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| An effervescent, petite, brunette supporting and occasional leading player, Maura Tierney first appeared on TV as one of the lead students in the Disney TV-movie "Student Exchange" (ABC, 1987). From there, she went on to the short-lived "The Van Dyke Show" (CBS, 1988), as Barry Van Dyke's secretary. Norman Lear picked her to play Cherlyn Markowitz, the outspoken Jewish girlfriend of a young conservative African-American in "704 Hauser Street" (CBS, 1994), the return to Archie Bunker's homestead, now owned by John Amos. In 1995, she landed her breakthrough role as Lisa Miller, a newswriter who finds herself attracted to her boss (Dave Foley), on the NBC sitcom "NewsRadio". After surviving with that series (which weathered numerous time slots and cast changes), Tierney joined the cast of NBC's long-running medical drama in fall 2000 "ER" as nurse Abby Lockhart. Filling the void left by Juliana Margulies' departure, she quickly became the heart and soul of the series, earning an Emmy nomination in 2001. While she has been less visible in features, the actress was the frightened Molly in the thriller, "Dead Women in Lingerie" (1990) before appearing in "White Sand" (1992) and "The Temp" (1993). Tierney earned critical notice for her supporting role as Richard Gere's assistant in "Primal Fear" (1996), was cast opposite Jim Carrey as his ex-wife in "Liar Liar" (1997), and opposite John Travolta in "Primary Colors" (1998). In 1999, she served as producer and star of the thriller "Oxygen", which aired on Cinemax in lieu of a theatrical release while at the 2001 Sundance Festival, Tierney was featured in "Scotland, PA.", a modern-day take on Shakespeare's "Macbeth" directed by her husband Billy Morrissette. That film was released theatrically in 2002, the same year she could be seen on screens supporting Al Pacino in "Insomnia". |
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