Laura Innes was born on August 16, 1957 in Pontiac, Michigan. She was introduced to professional theater by her father, who often took the family to the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario. With the support of her father, she attended Northwestern University and earned a degree in theater. She went on to appeared in several theater productions before her film debut in Brian De Palma’s The Fury (1978), played the role of Jody. She then played the daughter to Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara in the short-lived sitcom The Stiller & Meara Show (1986). In the fall of 1995, she joined the ensemble cast of the NBC medical drama ER (1994) in its second season. She played the role of the experienced, but abrasive, Dr. Kerry Weaver. Her performance earned her three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Laura Innes
Movies
Fun Facts
Attended and graduated from Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Michigan (1975).
Laura's father, Robert, was an executive at a tool and die company. He passed away in 1995. Her mother, Laurette, was a homemaker. Laura is the youngest of six children.
Attended and graduated from Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) where she majored in theater (1979). She spent the next several years acting in Chicago and then New York theaters. She moved to Los Angeles, where she was discovered for ER (1994).
Has had a series of hospital stays. At age one, she swallowed an acorn shell which required three tracheotomies. In 1987, her appendix burst just days after meeting her husband, David Brisbin. Brisbin stayed with her during her hospitalizations, which led to their marriage. In 1990, her newborn had a three month hospital stay when her son Cal was born. He was three months premature and weighed only three pounds, four ounces.
Laura and husband, David Brisbin, adopted a one-year-old Chinese infant named Mia. [April 2002]
Sister of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
Close friends with Will & Grace (1998) actress Megan Mullally (they meet each other at Northwestern University in the late 1970s) and Maura Tierney.
Is dyslexic.
In the early 1980s, her first fiancé was murdered in a parking lot. The death had a profound effect on Laura, and she still finds this hard to talk about.
According to the 2001 People almanac, she ranked #6 in People Online's '10 Most Beautiful People'.
Received five Best Supporting Actress nominations (1996-2000) from the 'Viewers for Quality Television' but never won the award.
Is the only actor from ER (1994) to receive an "Outstanding Director for a Drama Series"" Emmy nomination (for an episode of The West Wing (1999)).
Unlike her ER (1994) alter ego Dr. Kerry Weaver