married to actor Vincent Kartheiser, with whom she has a son.- Actress
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Brittany Leanna Robertson was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Beverly (Hayes) and Ryan Robertson, a restaurateur. She was raised in South Carolina, the oldest of seven children. Her mother's worries about the public school system led to Robertson being home-schooled. She began acting at the Greenville Little Theater in South Carolina, and in her early teens moved to Los Angeles with her grandmother to seek TV and film opportunities. She won roles in various TV projects including Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers (2004). Success continued with appearances in Dan in Real Life (2007), Scream 4 (2011), and the lead roles in two series, Lux in Life Unexpected (2010) and Cassie in The Secret Circle (2011). Britt also starred in the television film Avalon High (2010), opposite Gregg Sulkin, had a supporting role in the Vince Vaughn film Delivery Man (2013), headlined the Nicholas Sparks book adaptation The Longest Ride (2015), opposite Scott Eastwood, and will star with George Clooney in the Brad Bird-directed science fiction adventure Tomorrowland (2015).- Actress
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Teri Hatcher is an American actress, writer, presenter, and former NFL cheerleader. She is known for her television roles, portraying Lois Lane on the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997), and as Susan Mayer on the television series Desperate Housewives (2004-2012), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Teri Lynn Hatcher was born in Palo Alto, California, the only child of Esther (Beshur), a computer programmer, and Owen Walker Hatcher, Jr., a nuclear physicist and electrical engineer. She has Syrian (from her immigrant maternal grandfather), Frisian, English, and Irish ancestry. Teri grew up in Sunnyvale, California, and spent her childhood dancing, and fishing with her father. While at Fremont High School, she was captain of the Featherettes, a dance team that had the look of regular cheerleaders, with the exception of the large headdresses they wore. She was voted "Most Likely to Become a Solid Gold (1980) Dancer" by her graduating class in 1982. Hatcher studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco while taking a degree course in mathematics and engineering at De Anza College in Cupertino, California. She became a member of the 1984 Gold Rush, the name of the professional cheer leading squad of the American football San Francisco 49ers.
Hatcher went to Hollywood to lend moral support to a friend during a open casting call. She, however, auditioned and won the role of the singing and dancing mermaid for the television series The Love Boat (1977). She went on to play "Penny Parker," a ditsy but sweet-hearted struggling actress on MacGyver (1985). When that show ended, she auditioned for and won the role of smart and savvy "Lois Lane" on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993), saying that she didn't want to be stuck with the pretty airhead image she had acquired as "Penny Parker."
She married actor Jon Tenney in May 1994. She gave birth to daughter Emerson Tenney on November 10, 1997. Later, she signed to play "Sally Bowles" in a road tour of Cabaret. The tour debuted in Los Angeles on March 2, 1999. Her final show was on September 4, 1999. She stayed out of the industry for a little bit before nabbing a role on the darkly comedic soap opera Desperate Housewives (2004), which could have been a huge mistake. The show turned out to be a mega-hit, which skyrocketed Hatcher to the A-list. Her portrayal of a divorced mother, "Susan Mayer," was consistently named as America's favorite "Desperate Housewife." Hatcher won both a Golden Globe for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and the SAG Award for Female Actor in a Comedy Series before the show's first season was even over.- Marcia Anne Cross was born on March 25, 1962 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. As a child, Marcia always wanted to be an actress, so she set out to have a career in acting. Cross graduated from the Juilliard School in New York, a naturally gifted girl. Her career began in 1984, when she joined the cast of the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night (1956). After six months, the show ended its 28-year run. The following year, in 1985, she starred opposite Carroll O'Connor in the television film Brass (1985). Then she landed the lead role in Pros & Cons (1986) with comedienne Sheryl Lee Ralph. She kept busy by starring in The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James (1986) with many famous figures in Hollywood - including June Carter Cash, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. Marcia's career was looking up when she was cast as Kate Roberts in another daytime soap opera, One Life to Live (1968), and as Tanya in Another World (1964). Marcia was then seen opposite Tim Daly in the tearjerker romance Almost Grown (1988). Almost Grown (1988) was a television pilot that never got picked up, but is still very acclaimed to this day. Marcia was then cast as Ruth Fielding in Bad Influence (1990), a thriller that starred Cross, Rob Lowe and James Spader.
She joined the cast of Knots Landing (1979) - an incredibly famous nighttime soap opera in 1991. After a year, she left to do work on a new television series called Melrose Place (1992). She was cast as the psychotic Dr. Kimberly Shaw on the prime-time soap opera. The show was a pop-culture phenomenon, going down in history as one of the most entertaining and memorable shows of the 1990s. Marcia, who was starring opposite Heather Locklear, Courtney Thorne-Smith and others, emerged as the fan favorite of the show. Then her longtime companion and fiance, Richard Jordan, died in 1993. Marcia reigned on, starring in films like Female Perversions (1996) opposite Tilda Swinton and Always Say Goodbye (1997) opposite Emmy-nominee Polly Draper, throughout her long run on "Melrose Place". In 1997, she left the show in order to get her Master's Degree in Psychology. From 1997 to 2003, she continued to act regularly. She starred in Dancing in September (2000), a critically acclaimed film, got herself the lead role in Living in Fear (2001), starred in The Wind Effect (2003), a disturbing film about family, and even filmed Eastwick (2002), a television pilot that never was picked up. Eastwick (2002) was based on the film The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Marcia was cast in the Susan Sarandon role.
She got back into the public eye by joining the cast of the critically-acclaimed television series Everwood (2002) with Treat Williams. After a year on the show, she left it when she auditioned for a new television series, Desperate Housewives (2004). In 2004, Marcia was cast as Bree Van De Kamp in Desperate Housewives (2004), which went on to be a monster-hit with the critics and audiences. Marcia began to be nominated for very prestigious awards - including the Emmy Award, Golden Globe, Golden Satellite Award, and a Television Critics' Association Award. Marcia even won a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2005. - Actress
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Felicity Huffman was born on 9 December 1962 in Bedford, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Transamerica (2005), Desperate Housewives (2004) and Sports Night (1998). She has been married to William H. Macy since 6 September 1997. They have two children.- Actress
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Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born on March 15, 1975 in Corpus Christi, Texas to Ella Eva Longoria (née Mireles), a special education teacher & Enrique Longoria Jr., a rancher. The youngest of four sisters who grew up in a Mexican-American family on a ranch near Corpus Christi, Longoria attended Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. After graduating from college, she entered a talent contest that brought her to Los Angeles, where she was spotted and subsequently signed by a theatrical agent. After landing roles on The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), General Hospital (1963) and co-starring on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), she auditioned for and won the role of Isabella Braña on the popular series, The Young and the Restless (1973). After Y&R, Eva became well known worldwide thanks to Desperate Housewives (2004), where she played a main character, Gabrielle Solis. She also has a contract with L'Oreal and has been named one of the most beautiful people. A passionate advocate of education, she founded The Eva Longoria Foundation which helps Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship and earned a Masters in Chicano Studies presenting her thesis on "Success STEMS From Diversity: The Value of Latinas in STEM Careers." Eva has also contributed writing to publications on the subject of education.- Actress
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Dana Welles Delany was born on March 13, 1956, in New York City and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. Dana knew early in life that she wanted to be an actress. Following graduation from Wesleyan University, this tall (5'6") beauty moved to New York and developed her skills working in daytime television and theater. Dana starred in the Broadway show "A Life" and received critical acclaim in a number of off-Broadway productions as well. Her role in Nicholas Kazan's controversial "Bloodmoon" in New York led her to Hollywood. Dana acted in a number of TV series, working steadily until she could get her own starring vehicle. That happened in 1988 when Dana became identified with Army nurse Colleen McMurphy in ABC TV's critically acclaimed series China Beach (1988), the role earning her four Emmy nominations and two Emmy Awards as Best Actress.
Dana moved on to movies and eventually started getting starring roles in films such as Tombstone. With over a dozen TV and movie projects within the last few years, Dana is one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood.- Actress
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Margaret Denise Quigley was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a father of Polish and Irish descent (originally based in New York) and a Vietnamese mother. Her parents met during the Vietnam War. Maggie has two older half-siblings from her mother's previous marriage, and two older sisters. The family moved to Hawaii and settled in Mililani.
Maggie dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but modeled and found herself bursting onto the Hong Kong movie scene - eventually becoming a full-fledged superstar in Asia. She changed her name to the easily pronounceable "Maggie Q" (for the Chinese audience). She had a cameo in the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker smash hit Rush Hour 2 (2001) and is part of the supporting cast in Mission: Impossible III (2006), starring Tom Cruise.- Actress
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Lyndsy Marie Fonseca was born in Oakland, California, and was raised first in Alameda and then Moraga, California. Lyndsy competed in the International Modeling & Talent Association, where she was recognized as the second runner-up for "Young Miss Dancer of the Year" and was the first runner-up for "Miss Barbizon Young Miss Talent of the Year".
There, she was discovered by a manager and agent, then she immediately moved to Los Angeles for her first pilot season at the age of 13. "Colleen Carlton" became her breakthrough role on the CBS soap opera, The Young and the Restless (1973), on which she starred for three years.
After leaving Y&R to broaden her horizon, Lyndsy landed guest appearances on shows such as Boston Public (2000), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) and House (2004), just to name a few. Fonseca had a recurring role on the hit series, Desperate Housewives (2004), opposite [error] and Nathan Fillion. She has also had recurring arcs on the critically-acclaimed series, Big Love (2006), and the hit comedy, How I Met Your Mother (2005).
Fonseca has recently had success on the big screen, her film credits include: The Ward (2010), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Fort McCoy (2011) and the smash hit, Kick-Ass (2010), in which she starred opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Lyndsy recently completed filming the two-hour Lifetime movie, Five (2011), which consists of five short films about breast cancer, directed by Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore and Penelope Spheeris.
Lyndsy is now starring as "Alex", in The CW's Nikita (2010). Alex, Nikita's (Maggie Q) former partner who plans to take down her old ally while also seeking revenge on the man who killed her family, Friday nights 8p.m. Eastern.
Lyndsy is also the older sister of Hannah Leigh, who is following in her footsteps.- Actress
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Andie MacDowell was born Rosalie Anderson MacDowell on April 21, 1958 in Gaffney, South Carolina, to Pauline Johnston (Oswald), a music teacher, and Marion St. Pierre MacDowell, a lumber executive. She was enrolled at Winthrop College located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Initially discovered by a rep from Wilhelmina Models while on a trip to Los Angeles. Later signed on with Elite Model Management in New York City in 1978. Made debut film appearance in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). Went on to study method acting at the Actors Studio. Had commercial success with performances in Harold Ramis's Groundhog Day (1993) and Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).- Actress
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Nicollette Sheridan has won a worldwide audience with her past television and film roles. With her Golden Globe-nominated role of "Edie Britt," the blonde bombshell of Wisteria Lane, on ABC's hit show Desperate Housewives (2004); the show's cast won both the 11th (2005) and 12th (2006) Screen Actors Guild Awards for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series."
Sheridan was born as Nicollette Adams in Worthing, Sussex, England, the daughter of actress Sally Sheridan (née Adams). She discovered a passion for ballet as a small child and studied intensely, broadening her love of the arts as a student at the Arts Educational School in London. In addition to the theatre, she nurtured her talents as an avid equestrienne along with a rigorous thirst for reading and a love of the works of William Shakespeare. Moving to Los Angeles and being courted to explore her talents was a natural progression.
Sheridan exploded on the small screen as the beautiful and manipulative Paige Matheson on Knots Landing (1979). This led to a variety of roles in other projects, including The People Next Door (1996) (with Faye Dunaway), A Time to Heal (1994) (opposite Gary Cole), Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) (with James Woods), and Dead Husbands (1998) (with John Ritter), along with a special guest appearance on the season finale of Will & Grace (1998).
Sheridan was first introduced to film audiences in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985) opposite John Cusack, going on to appear in other film comedies, such as Noises Off... (1992) (opposite Michael Caine), Spy Hard (1996) (opposite Leslie Nielsen), Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) (with Chris Farley), I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) (with Billy Zane), and Code Name: The Cleaner (2007) (opposite Cedric The Entertainer and Lucy Liu).
She brought her English accent to the Disney animated series The Legend of Tarzan (2001) and was also heard as a Russian fly in the animated feature Fly Me to the Moon 3D (2007) (with Tim Curry, Kelly Ripa, Christopher Lloyd and Buzz Aldrin). She voiced the role of "Zenna" in Promenade Pictures' animated film Noah (2012), which starred Michael Keaton, Rob Schneider, Marcia Gay Harden and Sir Ben Kingsley. Sheridan also appeared in the independent comedy Jewtopia (2012).
She has supported philanthropic causes including those focused on cancer, women and children at risk, and natural disaster relief (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), as well as such entities as the Red Cross, Humane Society, Last Chance for Animals, Best Friends Animal Society and The Amanda Foundation. In September 2010, she teamed up with Natural Balance Pet Foods to raise money for National Guide Dog Awareness Month.
She resides in Los Angeles, California.- Actress
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Kim Victoria Cattrall was born on August 21, 1956 in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England to Gladys Shane (Baugh), a secretary, and Dennis Cattrall, a construction engineer. At the age of three months, her family immigrated to Canada, where a large number of her films have been made. At age 11, she returned to her native country and studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). She returned to Vancouver and, at age 16, graduated from high school and won a scholarship to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York City. During her final year at the Academy, she won a role in Otto Preminger's action thriller Rosebud (1975). Following her film debut, Kim returned to the theatre, first in Vancouver and then in repertory in Toronto before winning a contract at Universal Pictures in Los Angeles, California.
Kim continued to work steadily through the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, including roles in 1980s cult classics such as Police Academy (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Mannequin (1987), and as Mr. Spock's protegee Lieutenant Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). However, it was her portrayal of sexually liberated public relations executive Samantha Jones on the HBO sitcom Sex and the City (1998) and its two feature film follow-ups that brought her worldwide attention, and gained her five Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations including winning the 2002 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.- Actress
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Laura Leggett Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964, into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright Romulus Linney, whose own great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother, Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her father's house (her parents having divorced when she was an infant), Linney's world revolved, in part, around his profession from the earliest age. She graduated from Brown University in 1986 and studied acting at Juilliard and the Arts Theatre School in Moscow and, thereafter, embarked on a career on the Broadway stage receiving favorable notices for her work in such plays as "Hedda Gabler" and "Six Degrees of Separation".
Linney's film career began in the early 1990s with small roles in Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and Dave (1993). She landed the role of Mary Anne Singleton in the PBS film adaptations of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series, playing her in Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City (1998) and Further Tales of the City (2001). Linney's first substantial big-screen role was as the ex-girlfriend of Richard Gere's character in Primal Fear (1996) and her superb performance brought her praise and a better selection of roles. Clint Eastwood chose Linney to play his daughter, another prominent role, in 1997's Absolute Power (1997), followed by another second billing in the following year's The Truman Show (1998).
Always a strong performer, Linney truly came into her own after 2000, starting the decade auspiciously with her widely-praised, arguably flawless performance in You Can Count on Me (2000). She found herself nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first lead role, for which her salary had been $10,000. Linney won numerous critics' awards for her role as Sammy, a single mother whose life is complicated by a new boss and the arrival in town of her aimless brother. On the heels of this success came her marvelous turn as Bertha Dorset in The House of Mirth (2000), clearly the best performance in a film of strong performances. Since then, Linney has frequently been offered challenging dramatic roles, and always rises to the occasion, such as in Mystic River (2003) and Kinsey (2004), for which she received another Academy Award nomination.- Actress
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Ginnifer Goodwin was born Jennifer Michelle Goodwin on May 22, 1978, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Linda (Kantor), a doctor of educational technology, and Tim Goodwin, a musician and the owner of Memphis Sound Productions recording studio. Ginnifer graduated from Lausanne Collegiate School in 1996 and received her BFA in Acting from Boston University's School for the Arts in 2001. She went on to study at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-Upon-Avon. She lived briefly in New York before moving to California, where she resides with her husband, actor Josh Dallas and their two sons. Ginnifer is of Scottish and English descent on her father's side, and she is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent on her mother's.