Laura Innes

Laura Elizabeth Innes (born August 16, 1957) is an American actress and television director. She starred as Dr. Kerry Weaver in the NBC medical drama ER from 1995 to 2007 and reprised her role from 2008 to 2009 in the final season. She also starred as Sophia in the short-lived NBC thriller The Event from 2010 to 2011.

Laura Innes
Innes in 2010
Born
Laura Elizabeth Innes

(1957-08-16) August 16, 1957
Pontiac, Michigan, U.S.
Alma materNorthwestern University
OccupationActress, television director
Years active1978–present
Spouse(s)
David Brisbin
​
(m. 1988)​
Children2

Career

Innes was introduced to professional theater by her father, who frequently took the family to the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario. Following his advice to "do what you love," she attended Northwestern University, where she was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and earned a degree in theater.

Her first stage credits were in Chicago at the renowned Goodman Theatre and Wisdom Bridge Theatre, where she played Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. John Malkovich played Mitch in this production. Other major stage credits include Two Shakespearean Actors with Eric Stoltz at Lincoln Center, Our Town at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Three Sisters at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.

In 1986, Innes co-starred as Krissy Bender Marino, the daughter of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara in the short-lived sitcom The Stiller and Meara Show. In 1989, Innes played Miss Andrews in the Nickelodeon sitcom Hey Dude in the second season episode "Teacher's Pest". She also played Mrs. Fleeman in the episode "Baby". In the 1990s, Innes guest-starred in a number of television series including Party of Five, My So-Called Life and Brooklyn Bridge and appeared in the Emmy-winning TV movie And the Band Played On before being cast in her first major television role in the NBC sitcom Wings from 1991 to 1993. She played Bunny, the promiscuous ex-wife of Lowell Mather (Thomas Haden Church).

In the fall of 1995, Innes began a recurring role in the second season of the hit NBC medical drama ER, where she was cast as Dr. Kerry Weaver, the skilled chief of the ER with an abrasive exterior and a physical disability. She was added to the main cast in the third season. In 2001, her character came out as gay during the seventh season. She received two Emmy Award nominations for her role, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards with the ER ensemble cast, and has received five nominations for Best Supporting Actress from Viewers For Quality Television. Innes also directed a number of episodes of the series, and episodes of Brothers & Sisters, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, House and The West Wing, one of which earned her an Emmy nomination for directing.

In January 2007, Innes left ER in the middle of the thirteenth season, becoming the longest-serving cast member in the show's history, but Noah Wyle appeared in four more episodes than her. From 2008 to 2009, Innes returned to ER during its 15th and final season for two episodes including the series finale "And in the End...". Innes' films include the blockbuster science fiction disaster film Deep Impact (1998) and the comedy Can't Stop Dancing (1999) with her former ER co-star Noah Wyle.

On May 7, 2010, NBC announced that Innes would be co-starring in the short-lived science fiction/mystery/action/thriller drama The Event as Sophia, "the leader of a mysterious group of detainees" with Lisa Vidal, who played Kerry Weaver's wife, Sandy Lopez, in the eighth, ninth and tenth seasons of ER.[1] In 2012, she co-starred as Police Captain Tricia Harper in the short-lived NBC fantasy police procedural drama Awake.[2]

In 2020, Innes appeared as a guest on the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip marathon fundraiser episode of The George Lucas Talk Show.

Personal life

Innes was born and raised in Pontiac, Michigan, the youngest daughter of six children to Laurette and Robert Innes, a tool and die company executive.[3] Her first fiancé was murdered in the early 1980s. A few years after the murder, she married actor David Brisbin and, in 1990, gave birth to their son, Cal. They later adopted a daughter, Mia, from China.

In 2006, Innes told the Daily Mirror that ten years of portraying Dr. Weaver's limp had caused her to experience the early stages of actual spinal damage ("the bottom of my spine is starting to curve on one side from 10 years of raising my hip"), and that as a consequence, ER's producers introduced a plot arc in which Weaver's symptoms were surgically relieved.[4]

Charity work

Innes is an advocate for the disabled community, utilizing her role as a director to help employ disabled people. She is a supporter of the Performers with Disabilities Committee, which is associated with the Screen Actors Guild.[5]

Filmography

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1978The FuryJody
1986The Stiller and Meara ShowKrissy Bender MarinoTV movie
1989Jacob Have I LovedMrs. RiceTV movie
1993Telling SecretsAngelyn GrahamTV movie
1993Torch SongRonnieTV movie
1993And the Band Played OnHemophiliac RepresentativeTV movie
1995See Jane RunMrs. KlingerTV movie
1995Just Like DadRoseTV movie
1998Deep ImpactBeth Stanley
1999Can't Stop DancingLandlady
1999The Price of a Broken HeartLynnTV movie
2001Taking Back Our TownPat MelanconTV movie
2012Model MinorityJudge Keaton
2016The Good NeighborCaroline Grainey
2017Please Stand ByTicket Agent #1

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
1989-1991Hey DudeMrs. Freeman/Miss AndrewsRecurring role, 2 episodes
1991–1993WingsBunny MatherRecurring role, 4 episodes
1993Bakersfield P.D.Darcy WilksEpisode: "The Imposter"
1994The Good LifeActressEpisode: "Maureen's Play"
1994Party of FiveLizEpisode: "Homework"
1995My So-Called LifeChery FleckEpisode: "Weekend"
1995–2007, 2008, 2009ERDr. Kerry WeaverSeries regular, 249 episodes
Recurring cast (season 2)
Main cast (seasons 3-13, 15)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1997–99)
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1997–98)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2000–01)
Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series (1998, 2000)
Directed 12 episodes
1996The Louie ShowSandy SincicRecurring role, 6 episodes
1997RugratsDr. BranderEpisode: "The Smell of Success"
2010–2011The EventSophia MaguireSeries regular, 21 episodes
2012AwakeCaptain Tricia HarperSeries regular, 9 episodes
2012Warehouse 13Emma JinksEpisode: "Second Chance"
2017-2018ColonyKaren BrunRecurring role
2017-2019 Sneaky Pete Directed four episodes
Mr. Mercedes Directed three episodes
2018-2020How to Get Away with MurderGovernor Lynne BirkheadRecurring role; seasons 5 & 6; eight episodes. Directed five episodes.
2020 The George Lucas Talk Show Herself Stu-D2 1138 on the Binary Sunset Sith (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip marathon)

References
  1. "NBC Picks Up Three New Series for 2010–11 Season with "The Event", "Outsourced", and "Love Bites"". The Futon Critic. May 7, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  2. Stanhope, Kate (2012), "ER Alum Laura Innes Joins NBC's Awake", TV Guide, retrieved 2012-03-06
  3. Innes is a graduate of Birmingham Seaholm High School. Laura Innes Biography (1959?-)
  4. Innes: 'ER' role damaged my spine, at United Press International; published October 26, 2006; retrieved March 8, 2020
  5. "Ability Magazine: Laura Innes – Interview" (2007)". Retrieved 2012-04-03.
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