Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Maura Tierney extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Maura Tierney
Born	Maura Therese Tierney1 February 3, 1965 (1965-02-03) (age 45) Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Billy Morrissette (February 1993 - July 2006)

Maura Therese Tierney (born February 3, 1965) is an American film and television actress, who is likely best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on NewsRadio and Abby Lockhart on the television medical drama ER. Following ER, Tierney was set to star in the NBC series, Parenthood; however, she left the show after filming the pilot to undergo treatment for breast cancer.²

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 3.1 Breast cancer 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Tierney was born and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood³ of Boston. Her mother, Pat, is a real estate broker and her father, Joseph, was a prominent Boston politician who served on the Boston City Council for 15 years. Tierney is of Irish descent.⁴

She attended Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, where her studies included drama and led to her appearance at the Boston Globe Drama Festival.³ After graduation, she attended New York University and majored in dance, but changed her major to drama.⁵

Career

After appearing in several plays, she moved to Los Angeles, California and in 1987 got her first break in a role in Walt Disney's made-for-TV film Student Exchange.⁶ Tierney's first starring role in a film was in a low-budget, independently-produced film called Dead Women in Lingerie, shot in 24 days.⁷ The film never received a theatrical release, although it was released on DVD in 2005.⁸

Tierney continued winning small roles in film and television, though it was not until her leading role in the sitcom NewsRadio from 1995–1999 that she received regular national exposure. While she was a NewsRadio cast member, she also appeared in two successful films (Primal Fear and Forces of Nature), and the even more successful Jim Carrey film Liar Liar.⁹

After NewsRadio was canceled, Tierney decided not to pursue a role in another sitcom:

“

[W]hen NewsRadio got canceled, ... I thought, there's probably not gonna be something like [that show] again for me...So then, when ER called,...that was a way to stay in [television] that would remain interesting for me.4

”

Tierney played Nurse Abigail "Abby" Lockhart on ER, a character that began as a guest appearance as an OB nurse in November 1999, then expanded in February 2000 to a full-time regular part as an ER nurse (and later, after completion of medical school, a full-on ER doctor). Within a year, her work on ER had earned her an Emmy Award nomination, recognition she credits to a "juicy" story arc featuring Sally Field as Lockhart's mother, who suffers from bipolar disorder.⁶

Tierney confirmed in April 2008 that she would be leaving ER shortly after the beginning of the show's fifteenth season. In October 2008, she made her final regular appearance on the series after nearly 10 seasons on the show. She did return to make a cameo appearance on one additional episode later on during the final season.

As of 2007^[update] Tierney's highest-profile film since joining the cast of ER was the 2002 film Insomnia.⁹ That same year she also starred in Scotland, Pa., portraying a Lady Macbeth-like character written specifically for her by then-husband Billy Morrissette. She was praised by critics for her performance. She collaborated with NewsRadio writer Joe Furey for a special, "Working with Joe Furey" featurette for Furey's film Love and Support. In 2004, Tierney won the second season tournament of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown against Lauren Graham.

She returned to the stage in May 2006 in an appearance opposite Eric McCormack in the off-Broadway premiere of Some Girl(s).¹⁰ She also appeared in the 2008 films Semi-Pro, Baby Mama, The Go-Getter and Finding Amanda.

Tierney played the role of Laurel in the off-Broadway play Three Changes ¹¹ with Dylan McDermott.¹² from September 16 to October 4, 2008.

Personal life

Tierney married actor-director Billy Morrissette on February 1, 1993, two days before her 28th birthday, after the two met on the set of a never-aired television series.¹³ She filed for divorce 13 years later, citing irreconcilable differences. They had no children.

On February 1, 2009, which would have been her own 16th wedding anniversary, she officiated at the wedding of ER castmate/friend, Parminder Nagra and photographer James Stenson.¹⁴

On December 14, 2009, Maura's father, former Boston City Council President Joseph M. Tierney, died at his Hyde Park home at age 68 after a brief battle with cancer.¹⁵

Breast cancer

Tierney had been cast to star in the 2009 NBC drama, Parenthood. According to The Hollywood Reporter on July 10, 2009, the series was pushed to midseason. Filming had been scheduled to begin July 27. Production has been postponed for eight weeks to late September, according to NBC, "due to medical evaluation that (Tierney) is undergoing ... [W]e are unable to release further details and ask that you respect her privacy at this time".¹⁶

On July 13, 2009 it was announced that Tierney would have surgery to remove a tumor from her breast.¹⁷¹⁸ On September 10, 2009, it was announced that she had left the cast of Parenthood due to schedule conflicts with her cancer treatments, and would not be returning to the show. Lauren Graham replaced her.¹⁹

On January 27, 2010, her publicist revealed that she had finished treatment and was going back to work, signing up to star in a stage play.²⁰

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Student Exchange	Kathy Maltby	TV movies.
1988	Crossing the Mob	Michelle
	The Van Dyke Show 10 episodes	Jillian Ryan
1989	Family Ties Ep: My Best Friend's Girl	Darlene
1990	Booker Ep: Reunion	Donna Cofax
	Flying Blind	Donna	TV movie.
1991	Dead Women in Lingerie	Molly Field
	The Linguini Incident	Cecelia
	Law & Order Ep: Aria	Patricia 'Patti' Blaine
1992	White Sands	Noreen
1993	Fly by Night	Denise
	The Temp	Sharon Derns
1994	Lifestories: Families in Crisis Ep: A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story
	Out of Darkness	Meg	TV movie.
	704 Hauser 5 episodes	Cherlyn
1995	Mercy	Simonet
	NewsRadio 97 episodes 1995-1999	Lisa Miller
1996	Primal Fear	Naomi Chance
1997	Liar Liar	Audrey Reede
1998	Primary Colors	Daisy Green
1999	Forces of Nature	Bridget Cahill
	Oxygen	Det. Madeline Foster
	Instinct	Lynn Powell
	ER 189 episodes 1999-2009	Dr. Abby Lockhart
2000	Mexico City	Pam on Phone (voice)
	King of the Hill Ep: Movin' On Up	Tanya (voice)
2001	Scotland, Pa	Pat McBeth
2002	Insomnia	Rachel Clement
	Rooftop Kisses	Denise
	The Nazi	Helen
2003	Melvin Goes to Dinner	Leslie
2004	Welcome to Mooseport	Sally Mannis
2006	Danny Roane: First Time Director	Maura Tierney
	Diggers	Gina
2007	The Go-Getter	Hal's Pets
2008	Semi-Pro	Lynn
	Baby Mama	Caroline
	Finding Amanda	Lorraine Mendon
2009	Rescue Me 6 episodes	Kelly McPhee

References

External links

• Maura Tierney at the Internet Movie Database
• Maura Tierney at TV.com
• Maura-Tierney.com