Sherry Lea Stringfield is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress. She is best known for playing the role of Dr.
Susan LewisDr. Susan Lewis, played by Sherry Stringfield, is a fictional doctor on the television show ER between 1994–1996, and again from 2001-2005....
on the medical television drama
ERER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, a role for which she received three
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations. Stringfield was a member of ER's original cast, but she quit the show during its third season, despite being contractually tied to appear in five. She returned to the role in 2001, but quit once again in 2005. She is also known for her regular roles on
NYPD BlueNYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
and
Guiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
.
She has acted mainly on television, but she has also played various parts in films.
Early life
The eldest of three children, Stringfield was born in Colorado Springs. Her family briefly relocated to
AlbuquerqueAlbuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
,
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, before settling in
SpringSpring, Texas is a census-designated place within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, north of Downtown Houston. The population was 54,298 at the 2010 census...
,
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, a sister community of
HoustonHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, where Stringfield grew up.
She developed a penchant for acting while attending
Klein High SchoolKlein High School is a public high school located in Klein, Texas, approximately 30 miles from downtown Houston. It serves grades 9-12 in the Klein Independent School District.-History:...
, where she starred in various musicals and plays including Oklahoma, Mother Courage, and Fiddler on the Roof. At 18 she attended the Acting Conservatory of
SUNY at PurchasePurchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...
— rooming with fellow actress and student
Parker PoseyParker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
. During that time, she appeared in numerous off-Broadway productions and learnt to control and alter her Texan accent with the help of a college speech teacher. Stringfield graduated in 1989 with a
Bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in
Fine ArtsIn the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
.
Early career
She got her first role on the
CBS DaytimeCBS Daytime is a television programming block on CBS. It's the branding for the CBS Television Network's late morning and early afternoon programming. The block has historically encompassed soap operas, game shows, and talk shows...
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Guiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
, playing
Christina "Blake" ThorpeChristina Blake Marler is a fictional character on CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light. She was portrayed by Elizabeth Keifer from August 19, 1992 to September 18, 2009...
from 1989 until 1992. After three years she left the show to spend a year traveling
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, but soon returned to television on the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
drama,
NYPD BlueNYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
. She played
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Assistant District Attorney Laura Kelly, the ex-wife of officer
John KellyJohn Kelly is a fictional character in the television series NYPD Blue. He was portrayed by David Caruso in the first season and the first four episodes of the second season of the series....
(
David CarusoDavid Stephen Caruso is an American film and television actor and producer, best known for his role of Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the TV series CSI: Miami. The role that gained him initial significant recognition was the role of Det...
) during the first season (1993–94) of the series. Unsatisfied, she was released early from her contract.
ER
Stringfield became one of the original cast members of
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's medical drama,
ERER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
. Her personal success mirrored the show's success — she was nominated for an
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for lead actress during each of her first three seasons of the show. Stringfield was contractually tied to appear in five seasons of ER; however, a desire for a "normal life" and to escape ERs grueling filming schedule prompted her to leave the drama early in its third season.
In order to be released from her contract, Stringfield was forced to sign a no-work agreement, which blocked her from working on television for the remainder of her original contract. Stringfield's decision to quit reportedly angered the show's executive producer,
John WellsJohn Marcum Wells is an American theater and television producer, writer and director. He is best known for his role as executive producer and show runner of the television series ER, Third Watch, and The West Wing. His company, John Wells Productions, is currently based at Warner Bros. studios in...
, because she left just as Dr. Lewis got embroiled in a budding romance with
Anthony EdwardsAnthony Charles Edwards is an American actor and director. He has appeared in various movies and television shows, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Zodiac, Revenge of the Nerds, Northern Exposure and ER.-Early life:Edwards was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Erika...
' Dr. Mark Greene. Stringfield has commented: "I wouldn't describe the situation as pleasant. The producers were in shock. They tried to talk me out of it. It took a long time to get out of my contract."
Stringfield's much publicised departure reportedly "sent a small shock wave through Hollywood" and her exit episode in November 1996 attracted 37 million viewers, the biggest night of the season for the NBC network. Stringfield quit just as television executive Dick Robertson was closing a deal that guaranteed the ER cast millions in future earnings from sales to cable and syndication, meaning she effectively "walked away from a fortune."
Stringfield claims she was asked to reprise the role of Susan Lewis in ER several times, but turned each offer down. However, following the birth of her first baby, she approached the producers of ER and then rejoined the cast in 2001, the show's eighth season. "I changed my mind," Stringfield commented, "I really want to work now. It just made sense for me to go back to ER." 26.7 million people watched Stringfield's return, placing the show at first place in the ratings and displacing the hugely popular
FriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
from the top spot.
During her second stint in ER, Stringfield's character was featured in a special '
crossoverA fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
' with NBC's
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
based police drama,
Third WatchThird Watch is an American television drama series which first aired on NBC from 1999 to 2005 for a total of 132 episodes, broadcast in 6 seasons of 22 episodes each....
, which aired in 2002. She remained in the role for four additional seasons, however in August 2005, Stringfield announced that she would be leaving the show again as the 12th season came underway. "I am extremely grateful for the time I spent on ER," Stringfield explained. "It is a wonderful show, and there are so many people I will miss. But I'm ready for new roles and new challenges." In 2009, Stringfield returned to ER for the
series finaleA series finale refers to the last installment of a series with a narrative presented through mediums such as television, film and literature. In many Commonwealth countries, the term final episode is commonly used in regards to a television series...
, "And in the End...".
Other work
After leaving ER in 1996, Stringfield taught a script analysis class and directed several plays at her alma mater. She took roles in films such as 54 (1998) and
Autumn in New YorkAutumn in New York is a 2000 romantic drama film directed by Joan Chen and starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, and Anthony LaPaglia.The movie focuses on Will Keane who falls in love with Charlotte Fielding , a sweet, but terminally ill young woman.-Plot:Will Keane, a 48-year old restaurant owner,...
(2000) and appeared in the television movies Border Line (1999) — produced by her ER co-star Anthony Edwards — and Going Home (2000), in which she starred opposite
Jason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
. She also guest-starred in the CBS drama
Touched by an AngelTouched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
in 1999.
In 2005, Stringfield was cast alongside
Michael MicheleMichael Michele is an American film and television actress. She played Dr. Cleo Finch on the medical drama ER and Det. Rene Sheppard on the police procedural Homicide: Life on the Street...
,
Blair UnderwoodBlair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...
,
Esai MoralesEsai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
,
Gary ColeGary Michael Cole is an American actor. Cole is known for his supporting roles in numerous film and television productions since the 1990s.-Early life:...
and
Catherine BellCatherine Lisa Bell is an American actress known for her role of Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie of the television show JAG from 1997 to 2005...
in the
pilot episodeA "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
of the CBS drama Company Town (created by
Elwood ReidElwood Reid is an American novelist and short-story writer. He worked as a cook, barkeeper, teacher and spent two years in Alaska working as a carpenter. He is a 1996 graduate of the University of Michigan Creative Writing MFA Program...
; directed by
Thomas CarterThomas Carter is an American film and television director known for Swing Kids, Save the Last Dance with Julia Stiles, and Coach Carter with Samuel L...
), playing Angie Amberson, a mother of teenagers and a whistle-blower on the investment firm where she works. Company Town failed to get picked up for the 2006 fall season. The series was produced by
Jack ClementsJohn J. "Jack" Clements was a baseball player who played for 17 seasons in the Major Leagues. A catcher for nearly his entire career, despite being left-handed, Clements caught 1,073 games, almost four times as many as any other left-handed player in major league history and was the last...
and Larry Sanitsky. In 2007 Stringfield starred in the Andrew Shea film Forfeit. She played the role of Karen, the ex-girlfriend of a clinical sociopath who schemes and plots to stage a massive robbery and sets Karen up to take the rap.
In 2007, Stringfield guest-starred as attorney Nora March in the CBS drama
SharkShark is an American legal drama created by Ian Biederman that originally aired on CBS from September 21, 2006 to May 20, 2008. The series stars James Woods.-Synopsis:...
. She also played a recurring role in the HBO drama
Tell Me You Love MeTell Me You Love Me is an American cable television drama series that premiered on HBO and on The Movie Network on September 9, 2007.The series was created by Cynthia Mort and originally conceived as sexlife. The pilot episode was produced and directed by Patricia Rozema and shot in Winnipeg,...
(previously known as Sexlife), which also aired in 2007. In 2009, she appeared in The Stepfather, a remake of
the 1987 American thriller film of the same nameThe Stepfather is a 1987 American thriller film starring Terry O'Quinn in the title role. It is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era than a true story. It was directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Donald E...
.
She appeared in an episode of the
USA NetworkUSA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
drama
In Plain SightIn Plain Sight is an American dramatic television series on USA Network. The series revolves around Mary Shannon , a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office of the Federal Witness Security Program , more commonly known as the Federal Witness Protection Program...
. Stringfield also guest-starred on
Law & OrderLaw & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
in late 2008 as a ruthless court clerk and
Michael CutterMichael "Mike" Cutter is a fictional character on the long-running NBC series Law & Order and its spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit played by Linus Roache. The character debuted in L&O's eighteenth season premiere, broadcast January 2, 2008, and remained through its series finale on May...
's love interest. She most recently played Mary Jane Porter, an old girlfriend of
Larry DavidLawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
's who runs into and then goes on a date with him in an episode of
Curb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
that aired on October 11, 2009.
In 2010, Stringfield appeared in
Who Is Clark Rockefeller?Who Is Clark Rockefeller? is a 2010 American police procedural television film directed by Mikael Salomon and written by Edithe Swensen. It stars Eric McCormack as Christian Gerhartsreiter/Clark Rockefeller and Sherry Stringfield as Sandra Boss...
playing the role of Sandra Boss.
In addition to acting, Stringfield has done
voice-overVoice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
work, including the voice of Eyeleen in the children's television show
Blue's CluesBlue's Clues is an American children's television show airing on the Nickelodeon family of channels. The show premiered on September 8, 1996 and airs on Nick Jr. and other channels, although production of new episodes ceased by 2006. Versions of the show have been produced in other countries,...
and voicing her ER character for the
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
game ER: The Game. Stringfield was also featured in the U.S.
Got Milk?Got Milk? is an American advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow's milk, which was created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993 and later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers. It has been running...
advertising campaignAn advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
, despite being lactose intolerant.
Awards/nominations
In 1991 and 1993, Stringfield was nominated in the "Outstanding Villain/Villainess" category at the Soap Opera Digest Awards for her role in
Guiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
. She has also received multiple awards and award-nominations for her role as
Susan LewisDr. Susan Lewis, played by Sherry Stringfield, is a fictional doctor on the television show ER between 1994–1996, and again from 2001-2005....
in ER, including three separate Emmy Award nominations in the category "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" in 1995, 1996 and 1997. In 1995 she was nominated in the category "Favorite Female Performer" at the
People's Choice AwardsThe People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett...
and in 1995 and 1996 she was nominated in the "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series -Drama" category at the Golden Globe Awards.
In 1996 she won a Q Award for "Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series" and in 1997 she, along with several of her ER cast-mates, won a
Screen Actors Guild AwardA Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...
for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series". In addition Stringfield was voted one of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World" by readers of
FHMFHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
Magazine in 1997.
Personal life
In the early 1990s Stringfield dated
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
businessman Paul Goldstein (chairman of Nevica skiwear) for nearly three years, but the pressures of a long-distance romance eventually ended the relationship.
Stringfield married
journalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Larry E. Joseph in October 1998. Stringfield and Joseph divorced in January 2006 after seven years of marriage. They have two children together: daughter Phoebe, born in March 2001; and son Milo, born April 12, 2004. Stringfield currently resides in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
External links