Both her parents were morticians; the family lived above the funeral parlor.
After five years of portraying Medical Examiner Melinda Warner on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), she was finally given main cast billing in the seventh season.
Her father still operates the family business, a funeral home, in a
suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Performed in three shows simultaneously, As the World Turns, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and 24.
Serves on the board of directors of Figure Skating in Harlem, Inc., a nonprofit organization that works with young girls in the community.
Show business is fickle, and though I have been blessed with a healthy career, who knows how long that will last?
When I first got to New York, all I did was musicals. After a few years I had to make a conscious choice to close the door on musicals, because I was getting pigeon-holed as a musical theater performer.
I have Native-American blood, I have European blood, I have African blood.