| Laura Innes | |
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Date of birth | August 16, 1957 |
| Birth place | Pontiac, Michigan, USA |
| Years active | 1978-present |
| ER | |
| Character | Kerry Weaver |
| Season | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 15 |
| First episode | "Welcome Back Carter!" |
| Last episode | "And in the End..." |
| Credits | 249 episodes (see below) |
Laura Innes, born August 16, 1957 in Potiac, Michigan, USA, is an actress and director. She starred as Dr. Kerry Weaver from the third season to the thirteenth season. She had a recurring role in the second season before being promoted to series regular. She departed in the thirteenth season episode "A House Divided", but returned in two episodes of the fifteenth and final season, including the series finale. She also starred in the NBC thriller The Event and had a recurring role in the NBC drama Awake. She directed several episodes of ER, as well as The West Wing, House MD and Brothers & Sisters. She was in the 1998 movie Deep Impact, which was helmed by ER director Mimi Leder.
Credits[]
Guest Star[]
- Season 2 - In episodes she's credited in
- Season 15 - In "Heal Thyself"
Star[]
- Season 3
- Season 4
- Season 5
- Season 6
- Season 7
- Season 8
- Season 9
- Season 10
- Season 11
- Season 12
- Season 13 - From "Bloodline" to "A House Divided"
- Season 15 - "And in the End..." only
Trivia[]
- Her late father Robert was an executive at a tool & die company and her mother Laurette was a homemaker.
- Is the youngest of six children.
- Her father Robert passed away in 1995.
- She was introduced to professional theater by her father who often took the family to the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario.
- Attended Northwestern University; graduated in 1979 with a degree in theater.
- Is dyslexic.
- She originally auditioned for "ER" of the role of Dr. Ross's girlfriend Diane Leeds.
- Is a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
- Close friends with "Will & Grace" actress Megan Mullally (whom she met at Northwestern University) and Maura Tierney.
- In the early 1980s, Laura's first fiancé was murdered in a parking lot.
- Married actor David Brisbin in 1988.
- Has two children: a son named Cal (born in 1990) and a daughter named Mia (who was adopted as a 1-year-old from China in April of 2002).
- Has had a series of hospitalizations. When Laura was a year old, she swallowed a piece of an acorn shell that moved in & out of her air passage for three years which required three tracheotomies before the doctors discovered the fragement. In 1987, she suffered from a ruptured appendix just days after meeting her current husband David. In 1990, Laura was hospitalized for three months when her son Cal was born 8 weeks premature (weighing only 3 lbs, 2 ozs).
- She drew inspiration for her portrayal of a physically challenged person from her sister Kathy, who contracted polio when she was 5 years old and as a result was left without the use of her left arm.
- During the filming of one of the final scenes of the East Coast version of the season 4 live episode "Ambush," Laura forgot the trademark crutch that her character, Kerry Weaver walks with. She corrected her mistake when the West Coast version was filmed three hours later. The producers used the West Coast version of the episode in the Season 4 DVD release which minimized Laura's embarrassment.
- Is a casual spokeperson for the National Marrow Donor Program.
- Laura was first hired to appear in only six episodes of "ER." However, she wowed the writers enough that they had her guest-star in 14 episodes and then she was made into a regular cast member.
- In 1999, Anthony Edwards had first suggested to Laura that she try her hand behind the camera. She did and went on to direct many episodes of the hit show, including the critically acclaimed "Be Still My Heart." Following her succesful directing on the hit medical drama, producer John Wells invited Laura to direct an episode of another one of his shows "The West Wing." The second episode that she directed on that series "Shibboleth" garnered Laura an Emmy Award nomination in 2001 for "Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series."
- Due to using a cane for 10 years in her portrayal of Kerry Weaver on "ER", Laura has developed a curve on the bottom of her spine which comes from the raising of her one hip over the years.