Laura Linney on screen and stage

Last updated August 08, 2024

Laura Linney is an American actress who has played roles in film, television and theater

Linney started her film career with minor roles in Lorenzo's Oil (1992), Dave (1993), Primal Fear (1996), and Absolute Power (1997). She rose to prominence earning Academy Award nominations for You Can Count on Me (2000), Kinsey (2004) and The Savages (2007). She earned acclaim for her roles The Truman Show (1998), Mystic River (2003), Love Actually and The Squid and the Whale (2005). Linney took supporting roles in films such as Man of the Year (2006), The Nanny Diaries (2007), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), Mr. Holmes (2015), Genius (2016), and Sully (2016).

Linney is also known for her starring roles in television. She came to prominence for her role in the television film Wild Iris (2001) and for her role as Charlotte in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2004). For her portrayal as Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries John Adams (2008) she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. She earned stardom and acclaim for her leading roles as Cathy Jamison in the Showtime comedy series The Big C (2010–2013) and as Wendy Byrde in the Netflix drama series Ozark (2017–2022).

She made her Broadway debut in the play Six Degrees of Separation in 1992. She went on to receive five Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nominations for her roles in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (2002), Donald Margulies Sight Unseen (2005), and Time Stands Still (2010), Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (2017), and Elizabeth Strout's My Name Is Lucy Barton (2020). She also acted in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (2008) and Summer, 1976 (2023).

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Lorenzo's Oil	Young Teacher
1993	Dave	Randi
1993	Searching for Bobby Fischer	School Teacher
1994	A Simple Twist of Fate	Nancy Lambert Newland
1995	Congo	Karen Ross
1996	Primal Fear	Janet Venable
1997	Absolute Power	Kate Whitney
1998	The Truman Show	Meryl Burbank/Hannah Gill
1999	Lush	Rachel Van Dyke
2000	You Can Count on Me	Samantha "Sammy" Prescott
	The House of Mirth	Bertha Dorset
	Maze	Callie
2002	The Laramie Project	Sherry Johnson
2002	The Mothman Prophecies	Officer Connie Mills
2003	The Life of David Gale	Constance Harraway
	Mystic River	Annabeth Markum
	Love Actually	Sarah
2004	P.S.	Louise Harrington
2004	Kinsey	Clara McMillen
2005	The Squid and the Whale	Joan Berkman
2005	The Exorcism of Emily Rose	Erin Bruner
2006	Driving Lessons	Laura Marshall
	Jindabyne	Claire
	The Hottest State	Jesse
	Man of the Year	Eleanor Green
2007	The Savages	Wendy Savage
	Breach	Kate Burroughs
	The Nanny Diaries	Mrs. X
2008	The Other Man	Lisa
2009	The City of Your Final Destination	Caroline
2010	Sympathy for Delicious	Nina Hogue
2010	Morning	Dr. Goodman
2011	The Details	Lila
2011	Arthur Christmas	North Pole Computer	Voice
2012	Hyde Park on Hudson	Margaret Suckley
2013	The Fifth Estate	Sarah Shaw
2015	Mr. Holmes	Mrs. Munro
2016	Genius	Louise Saunders
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows	Chief Rebecca Vincent
	Sully	Lorraine Sullenberger
	Nocturnal Animals	Anne Sutton	Cameo
2017	The Dinner	Claire Lohman
2020	Falling	Sarah Peterson
2020	The Roads Not Taken	Rita
2023	The Miracle Club	Chrissie Ahearn
2023	Wildcat ^[1]	Regina
2024	Suncoast	Kristine

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Class of '61	Lily Magraw	TV movie
	Blind Spot	Phoebe	TV movie
	Tales of the City	Mary Ann Singleton	Miniseries; 6 episodes
1994	Law & Order	Martha Bowen	Episode: "Blue Bamboo"
1998	More Tales of the City	Mary Ann Singleton	Miniseries; 6 episodes
1999	Love Letters	Melisa Gardner Cobb	TV movie
2000	Running Mates	Lauren Hartman	TV movie
2001	Further Tales of the City	Mary Ann Singleton	Miniseries; 4 episodes
2001	Wild Iris	Iris Bravard	TV movie
2002	King of the Hill	Marlene	Voice; Episode: "Dang Ol' Love"
2003–2004	Frasier	Mindy / Charlotte	6 episodes
2006	American Dad!	Doctor Gupta	Voice; Episode: "Roger 'n' Me"
2008	John Adams	Abigail Adams	Miniseries; 7 episodes
2010–2013	The Big C	Cathy Jamison	40 episodes, also executive producer
2016	Inside Amy Schumer	Herself	Episode: "Brave"
2017	Red Nose Day Actually	Sarah	Television short film^{[lower-alpha 1]}
	Last Week Tonight with John Oliver	Florence Harding	Segment: "Harding"
	Sink Sank Sunk	Mitzi Mills	TV movie
2017–2022	Ozark	Wendy Byrde	44 episodes, also director
2018	BoJack Horseman	Herself	Voice; Episode: "The Dog Days Are Over"
2019	Portrait Artist of the Year	Herself	Episode: "Laura Linney"
2019	Tales of the City	Mary Ann Singleton	Main cast; 9 episodes^[2]^[3]
2020	Coronavirus, Explained	Narrator	Episode: "The Race for a Vaccine"
2020	American Experience	Additional voices	Episode: "The Vote"
2022	The Last Movie Stars	Joanne Woodward	Voice; docuseries
2023	Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields	Herself	2 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Dates	Theatre
1990–1992	Six Degrees of Separation	Tess (understudy)	November 8, 1990 – January 5, 1992	Vivian Beaumont Theatre
1992	Sight Unseen	Grete	January 7, 1992- March 22, 1992	Orpheum Theatre
1992–1993	The Seagull	Nina	November 29, 1992 – January 10, 1993	Lyceum Theatre
1994	Hedda Gabler	Thea Elvsted	July 10, 1994– August 7, 1994	Criterion Center Stage Right
1995–1996	Holiday	Linda Seton	December 3, 1995 – January 14, 1996	Circle in the Square Theatre
1998	Honour	Claudia	April 26, 1998 – June 14, 1998	Belasco Theatre
2000	Uncle Vanya	Yelena Andreyevna	April 30, 2000 – June 11, 2000	Brooks Atkinson Theatre
2002	The Crucible	Elizabeth Proctor	March 7, 2002 – June 9, 2002	Virginia Theatre
2004	Sight Unseen	Patricia	May 25, 2004 – July 25, 2004	Biltmore Theatre
2008	Les liaisons dangereuses	La Marquise de Merteuil	May 1, 2008 – July 6, 2008	American Airlines Theatre
2010–2011	Time Stands Still	Sarah Goodwin	January 28, 2010 – January 30, 2011	Cort Theatre
2017	The Little Foxes	Regina Giddens / Birdie Hubbard	April 19, 2017 – July 2, 2017	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
2018	My Name Is Lucy Barton	Lucy Barton	June 2, 2018 – June 24, 2018	Bridge Theatre
2019			January 23, 2019 – February 16, 2019	Bridge Theatre
2020			January 4, 2020 – February 29, 2020	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
2023	Summer, 1976	Diana	April 4, 2023 – June 10, 2023	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

Notes

↑ Not featured in original UK broadcast

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References

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[2] Not featured in original UK broadcast

[1] Ethan Hawke Directing Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Steve Zahn, Cooper Hoffman, Alessandro Nivola and More in ‘Wildcat’(EXCLUSIVE)

[3] "Laura Linney".

[4] "Rotten Tomatoes: Movies | TV Shows | Movie Trailers | Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes .

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