Laura Linney

Luis Gonzalo · May 14, 2014

Laura Leggett Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress (film, television, and theatre) and singer. She is most well known for her performances in films such as The Truman Show, Mystic River and Kinsey, among others. She also played the lead role of Cathy Jamison in the Showtime series The Big C, which completed its fourth and final season in May 2013.

During her career she has received four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Additionally she has been the recipient of three Academy Award nominations and three Tony Award nominations.

Linney was born in Manhattan. Her mother, Miriam Anderson "Ann" Perse (née Leggett), is a nurse who worked at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and her father, Romulus Zachariah Linney IV (1930-2011), was a well-known playwright and professor Linney's paternal great-great-grandfather was Republican U.S. Congressman Romulus Zachariah Linney. Linney grew up in modest circumstances, living with her mother in a small one-bedroom apartment. She has a half-sister, Susan, from her father's second marriage.

Laura Linney returned to series television as actress and executive producer in Showtime's half-hour series about cancer, The Big C, which debuted in mid-2010. She won a Golden Globe award for her performance in January 2011.

Since 2009, she has served as host of the PBS television series Masterpiece Classic.

Linney was a guest and presenter at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009