Jun 16, 1955

Carbondale, Illinois, USA

Lauren "Laurie" Ophelia Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is a three-time Emmy Award-winning American actress. She is widely known for her performance as Jackie Harris in Roseanne. However, she is also a major force in Chicago theater, probably best known for her critically acclaimed performance in the 1983 revival of Balm in Gilead.<br/><br/>

Metcalf was born in Carbondale, Illinois, the eldest of three children, and was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Her father was the comptroller at Southern I... ... (read more...) llinois University and her mother was a librarian. Her great aunt was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Zoe Akins. Among Metcalf's childhood pursuits was theater; she would put on plays with her friends. She was also academically gifted in school and her many talents became apparent by her teen years.<br/><br/>

Metcalf attended Illinois State University and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1977. While at ISU, she met fellow theater students, among them John Malkovich, Glenne Headley, Joan Allen, and Gary Sinise - who went on to establish Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Metcalf began her professional career at Steppenwolf. In 1981, she was brought on as a performer on Saturday Night Live for their cast, but appeared in only one episode before the season abruptly ended due to a writer's strike; she was not asked back in the fall. In 1983, Metcalf went to New York to appear in a Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead, for which she received the 1984 Obie Award for Best Actress. Metcalf was showered with praise for her performance as Darlene, specifically for her tour de force twenty minute Act Two monologue. She relocated to Manhattan and began to work in both film and theater.<br/><br/>


“There’s a moment when Laurie Metcalf–who plays this poor young thing that comes to the big city and hangs out at this greasy spoon diner where the play is set–is talking about her once boyfriend who is an albino; I think it’s a monologue of about five, six, seven minutes. Just to sit there and watch and hear Laurie unspool that story, it just brought tears coming down your eyes–oh, boy, it was something. ”<br/><br/>

— Famed Chicago critic Richard Christiansen on Balm in Gilead<br/><br/>

She has performed in roles that range from very large to very small in a plenteous amount of movies, including Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, Miles from Home, Internal Affairs, Stars and Bars, Uncle Buck, A Dangerous Woman, Blink, The Secret Life of Houses, Treasure Planet, Toy Story, Runaway Bride, Bulworth, Meet the Robinsons, Georgia Rule, Fun with Dick and Jane, and Leaving Las Vegas. In JFK, she played a dramatic role against type, as one of Jim Garrison's chief investigators. She appeared as the murderous mother of Billy Loomis in the horror film Scream 2 and portrayed real-life Carolyn McCarthy in the television movie The Long Island Incident. She is currently filming the movie Stop Loss, due out in theaters in 2008.<br/><br/>

Laurie has appeared in several television series, but she is best known as Jackie, sister to the title character in the hit series Roseanne. Laurie's performance as Roseanne's complex, intelligent, quirky sister garnered her three consecutive Emmy Awards. Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997, and Laurie appeared as Jackie over the show's entire run.<br/><br/>

She subsequently appeared with Norm MacDonald on The Norm Show (or Norm), which ran for three seasons (it is reported that Laurie missed the set of Roseanne, was not very happy on the set of Norm and was secretly relieved when Norm was cancelled)[citation needed], and was also a regular character on the 2003 Nathan Lane series Charlie Lawrence; however, that show was cancelled after only two episodes aired. Laurie has made guest appearances on series including Absolutely Fabulous, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Frasier, Without a Trace, Grey's Anatomy, My Boys, Dharma & Greg and more recently on the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory (along with former cast member Johnny Galecki. Laurie also recently appeared in a recurring, semi-dramatic role on Desperate Housewives, and she appeared alongside her ex-husband Jeff Perry in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. For the former, Metcalf was critically acclaimed for her performance in the episode "Bang."<br/><br/>

Metcalf dated Steppenwolf actor Terry Kinney and married Steppenwolf co-founding member Jeff Perry. The two had a daughter, Zoe, born in 1984. Metcalf and Perry subsequently divorced and she married actor Matt Roth. The couple have two children, Will, born November 1993 and Mae, born in 2005 (who was born via surrogate). Metcalf met Roth when he played her abusive boyfriend, Fisher, on Roseanne. Both Metcalf and Roth appeared in the same episode of Desperate Housewives. Roth's character played a role in Metcalf's character being killed in that episode.