Laurie Metcalf

Laura Elizabeth Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an American actress.

Metcalf is known for her complex and versatile roles across the stage and screen.

She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning more than four decades, including an Obie Award, two Tony Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and three Golden Globe Awards.

Metcalf began her career with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and frequently works in Chicago theatre.

Metcalf is an alumna of Illinois State University, class of 1976.

Metcalf worked as a secretary while in college and has said that she enjoyed seeing a pile of paper in the to-do box on one side of her desk move over to the completed side by the end of the day.

She was often so focused on her work she missed lunch.

She originally majored in German, thinking she could work as an interpreter, and then in anthropology before accepting that majoring in theatre was her true passion.

She has said that theatre work also involves interpreting and studying human behavior.

She has described herself as hideously shy, and yet she found the courage to audition for a few plays in high school and was "hooked".

She initially did not choose acting as a career, because it was unlikely to lead to regular work.

Metcalf attended Illinois State University and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1976.

While at ISU, she met fellow theater students, among them John Malkovich, Glenne Headly, Joan Allen, Terry Kinney, and Jeff Perry, the latter two of whom, along with Perry's high school classmate Gary Sinise, went on to establish Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Metcalf began her professional career at Steppenwolf, of which she was a charter member.

Metcalf's first on-screen appearance was an uncredited role as a maid in Robert Altman's comedy A Wedding (1978).

Metcalf has appeared in several television series, including being a cast member for a single episode of Saturday Night Live—the final episode of the show's tumultuous 1980–1981 season.

During the 1980s, Metcalf performed supporting roles in many popular films, including the Susan Seidelman comedies Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) and Making Mr. Right (1987), Gary Sinise's drama Miles from Home (1988), the Pat O'Connor comedy Stars and Bars (1988), and John Hughes' comedy film Uncle Buck (1989).

In 1981, she appeared as a feature player on the first Dick Ebersol-produced episode of Saturday Night Live following the firing of Jean Doumanian.

She appeared in a Weekend Update segment about taking a bullet for the president of the United States.

Because of the sketch show's perceived severe decline in quality at the time and the 1981 Writers Guild of America strike, the show was put on hiatus for retooling.

Metcalf was not asked to return as a cast member the following year.

Her father, James, was the budget director at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville at the time of his sudden death in 1984.

Her mother, Libby, was a librarian.

Her great-aunt was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Zoë Akins.

Metcalf went to New York to appear in an Off-Broadway Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead at Circle Repertory in 1984 for which she received the 1984 Obie Award for Best Actress and a 1984–85 Theatre World Award (for best debut in a Broadway or Off-Broadway performance).

Metcalf was praised for her performance as Darlene, and was specifically singled out for her 20-minute act two monologue.

Chicago critic Richard Christiansen stated:

"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."

She made her Broadway debut in the 1985 play My Thing of Love.

Other film credits include Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Uncle Buck (1989), JFK (1991), Dear God (1996), Georgia Rule (2007) and Scream 2 (1997).

Metcalf was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois, which she has said "isn't anywhere near a theatre."

She gained national attention for her performance as Jackie Harris on the sitcom Roseanne (1988–1997, 2018) and its spinoff The Conners (2018–present), for which she won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

She also won a Primetime Emmy Award for her guest role in Hacks (2022), and her other Emmy-nominated roles include 3rd Rock from the Sun (1999), Monk (2006), Desperate Housewives (2007), The Big Bang Theory (2016), Getting On (2013–2015), and Horace and Pete (2016).

In 1988, Metcalf debuted in what is arguably her best known role as Jackie Harris, the multiple-careered, low self-esteemed, amiable sister of the title character in the hit ABC sitcom series Roseanne, starring alongside Roseanne Barr and John Goodman.

From 1995, she has voiced Mrs. Davis, the mother of Andy, in the Toy Story franchise, and voiced Sarah Hawkins in the Disney animated Treasure Planet (2002).

She also appeared on The Norm Show (1999–2001), Frasier, and The Dropout (2022)''.

Her other Tony-nominated roles were for November (2008), The Other Place (2010), Misery (2016), and Hillary and Clinton (2019).

She went on to receive six Tony Award nominations, winning Best Actress in a Play in 2017 for her performance in A Doll's House, Part 2 and Best Featured Actress in a Play for the 2018 revival of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women.

In film, Metcalf is best known for her performance as Marion McPherson in Greta Gerwig's comedy-drama film Lady Bird (2017).

She was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a SAG Award, and a BAFTA Award.