Laurie Metcalf

Lauren Elizabeth "Laurie" Metcalf is an American actress. She portrayed the role of Carolyn Bigsby on Desperate Housewives.

Career
Metcalf was born in Carbondale, Illinois, the eldest of three children, and was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Her father was the budget director at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and her mother, Libby, was a librarian.Her great-aunt was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Zoe Akins. Metcalf attended Illinois State University and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1977.

While at ISU, she met fellow theater students, among them John Malkovich, Glenne Headley, Joan Allen, and Gary Sinise - who went on to establish Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Metcalf began her professional career at Steppenwolf. It was in Steppenwolf that Metcalf got the nickname "crazy pants." In 1981, she was brought on as a feature player on Dick Ebersol's first produced episode of Saturday Night Live following the firing of Jean Doumanian and her cast (save for Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Denny Dillon, and Gail Matthius). Metcalf appeared in that one episode on a Weekend Update segment about taking a bullet for the President of the United States. Because of the sketch show's 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 never asked back to be a cast member.

In 1983, Metcalf went to New York to appear in a Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead, for which she received the 1984 Obie Award for Best Actress. Metcalf was showered with praise for her performance as, "Darlene," specifically for her tour de force twenty minute Act Two monologue. She relocated to Manhattan and began to work in both film and theater, most recently in David Mamet's November.Through the end of June 2009, Metcalf starred with French Stewart in Justin Tanner's play, Voice Lessons, in Hollywood before beginning rehearsals to play Kate Jerome in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound directed by David Cromer. The former production's run, however, lasted but one week while the latter was canceled prior to opening. Voice Lessons, however, with its original cast intact, went on to two more runs - one Off-Broadway in May 2010,and another in Hollywood in May 2011.

In September 2010, Metcalf returned to Steppenwolf and starred in Lisa D'Amour's play, Detroit. In the Spring of 2011, she began work on an off-Broadway play, The Other Place by Sharr White.

Metcalf has performed in roles that range from very large to very small in many films, including Desperately Seeking Susan, Making Mr. Right, Miles from Home, Internal Affairs, Stars and Bars, Uncle Buck, Beer League, A Dangerous Woman, Pacific Heights, Blink, The Secret Life of Houses, Treasure Planet, Toy Story, Runaway Bride, Bulworth, Meet the Robinsons, Georgia Rule, Fun with Dick and Jane, Leaving Las Vegas, Scream 2, and Stop Loss. In JFK, she played a dramatic role against type, as one of Jim Garrison's chief investigators. She appeared as the murderous mother of "Billy Loomis" in the horror film Scream 2 and portrayed real-life Carolyn McCarthy in the television movie The Long Island Incident.

Metcalf has appeared in several television series, including being a cast member for only one episode of Saturday Night Live on the final episode of the show's tumultuous 1980-1981 season, but she is best known as "Jackie", sister to the title character in the hit series Roseanne. Her performance garnered her three consecutive Emmy Awards. Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997, and Laurie appeared as Jackie over the show's entire run.

She subsequently appeared with Norm Macdonald on The Norm Show (or Norm), which ran for three seasons, and was also a regular character on the 2003 Nathan Lane series Charlie Lawrence, which was cancelled after only two episodes aired. She made guest appearances on Absolutely Fabulous, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, My Boys, Dharma & Greg, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Frasier and Without a Trace.

She took a recurring role on Desperate Housewives–for which she received an Emmy and a Satellite Award nomination–and alongside her ex-husband Jeff Perry in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. In fall 2008, Metcalf starred in the 2008 CW dramedy Easy Money as the matriarch of a family of loan sharks. The series was canceled after only three episodes. She has also had a recurring guest star role as Sheldon Cooper's mother Mary on The Big Bang Theory, alongside former Roseanne cast-mates Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert.

Film

 * A Wedding (1978)
 * Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
 * Making Mr. Right (1987)
 * Candy Mountain (1988)
 * Stars and Bars (1988)
 * The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (1988)
 * Miles from Home (1988)
 * Uncle Buck (1989)
 * Internal Affairs (1990)
 * Pacific Heights (1990)
 * JFK (1991)
 * Mistress (1992)
 * A Dangerous Woman (1993)
 * The Secret Life of Houses (1994)
 * Blink (1994)
 * Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
 * Toy Story (1995)
 * Dear God (1996)
 * U Turn (1997)
 * Chicago Cab (1997)
 * Scream 2 (1997)
 * Bulworth (1998)
 * Runaway Bride (1999)
 * Toy Story 2 (1999)
 * Timecode (2000)
 * Treasure Planet (2002)
 * Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)
 * Steel City (2006)
 * Beer League (2006)
 * Meet the Robinsons (2007)
 * Georgia Rule (2007)
 * Stop-Loss (2008)
 * Persepolis (2008)
 * Toy Story 3 (2010)
 * Hop (2011)

Television

 * Saturday Night Live (1981)


 * The Execution of Raymond Graham (1985)


 * The Equalizer (1986)


 * Roseanne (1988–1997)


 * Duckman (1995–1996)


 * King of the Hill (1997)


 * The Eddie Files (1997)


 * Life with Louis (1997)


 * Dharma & Greg (1997)


 * Always Outnumbered (1998)


 * The Long Island Incident (1998)


 * 3rd Rock from the Sun (1998)


 * Balloon Farm (1999)


 * The Norm Show (1999–2001)


 * God, the Devil and Bob (2000)


 * Two Families (2002)


 * Phil at the Gate (2003)


 * Charlie Lawrence (2003)


 * Malcolm in the Middle (2004)


 * Frasier (2004)


 * Absolutely Fabulous (2004)


 * Without a Trace (2005)


 * Monk (2006)


 * Grey's Anatomy (2006)


 * Desperate Housewives (2006)


 * My Boys (2006)


 * The Virgin of Akron, Ohio (2007)


 * Raines (2007)


 * The Big Bang Theory (2007–2011)


 * Easy Money (2008–2009)


 * The Farm Warden (2009)