Laurie Metcalf

At 69 years old, Laurie Metcalf has this physical status:

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

She has received numerous acting awards and accolades over the course of her four-decade career.

She has been nominated for an Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for an Academy Award. Metcalf began her career with the Steppenwolf Theater Company and regularly works in Chicago theater.

Metcalf has earned six Tony Award nominations for her appearances in A Doll's House, Part 2 and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Edward Albee's Three Tall Women's 2018 revival. Jackie Harris, the ABC sitcom Roseanne (1988–1999) and its spin off The Conners (2018–present), for whom she received three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1992–1994), gained national attention.

Metcalf's other television appearances include 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Norm Show, Frasier, Desperate Housewives, and The Big Bang Theory.

Metcalf appeared in numerous films and received critical acclaim and a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on HBO, 2013.

Mrs. Davis (Andy's mother) has appeared in the Toy Story series since 1995.

Early life and education

Laura Elizabeth Metcalf was born in Carbondale, Illinois, and was the eldest of three children. She, her brother James, and her sister Linda were all born in Edwardsville, Illinois, which she has described as "not anywhere near a theater." At the time of his unexpected death in 1984, her father, James, was the finance director at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Libby, her mother, was a librarian. Zo Akins, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, was her great-aunt.

Metcalf is alumna of Illinois State University's class of 1976. Metcalf worked as a secretary while a student and has said that she liked seeing a pile of papers in the to-do box on one side of her desk and that by the end of the day, she would have moved to the completed section. She was so fixated on her work that she skipped lunch. She started studying in German, figuring she might work as an interpreter, and then in anthropology, but it was evident that majoring in theatre was her true passion. Theatre work, she has said, also involves interpreting and studying human behaviour. She has described herself as hideously shy, but she was able to attend a few plays in high school and was "hooked." She didn't start acting as a career because doing so would not result in regular employment.

Personal life

Metcalf married Jeff Perry, a co-founding member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in 1983; the two had a daughter, Zoe Perry, in 1983. In 1986, the two families divorced.

Metcalf began a relationship with Matt Roth, the Roseanne co-star who played her violent boyfriend Fisher. Will, the boy's son, by November 1993, and they eventually married. They also worked together on occasion, including in the 1994 film thriller Blink and the 1998 drama Chicago Cab; they also appeared in a Desperate Housewives episode together. Mae Akins' daughter was born in 2005 via survivate. They had two sons, Donovan, who they adopted at six years old in 2006 and later adopted. Metcalf and Roth became separated on November 26, 2008. Roth requested divorce in September 2011, citing irreconcilable inconsistencies as the reason for the separation. The divorce was finalized in May 2014.

Metcalf has referred to herself as a workaholic and has admitted that she is always anxious during rehearsals. She has said that she prefers theatre over other acting platforms because it is where she feels most comfortable.

She has worked in commercials for Plan USA, a worldwide humanitarian charity that helps children in need.

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Career

Metcalf received her Bachelor of Arts in Theater at Illinois State University in 1976. While at ISU, she met fellow theater students, including John Malkovich, Glenne Headly, Terry Kinney, and Jeff Perry, the former two of whom, along with Perry's high school classmate Gary Sinise, founded Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Metcalf began her career as a charter member of Steppenwolf. Metcalf returned to New York to appear in a Balm in Gilead, an Off-Broadway Steppenwolf production from 1984, for her first appearance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway performance. Metcalf was lauded for her role as Darlene, but she was specifically praised for her 20-minute monologue. Richard Christiansen, a Chicago critic, wrote a letter.

Metcalf later moved to New York City and began to work in theatres, including David Mamet's November on Broadway in 2008, for which she received a Tony Award nomination.

Metcalf appeared in Justin Tanner's play Voice Lessons with French Stewart in Hollywood before launching rehearsals to play Kate Jerome in Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical drama Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound, directed by David Cromer. Nonetheless, the former production's run lasted for nine performances in October 2009, and the latter was cancelled before opening.

Voice Lessons, with its original cast intact, went on to perform three times — one Off-Broadway in May 2010 and another in Chicago in May 2016.

Metcalf returned to Steppenwolf in September 2010 and appeared in Lisa D'Amour's play Detroit. She appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Other Place by Sharr White, directed by Joe Mantello in 2011. She was named Outstanding Lead Actress and the 2011 Obie Award for her appearances, as well as the 2011 Lucille Lortel Award for her role.

Metcalf appeared in Eugene O'Neill's Journey to Night in 2012, for which she was selected for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress.

Metcalf's role in 2013 brought the Other Place to Broadway, earning Tony and Drama League accolades in addition. Zoe Perry, her real-life daughter, appeared in film. Metcalf appeared in Bruce Norris' Off-Broadway play Domesticated with Jeff Goldblum at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater of Lincoln Center in 2013. For her role in a Play, she was nominated for the 2014 Drama League Award, Distinguished Achievement, and the 2014 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play.

Annie Wilkes, a character in Stephen King's Misery, appeared opposite Bruce Willis in 2015. The play premiered at the Broadhurst Theatre on November 15, 2015. Critics mixed about Metcalf's performance, but it was highly lauded. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, her third nomination overall.

Metcalf appeared in Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2 with Chris Cooper at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway. In April 2017, the company was established in April 2017. She received critical acclaim for her role in her debut and was given her first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Metcalf appeared in the Broadway revival of Three Tall Women with Glenda Jackson and Allison Pill at the John Golden Theatre in 2018. She received her second consecutive Tony Award, this time for Best Featured Actress in a Play. In Lucas Hnath's Hillary and Clinton on Broadway in 2019, Metcalf performed Hillary Clinton opposite John Lithgow as Bill Clinton. Joe Mantello directed the play, which gave rise to a fictional account of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. From April 18, 2019 to June 23, 2019. Metcalf was nominated for the 2019 Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.

Metcalf's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf opened in Broadway in 2020. Martha is playing Martha. Joe Mantello and Metcalf starred Rupert Everett in the production. The play ran at the Booth Theatre from March 3, 2020, to March 11, 2020. There was no planned return date for the COVID-19 pandemic, but no tentative return date was established.

Metcalf was announced in February 2020 that he would be starring in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman opposite Nathan Lane in a Broadway revival. In 2021, it was expected to begin.

Metcalf has appeared in numerous television shows, including as a cast member on a single episode of Saturday Night Live—the show's final episode in its tumultuous 1980–1981 season. Following Jean Doumanian's dismissal, she appeared as a featured player on the first Dick Ebersol-produced episode of Saturday Night Live in 1981. She appeared in a Weekend Update segment about taking a bullet for the president of the United States. The sketch show was suspended for retooling due to the show's apparent decline in quality at the time and the 1981 Writers Guild of America strike. Metcalf was not allowed to return as a cast member the year after.

Metcalf made her debut in 1988, as Jackie Harris, the multiple-careered, low self-esteemed, amiable sibling of the title character in the hit ABC sitcom series Roseanne, starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman. She received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, a category in which she has won three consecutive times from 1992 to 1994. Roseanne appeared on screen throughout 1997; Metcalf appeared as Jackie during the show's entire nine-season run.

During this time, she appeared on shows including Duckman (1995–1996), King of the Hill (1997), Dharma & Greg (1997), and 3rd Rock from the Sun (1998), the first of which earned her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Metcalf appeared on The Norm Show (later known as Norm), ran for three seasons (1999–2001), and later starred opposite Nathan Lane in the 2003 comedy film Charlie Lawrence, which was cancelled after the airing of two episodes. Metcalf appeared in The CW's Simple Money as the matriarch of a family of loan sharks in 2008. After three episodes, the show was cancelled.

Metcalf appeared on television shows including Absolutely Fabulous, Malcolm in the Middle, My Boys, Frasier, Portlandia, Without a Trace, and Grey's Anatomy during this period. She earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the Tony Shalhoub-led Monk and the ABC ensemble comedy drama Desperate Housewives.

Metcalf made her first appearance on the top-rated CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, as Mary Cooper, the mother of Sheldon Cooper, one of the main characters. She'll reprise the role over the course of its 12-season tenure, and Metcalf received her fourth nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016. In the spinoff prequel series Young Sheldon, Zoe Perry portrays a younger version of Mary.

Metcalf appeared in the HBO comedy series Getting On from 2013 to 2015. Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Veep was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series's final season. She appeared in the CBS family sitcom The McCarthys, a short-lived CBS family sitcom, from 2014-2015 (2014–15).

In the third episode of Louis C.K., Metcalf took a dramatic turn. Horace and Pete, a self-funded show by the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. IndieWire's Matt Brenan praised Metcalf's work: "Metcalf's inflections and expressions [are the narrative's] central characters]; C.K.'s unflinching direction drew her performance to the lees; to the point that Sarah's recollection of an afternoon bristles with skepticism, with shivers of some esthetic precipice."

On April 28, 2017, it was announced that a revival of Roseanne was in the works, and that Metcalf, the original cast and some of the creators, as well as some of the original cast and some of the producers, would return for the limited series that had been competing with ABC and Netflix to land the show. On May 16, 2017, ABC announced that eight episodes would air mid-season in 2018. ABC cancelled the revival after a single season on May 29, 2018, in the aftermath of Barr's racial remarks regarding former president Barack Obama's advisor Valerie Jarrett. Metcalf reprised her role in The Conners, a spinoff of Roseanne without Barr's presence, which premiered in fall 2018. Jackie Harris' portrayal in a Comedy Series nomination in 2018 earned her fifth Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role on Roseanne's revival.

Metcalf's first on-screen appearance was an uncredited part of Robert Altman's comedy A Wedding (1978). Metcalf appeared in several popular films, including the Susan Seidelman comedy Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) and Making Mr. Right (1987), Gary Sinise's drama Miles from Home (1988), Pat O'Connor's comedy Stars and Bars (1988), and John Hughes' comedy film Uncle Buck (1989).

She appeared in a series of darker films, including John Schlesinger's psychological thriller Pacific Heights (1990), Michael Apted's neo-noir drama Blink (1993), and reuniting with Figgis in his Oscar-winning drama Leaving Las Vegas (1995). She appeared in Warren Beatty's political drama Bulworth (1998) and the Garry Marshall romantic comedy Runaway Bride (1999). Susie Cox, one of Jim Garrison's chief investigators, was one of Jim Garrison's top film stars of the decade (1991).

In Andy's mother in the Disney-Pixar animated film Toy Story (1995), Metcalf performed Andy's mother, and Toy Story 4 (2019). Both four films were huge financial and critical success, grossing more than a billion dollars. Debbie Salt was portrayed by Deborah Salt in the horror film Scream 2. Billy Loomis, one of the first killers, was uncovered at the end of the film, not only one of the murderers, but also the mother of Billy Loomis, one of the first victims. Carolyn McCarthy, a real-life gun reform activist, appeared in the NBC film The Long Island Incident (1998), she made a brief foray into television films in the late 1990s, notably portraying the concerned gun safety activist Carolyn McCarthy.

Metcalf made her voice in film in the 2000s. In 2002, she appeared as Sarah Hawkins in the Disney animated Treasure Planet (2002). Despite receiving glowing reviews, the film was still a financial box office loss. Lucille Krunklehorn-Robinson was the female protagonist in the Disney computer animated film Meet the Robinsons in 2007. "Meet the Robinsons is certainly one of the worst theatrically released animated features released under the Disney brand in quite some time," the film, like Treasure Planet, was met with mixed reactions.

Metcalf did not appear in many live action films during this period, but she did appear in the following document: Stop Loss (2008) with Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Metcalf received universal praise for her role in Greta Gerwig's coming of age film Lady Bird, starring Saoirse Ronan and Tracy Letts, in 2017. She was nominated for a number of honors, including the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and the Independent Spirit Award for her work, including the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and the Independent Spirit Award for her role.

In Ray Romano's debut directorial debut, Metcalf will costar.

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