Laurie Metcalf on screen and stage

Laurie Metcalf is an American actress known for her performances on stage and screen. She started her career on the stage at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago acting in several productions in the late 1970s. She made her screen debut in an uncredited role in the Robert Altman film A Wedding (1978). She served as a cast member on the NBC sketch series Saturday Night Live for one episode in 1981. Her early film roles include in the comedy drama Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), the comedy Uncle Buck (1989), and the political thriller epic JFK (1991). She gained her breakout role playing Jackie Harris in the ABC sitcom Roseanne (1988–1997) earning three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Metcalf returned to the role in the continuation series The Conners (2018–2025).

She took supporting roles in the romantic drama Leaving Las Vegas (1995), political satire Bulworth (1998), and romantic comedy Runaway Bride (1999). She has voiced roles in the Toy Story trilogy (1995–2010), Treasure Planet (2002), and Meet the Robinsons (2007). She gained critical attention for playing a dysfunctional mother in the Greta Gerwig directed coming-of-age comedy film Lady Bird (2017) for which she earned nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Metcalf made her Broadway debut in 1995, and later won Tony Awards for playing Nora Helmer in the Lucas Hnath play A Doll's House, Part 2 (2017), a middle aged caretaker attending to the elderly in the Edward Albee play Three Tall Women (2018). She was Tony-nominated for playing a political speechwriter in the David Mamet play November (2008), a neurologist whose life begins to unravel in the Sharr White play The Other Place (2013), Annie Wilkes in the Stephen King adaptation Misery (2016), and Hillary Clinton in the Lucas Hnath play Hillary and Clinton (2019).

On television, she had leading roles in the ABC sitcom The Norm Show (1999–2001), the CBS sitcom The McCarthys (2014–2015), and the HBO comedy series Getting On (2013–2015). She took recurring roles playing Carolyn Bigsby in the ABC mystery-dramedy series Desperate Housewives (2006) and Mary Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2018). She also guest starred in 3rd Rock from the Sun, Frasier, Malcolm in the Middle, Horace and Pete, and Hacks. She played Phyllis Gardner in the Hulu limited series The Dropout (2022).

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1978	A Wedding	Maid	Uncredited	^[1]
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan	Leslie Glass
1987	Making Mr. Right	Sandy McCleary
1988	Candy Mountain	Alice
	Stars and Bars	Melissa
	The Appointments of Dennis Jennings	Emma	Short film
	Miles from Home	Exotic Dancer
1989	Uncle Buck	Marcie Dahlgren-Frost
1990	Internal Affairs	Amy Wallace
1990	Pacific Heights	Stephanie MacDonald
1991	JFK	Susie Cox
1992	Mistress	Rachel Landisman
1993	A Dangerous Woman	Anita Bell
1994	The Secret Life of Houses	Ann
1994	Blink	Candice
1995	Leaving Las Vegas	Mrs. Van Houten
1995	Toy Story	Jennifer Davis	Voice role	^[2]
1996	Dear God	Rebecca Frazen
1997	U Turn	Bus Station Clerk
	Chicago Cab	Female Ad Exec
	Scream 2	Debbie Salt / Nancy Loomis
1998	Bulworth	Mimi
1999	Runaway Bride	Betty Trout	Uncredited
1999	Toy Story 2	Jennifer Davis	Voice role	^[2]
2000	Timecode	Dava Adair	Rehearsal shoot (included in the DVD release)
2002	Treasure Planet	Sarah Hawkins	Voice role	^[2]
2005	Fun with Dick and Jane	Phyllis	Uncredited role
2006	Steel City	Marianne Karn
2006	Beer League	Mrs. DeVanzo
2007	Meet the Robinsons	Lucille Krunklehorn-Robinson	Voice role	^[2]
2007	Georgia Rule	Paula Richards
2008	Stop-Loss	Mrs. Colson
2010	Toy Story 3	Jennifer Davis	Voice role	^[2]
2017	Lady Bird	Marion McPherson		^[3]
2019	Toy Story 4	Jennifer Davis	Voice role	^[2]
2022	Somewhere in Queens	Angela Russo		^[4]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1981	Saturday Night Live	Weekend Update Reporter	Episode: "Jr. Walker & the All-Stars"	^[5]^[6]
1985	The Execution of Raymond Graham	Carol Graham	Television film
1986	The Equalizer	Theresa	Episode: "No Conscience"
1988–1997, 2018	Roseanne	Jackie Harris	Main cast (230 episodes)
1988	Saturday Night Live	"Laurie Has A Story"	Episode: "Matthew Broderick/The Sugarcubes"	^[7]^[8]
1992	The Jackie Thomas Show	Jackie Harris	Episode: "The Joke"
1995–1996	Duckman	Various voices	Episodes: "Research and Destroy" and "Forbidden Fruit"
1997	King of the Hill	Cissy Cobb (voice)	Episode: "Peggy the Boggle Champ"
	The Eddie Files	Special Agent Hicks	Episode: "Decimals – The Fake Money Caper"
	Life with Louie	Miss Kinney (voice)	Episode: "The Kiss Is the Thing"
	Dharma & Greg	Spyder	Episode: "Instant Dharma"
1998	Always Outnumbered	Halley Grimes	Television film
	The Long Island Incident	Carolyn McCarthy	Television film
	3rd Rock from the Sun	Jennifer Ravelli	3 episodes
1999	Balloon Farm	Casey Johnson	Television film
1999–2001	The Norm Show	Laurie Freeman	Main cast (54 episodes)
2000–2011	God, the Devil and Bob	Donna Allman (voice)	13 episodes
2002	Two Families		Unsold pilot
	Phil at the Gate	Teddy Duffy	Unsold pilot
	Charlie Lawrence	Sarah Dolecek	Main cast (7 episodes)
2004	Malcolm in the Middle	Susan	Episode: "Lois's Sister"
	Frasier	Nanny G	Episode: "Caught in the Act"
	Absolutely Fabulous	Crystalline	Episode: "White Box"
2005	Without a Trace	Susan Hopkins	Episode: "A Day in the Life"
2006	Monk	Cora	Episode: "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head"
	Grey's Anatomy	Beatrice Carver	Episode: "The Name of the Game"
	Desperate Housewives	Carolyn Bigsby	4 episodes
	My Boys	Aunt Phyllis	Episode: "When Heroes Fall from Grace"
2007	The Virgin of Akron, Ohio	Lydia	Pilot episode
2007	Raines	Alice Brody	Episode: "Reconstructing Alice"
2007–2018	The Big Bang Theory	Mary Cooper	Recurring role (14 episodes)
2008–2009	Easy Money	Bobette Buffkin	Main cast (8 episodes)
2009	The Farm	Warden Margaret Elder	Unsold pilot
2013	The Goodwin Games	Dr. Richland	2 episodes	^[9]
2013–2015	Getting On	Jenna James	Main cast (18 episodes)
2014	Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories	Gabrielle	Episode: "Baby"
2014–2015	The McCarthys	Marjorie McCarthy	Main cast (15 episodes)
2016	Horace and Pete	Sarah	Episode #1.3
2017	Portlandia	Jill	Episode: "Friend Replacement"
2017	Playing House	Leslie Rollins	Episode: "You Wanna Roll with This"
2018–2022	American Dad!	Elizabeth Hadley (voice)	2 episodes
2018	Supergirl	Mary McGowan	Episode: "Schott Through the Heart"
2018–2025	The Conners	Jackie Harris	Main cast (112 episodes)	^[10]
2020–2022	The Accidental Wolf	Ram	3 episodes
2021	Q-Force	V (voice)	10 episodes	^[11]
2021	Chicago Party Aunt	Peg Dunbrowski (voice)	Episode: "Tailgate Jailgate"
2022	The Dropout	Phyllis Gardner	4 episodes	^[12]
2022	Hacks	Weed	2 episodes	^[13]
2023	Carol & the End of the World	HR Lady (voice)	3 episodes
2024	Elsbeth	Regina Coburn / Felicity Watts	Episode: "Toil and Trouble"
TBA	Monster	Augusta Gein	Main role; season 3	^[14]

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Playwright	Venue	Ref.
1979	The Glass Menagerie	Laura Wingfield	Tennessee Williams	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1980	Balm in Gilead	Darlene	Lanford Wilson	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1981				Apollo Theater Center, Chicago
1984–1985				Circle Repertory Theatre
1985	Coyote Ugly	Scarlet	Lynn Siefert	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1985–1986	You Can't Take It with You	Gay Wellington	Kaufman and Hart	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1986–1987	Bodies, Rest and Motion	Beth	Roger Hedden	Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, Off-Broadway
1987	Educating Rita	Susan "Rita" White	Willy Russell	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1987	Educating Rita	Susan "Rita" White	Willy Russell	Westside Theatre, Off-Broadway
1992	My Thing of Love	Elly	Alexandra G. Vassilaros	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1994	Libra	Margeurite Oswald	Don Delillo	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
1995	My Thing of Love	Elly	Alexandra G. Vassilaros	Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway	^[15]
2001	All My Sons	Kate Keller	Arthur Miller	Lyttelton Theatre, West End
2004	Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune	Frankie	Terrence McNally	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago	^[16]
2006	All My Sons	Kate Keller	Arthur Miller	Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles	^[17]
2007	The Quality of Life	Jeannette	Jane Anderson	Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles
2008	November	Clarice Bernstein	David Mamet	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway	^[18]
2008	The Quality of Life	Jeannette	Jane Anderson	American Conservatory Theater
2009	Brighton Beach Memoirs	Kate Jerome	Neil Simon	Nederlander Theatre, Broadway	^[19]
2009	Voice Lessons	Ginny	Justin Tanner	Zephyr Theatre, Los Angeles
2010	Voice Lessons	Ginny	Justin Tanner	Studio Theatre, Washington D.C.
	A Lie of the Mind	Meg	Sam Shepard	Acorn Theatre, Off-Broadway
	Detroit	Mary	Lisa D'Amour	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
2011	The Other Place	Juliana	Sharr White	Lucille Lortel Theatre, Off-Broadway
2012	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Tyrone	Eugene O'Neill	Apollo Theatre, West End
2012	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Tyrone	Eugene O'Neill	Theatre Royal, Glasgow
2013	The Other Place	Juliana	Sharr White	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway	^[20]
2013–2014	Domesticated	Judy Pulvar	Bruce Norris	Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, Off-Broadway
2015	Trevor	Sandra Morris	Nick Jones	Atwater Village Theatre, Los Angeles	^[21]
2015	All My Sons	Kate Keller	Arthur Miller	John Drew Theatre
2015–2016	Misery	Annie Wilkes	Simon Moore	Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway	^[22]
2016	Voice Lessons	Ginny	Jane Anderson	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago
2017	A Doll's House, Part 2	Nora Helmer	Lucas Hnath	John Golden Theatre, Broadway	^[23]
2018	Three Tall Women	B	Edward Albee		^[24]
2019	Hillary and Clinton	Hillary Clinton	Lucas Hnath		^[25]
2020	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha	Edward Albee	Booth Theatre, Broadway	^[26]
2023	Grey House	Raleigh	Levi Holloway	Lyceum Theatre, Broadway	^[27]
2023	Gutenberg! The Musical!	Producer (one night only)	Brown and King	James Earl Jones Theatre, Broadway
2024	Little Bear Ridge Road	Sarah	Samuel D. Hunter	Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago	^[28]
2025	Little Bear Ridge Road	Sarah	Samuel D. Hunter	Booth Theater, Broadway	^[29]

References

^ George Wendt in Lovece, Frank (December 5, 2017). "George Wendt plays Santa in 'Elf: The Musical'". New York Newsday. Retrieved January 3, 2018. I don't remember "Bronco Billy," but there was one summer they shot "A Wedding" in Chicago and they were looking for extras to play caterers, waiters and waitresses and the like. So all these guys from [Chicago's famed theater company] Steppenwolf were waiters: Me and Dennis Franz, John Malkovich, Alan Wilder, Tim Evans — lots of people. And we had fun; it was a bonding summer with the Steppenwolf guys. We'd turn up at dawn every morning and just hang out and wait around in our outfits. Except for Malkovich — we were in this big old mansion in [the Chicago suburb of] Lake Forest and he would find a bedroom way out of the way and just sleep there all day. He didn't care about being in the background of any of the shots. As a matter of fact, I don't even know if anything I shot is in the movie.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Laurie Metcalf (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 20, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
^ N'Duka, Amanda (September 7, 2016). "John Karna Joins 'Lady Bird' Bevy; Natasha Liu Bordizzo Checks Into 'Hotel Mumbai'". Deadline. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
^ Fleming, Mike (February 10, 2021). "Ray Romano To Direct Untitled Dramedy He'll Star In With Laurie Metcalf". Deadline. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
^ "Saturday Night Live (Chevy Chase, Junior Walker)". The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
^ "Saturday Night's Children: Laurie Metcalf (1981)". Splitsider. September 11, 2012. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
^ Laurie Has a Story, Saturday Night Live, October 15, 1988, retrieved May 19, 2018
^ "Laurie Has A Story", NBC.com, October 15, 1988, retrieved May 19, 2018
^ Masters, Megan. "Exclusive: Roseanne's Laurie Metcalf Books Arc on Fox's New Comedy The Goodwin Games". TVLine. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 22, 2018). "Roseanne Spinoff The Conners Picked Up By ABC With No Roseanne Barr Involvement". Deadline. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
^ Hipes, Patrick (June 23, 2021). "Netflix's Q-Force Rounds Out Cast Joining Sean Hayes, Sets Premiere Date; Watch Teaser Trailer". Deadline. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
^ Petski, Denise (June 10, 2021). "The Dropout: William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton Among 10 Cast In Hulu Limited Series". Deadline. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
^ Hibberd, James (March 18, 2022). "Hacks Season 2 Casts Ming-Na Wen, Laurie Metcalf, Martha Kelly and Margaret Cho". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
^ Otterson, Joe (October 15, 2024). "'Monster' Season 3 Casts Laurie Metcalf as Ed Gein's Mother, Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock and Olivia Williams as Alma Reville (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
^ "My Thing of Love (Broadway, 1995)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Steppenwolf
^ Morgan, Terry (April 20, 2006). "All My Sons". Variety. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
^ "Novemeber (Broadway, 2008)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Brighton Beach Memoirs (Broadway, 2009)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "The Other Place (Broadway, 2013)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ Nichols, David C. (March 19, 2015). "Critic's Choice: When the spotlight moves on, from a different perspective - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
^ "Misery (Broadway, 2015)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "A Doll's House, Part 2 (Broadway, 2017)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Three Tall Women (Broadway, 2018)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Hillary and Clinton (Broadway, 2019)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Broadway, 2020)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Grey House (Broadway, 2023)". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Reviews: Critics Sound Off on Steppenwolf's Little Bear Ridge Road". Playbill. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
^ "Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock to Lead Samuel D. Hunter's Little Bear Ridge Road on Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved July 7, 2025.