Laurie Metcalf is an American actress known for her performances on stage and screen. She started her career on the stage at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago acting in several productions in the late 1970s. She made her screen debut in an uncredited role in the Robert Altman film A Wedding (1978). She served as a cast member on the NBC sketch series Saturday Night Live for one episode in 1981. Her early film roles include in the comedy drama Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), the comedy Uncle Buck (1989), and the political thriller epic JFK (1991). She gained her breakout role playing Jackie Harris in the ABC sitcom Roseanne (1988–1997, 2018) earning three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Metcalf returned to the role in the continuation series The Conners (2018–2025).
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She took supporting roles in the romantic drama Leaving Las Vegas (1995), political satire Bulworth (1998), and romantic comedy Runaway Bride (1999). She has voiced roles in the Toy Story trilogy (1995–2010), Treasure Planet (2002), and Meet the Robinsons (2007). She gained critical attention for playing a dysfunctional mother in the Greta Gerwig directed coming-of-age comedy film Lady Bird (2017) for which she earned nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Metcalf made her Broadway debut in 1995, and later won Tony Awards for playing Nora Helmer in the Lucas Hnath play A Doll's House, Part 2 (2017) and a middle aged caretaker attending to the elderly in the Edward Albee play Three Tall Women (2018). She was Tony-nominated for playing a political speechwriter in the David Mamet play November (2008), a neurologist whose life begins to unravel in the Sharr White play The Other Place (2013), Annie Wilkes in the Stephen King adaptation Misery (2016), and Hillary Clinton in the Lucas Hnath play Hillary and Clinton (2019).
On television, she had leading roles in the ABC sitcom The Norm Show (1999–2001), the CBS sitcom The McCarthys (2014–2015), and the HBO comedy series Getting On (2013–2015). She took recurring roles playing Carolyn Bigsby in the ABC mystery-dramedy series Desperate Housewives (2006) and Mary Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2018). She also guest starred in 3rd Rock from the Sun , Frasier , Malcolm in the Middle , Horace and Pete , and Hacks . She played Phyllis Gardner in the Hulu limited series The Dropout (2022).
