Sprague Grayden (born July 21, 1980) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
,
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
and theater actress born in Manchester-by-the-Sea,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. An alumna of Manchester-Essex Regional High School (then Manchester High School) and
Barnard CollegeBarnard College is a women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1902...
,
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, she appeared in the US
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
drama
JerichoJericho is an American serial drama that centers on the residents of the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas in the aftermath of nuclear attacks on 23 major cities in the contiguous United States...
, playing schoolteacher Heather Lisinski.
Grayden co-starred in the short-lived
FXFX is the name of a number of related subscription TV channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group. The network's most popular original shows are The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me and Damages, as well as the comedy It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia...
war drama
Over ThereOver There is an action / drama / war television series that aired on the FX network. It premiered in the United States on July 27, 2005 and premiered in Canada on September 6, 2005 on the History Television channel. The series was presented in 16:9 widescreen format in the U.S...
in 2005, and had a recurring role in the fourth and fifth seasons of the HBO series
Six Feet Under as Anita Miller, and the second season of the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
series
Joan of ArcadiaJoan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of a teenage girl who communicates with God and performs tasks she is given. The program originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...
as Judith Montgomery.
Sprague Grayden (born July 21, 1980) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
,
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
and theater actress born in Manchester-by-the-Sea,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. An alumna of Manchester-Essex Regional High School (then Manchester High School) and
Barnard CollegeBarnard College is a women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1902...
,
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, she appeared in the US
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
drama
JerichoJericho is an American serial drama that centers on the residents of the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas in the aftermath of nuclear attacks on 23 major cities in the contiguous United States...
, playing schoolteacher Heather Lisinski.
Grayden co-starred in the short-lived
FXFX is the name of a number of related subscription TV channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group. The network's most popular original shows are The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me and Damages, as well as the comedy It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia...
war drama
Over ThereOver There is an action / drama / war television series that aired on the FX network. It premiered in the United States on July 27, 2005 and premiered in Canada on September 6, 2005 on the History Television channel. The series was presented in 16:9 widescreen format in the U.S...
in 2005, and had a recurring role in the fourth and fifth seasons of the HBO series
Six Feet Under as Anita Miller, and the second season of the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
series
Joan of ArcadiaJoan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of a teenage girl who communicates with God and performs tasks she is given. The program originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...
as Judith Montgomery. She also had a substantial supporting role in the 2002 FOX TV series
John DoeJohn Doe is an American television series that aired on The Fox Network during the 2002–2003 TV season.-Synopsis:"I woke up in an island off the coast of Seattle. I didn't know how I got there ... or who I was. But I did seem to know everything else. There were things about me I didn't understand...
as Karen Kawalski.
Grayden has been involved in critically acclaimed shows (
Joan of Arcadia,
Six Feet Under,
John Doe). She often takes character roles that are eccentric or a bit different. She has been killed off in three of her TV series and two of the shows were soon canceled. In
Jericho, her character was reported to be dead late in the first season, but was revealed to be alive in the season finale.
Grayden's other television credits include guest appearances in
WeedsWeeds is an American comedy-drama television series created by Jenji Kohan, produced by Lionsgate Television for the Showtime network.The plot revolves around a widowed housewife from an affluent California suburb who becomes her neighborhood's marijuana dealer to make ends meet...
,
Crossing JordanCrossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as the crime-solving medical examiner, Jordan Cavanaugh. The show uses an ensemble cast approach featuring a group of Jordan's co-workers, members of the...
,
One Tree HillOne Tree Hill is an American teen, young adult television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003 on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and since September 27, 2006 the network is the official...
,
Private Practice,
CSI: NYCSI: NY is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 22, 2004 on CBS...
and
Sons of AnarchySons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California. The show centers on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller , a young member of the club who begins...
. She also starred in the 1989 film
DadDad is an 1989 comedy-drama based on William Wharton's novel of the same name. The movie stars Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis, Kevin Spacey and Ethan Hawke, and was written and directed by Gary David Goldberg...
as "Young Annie", and has been acting since the age of five.
Her theater credits include productions of
Hopscotch: The New York Sex Comedy,
Eve EnslerEve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...
's
The Vagina MonologuesThe Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the off-Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at HERE Arts Center in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production; when she left the play it was recast with three celebrity monologists...
,
Sam ShepardSam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play, Buried Child...
's
Fool for Love,
HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then...
,
Clifford OdetsClifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia of immigrant parents, Lou Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high school to pursue acting...
'
Waiting for LeftyWaiting for Lefty is a 1935 play by American playwright, Clifford Odets. Consisting of a series of related vignettes, the entire play is framed by the meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike. The framing situation effectively utilizes the audience as part of the meeting.While this...
and Ordinary Day.
On
John DoeJohn Doe is an American television series that aired on The Fox Network during the 2002–2003 TV season.-Synopsis:"I woke up in an island off the coast of Seattle. I didn't know how I got there ... or who I was. But I did seem to know everything else. There were things about me I didn't understand...
, Grayden's character was unsuccessfully hit on by a guest character played by
Ryan HurstRyan D. Hurst is an American actor who perhaps most notably starred as Gerry Bertier, an All-American linebacker in Disney's Remember the Titans and as Alison's brother, Michael, in the show Medium. He also played the role of gorgeous football player Lump Hudson in The Ladykillers, appeared in the...
, who would later play her husband on
Sons of AnarchySons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California. The show centers on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller , a young member of the club who begins...
.
Sprague is her mother's maiden name. "It was my dad's idea and it has worked out well for me," she said in an interview.
Grayden plays the First Daughter
Olivia TaylorOlivia Taylor, played by Sprague Grayden, is a fictional character from the seventh season of the FOX television series 24. She is the daughter of President Allison Taylor and First Gentleman Henry Taylor.-Background:...
, in
24Season Seven, also known as Day 7 of the American serial television series 24, was to premiere on January 13, 2008, but was delayed for one year due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. On November 23, 2008, Fox aired 24: Redemption, a two-hour TV movie set between seasons. Season...
s seventh season.
Grayden appeared as Pam Galliano on Law & Order: Special Victims UnitLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural TV series about the Special Victims Unit in a fictional version of the 16th Precinct of the New York City Police Department...
on May 19.
Sprague's parents owned a restaurant in Manchester, MA called "Ben Sprague's". Ben was her brother's first name.
External links
Jericho