Laura Linney Biography
This attractive blonde daughter of playwright Romulus Linney didn’t initially set out to be an actress but by her teens had settled on her chosen profession. After working in summer stock and training at Juilliard, Laura Linney began her big screen career with a small role as a young teacher in “Lorenzo’s Oil” (1992). She made an impression as the secretary sleeping with the president in the Ivan Reitman-directed “Dave” (1993). Linney went on to co-star with Steve Martin in “A Simple Twist of Fate” (1994), modernized spin on “Silas Marner” and then landed her first starring roles as the naive transplant to San Francisco Mary Ann Singleton in the PBS adaptation of “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City” (1994) and as a member of an expedition into the jungles of South America in the critically derided but financially successful “Congo” (1995).
Linney’s ascendancy continued when she nabbed the co-starring role as the former lover now courtroom adversary of Richard Gere in “Primal Fear” and was solidified when Clint Eastwood tapped her to portray his daughter in the political thriller “Absolute Power” (1997). In between her film work, the actress squeezed in Broadway appearances in a revival of “Holiday” (in 1995) and co-starred opposite Jane Alexander in “Honour” (in 1998). Linney also reprised her signature role of Mary Ann Singleton in the Showtime sequel “Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City” in 1998.