Maura Tierney

Early life

Tierney was born and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, the eldest of three children in an Irish American Catholic family. Her mother Pat (née James) is a real estate broker, while her father, Joseph M. Tierney, was a prominent Boston politician who served on the Boston City Council for 15 years.

Tierney attended Mount Alvernia Academy Elementary School and Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, where she studied drama, which led to her appearance at the Boston Globe Drama Festival. After graduation, she attended New York University, where she majored first in dance and then graduated with a degree in drama.

Career

After appearing in several plays, Tierney moved to Los Angeles in 1987, beginning with a role in Disney's made-for-TV film Student Exchange. Tierney's first starring role in a film was in a low-budget independent film called Dead Women in Lingerie, which was shot in 24 days.

Tierney had a number of small roles in film and television and a co-starring role in 704 Hauser, a short-lived 1994 spin-off of All in the Family. She first received regular national exposure with her leading role in the sitcom NewsRadio from 1995 to 1999. While part of the NewsRadio cast, she also starred in several successful films of the late 1990s and early 2000s such as Primal Fear, Liar Liar, Primary Colors, Forces of Nature and Welcome to Mooseport.

After NewsRadio was canceled, Tierney decided not to star in another sitcom:

[W]hen NewsRadio got canceled, (...) I thought, there's probably not gonna be something like [that show] again for me... So then, when ER called (...) that was a way to stay in [television] that would remain interesting for me.

From 1999 to 2008, Tierney played Nurse Abigail "Abby" Lockhart on ER, a character that began as a guest appearance in November 1999 and then expanded in February 2000 to a full-time regular role as an ER nurse and later after completion of medical school, a doctor. She was reunited with her NewsRadio co-star Khandi Alexander, who at that time also had a recurring role on ER. Within a year, Tierney's work on ER earned her an Emmy Award nomination, a recognition she credits to a "juicy" story arc featuring Sally Field as Lockhart's mother Maggie Wyczenski, who has bipolar disorder.

Tierney confirmed in April 2008 that she would be leaving ER shortly after the beginning of the show's fifteenth season. In October 2008, she made her final regular appearance on the series after nearly 10 seasons on the show. She returned to make a cameo appearance in one additional episode later in 2009 toward the end of the final season.

Tierney's highest-profile film while on ER was the 2002 film Insomnia, which was directed by Christopher Nolan. That same year, she also starred in Scotland, Pa. where she portrayed a Lady Macbeth–like character written specifically for her by Billy Morrissette, her husband at the time. She was praised by critics for her performance. She also collaborated with NewsRadio writer Joe Furey for a special "Working with Joe Furey" featurette for Furey's film Love and Support.

Personal life

In 1992, Tierney met actor-director Billy Morrissette on the first day he arrived in Los Angeles. They married on February 1, 1993. Morrissette directed, and both he and Tierney appear in, the 2001 film Scotland, PA. The couple separated on March 7, 2006 and in late July 2006, citing irreconcilable differences, she filed for divorce, which was later finalized.

On February 1, 2009, Tierney officiated at the wedding of her friend and former ER co-star Parminder Nagra to photographer James Stenson.

Tierney had surgery to remove a tumor from her breast in 2009. She had been cast in Parenthood but schedule conflicts with her cancer treatments led her to leave and she was replaced by Lauren Graham. Tierney finished treatment and returned to work in a stage play in 2010.

Filmography