Jan 8, 1965

Austin, Texas

Dark-haired, striking and statuesque, actress Michelle Forbes has displayed her ability to easily adapt to both abrasive and soft characters. She is best recalled as the cutthroat, foul-mouthed, unyielding producer Dawn Lockard who nevertheless tries to teach a young assistant the ropes in "Swimming With Sharks" (1994). Forbes had first gained notice with her dual role of troubled twins Sonni and Solida on the CBS daytime drama "Guiding Light" (1987-89), earing a Daytime Emmy nomination for her ... ... (read more...) performance. Relocating to L.A., she went on to appear on primetime TV in episodes of "Shannon" and "The Father Dowling Mysteries". Her first big screen exposure was alongside David Duchovny as the pawns of serial killers Juliette Lewis and Brad Pitt in the thriller "Kalifornia" (1993). The actress' profile also got a substantial boost when she began a recurring role as the troubled but noble Starfleet Ensign Ro Laren on the syndicated hit "Star Trek: The Next Generation," making eight appearances as the character from 1992 to 1994 (she previously played another character in a 1991 episode). Producers planned to make Forbes' character one of the central leads on the spin-off "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (syndicated, 1993 - 2001), which took place on an orbital space station above Ensign Ro's war-torn home planet Bajor, but the actress declined, hoping to explore other characters in her rapidly rising career, and the creators crafted a new character, played by Nana Visitor, to fill the void.

After "Swimming With Sharks," Forbes appeared on single episodes of various series including "Seinfeld" and the new "Outer Limits," and from 1996-1998 she joined the cast of the NBC police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street" as medical examiner Julianna Cox. Feature film roles came steadily--including a stint in John Carpenter's sequel "Escape From L.A." (1996)--but television provided Forbes with the most frequent forum for her talents, including a regular role on the short-lived primetime soap "Wonderland" (2000), and recurring stints on the CBS crime drama "The District" (2000), Lifetime's medical drama "Strong Medicine" (2002) and the 2002 season of Fox's hugely popular thriller "24" as presidential aide Lynne Kresge. After turns on such popular, action-oriented series as "Alias" and "Prison Break," Forbes returned to the science fiction genre with a vengeance in a standout three-episode arc as the iron-willed Admiral Helena Cain, commander of the lost Battlestar Pegasus, in 2005-2006 season of Sci-Fi's compelling remake series "Battlestar Galactica."