Sela Ward

Sela Ward born July 11 1956 is an American movie and television actress producer author and former model She moved to California to pursue acting and landed her first film role in the 1983 Burt Reynolds vehicle The Man Who Loved Women Her first regular role in a TV drama series as a socialite on Dennis Weavers shortlived CBS series Emerald Point NAS followed in the same year Ward continued to land guest roles in both TV and movies throughout the 1980s most notably opposite Tom Hanks in Nothing in Common 1986 In 1991 she was cast as Teddy Reed on Sisters for which she received her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994 She portrayed Helen Kimble the wife of Dr Richard Kimble Harrison Ford in The Fugitive one of the top films of 1993 Ward won a CableACE Award for her portrayal of the late TV journalist Jessica Savitch in the 1995 TV movie Almost Golden The Jessica Savitch Story which remains Lifetimes most watched TV movie to date In 1995 she was passed over for a Bond girl role learning that even though thenBond Pierce Brosnan was 42 the casting director said What we really want is Sela but Sela ten years ago In response she developed and produced a documentary The Changing Face of Beauty about American obsession with youth and its effect on women Ward succeeded Candice Bergen as commercial spokesperson for Sprints long distance phone service 19992002 She also appeared on Frasier as supermodel zoologist Kelly Easterbrook in the 5th season opener Frasiers Imaginary Friend When she read for the role of Lily Brooks Manning on the ABC drama series Once and Again 19992002 its creators Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz of thirtysomething fame initially deemed her too beautiful for the average single mother to identify with Ward received her 2nd lead actress Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Television Series Drama In 2004 she played the a private investigator in the TV movie Suburban Madness and she also appeared in the feature film The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal In 2005 she landed a recurring role in the Fox series House as Stacy Warner the hospitals attorney and formidable expartner of the protagonist Dr Gregory House Hugh Laurie until her character was written off the show in 2006 She was originally offered both the role of Megan Donner on CSI Miami and Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives but turned both down She was reluctant to commit to another lead role in an hourlong series because of the time away from her family it would require Although she was on a brief hiatus from TV she continued to appear in feature films She starred opposite Kevin Costner in The Guardian in 2006 and starred in the thriller The Stepfather in 2009 In July 2010 she signed on to star in CSI NY at the start of the 7th season and remained until the 9th and final season She appeared as newswoman Sharon Schieber in Gone Girl 2014 and costarred as the President of the United States in Independence Day Resurgence 2016 She also played the leading role alongside Nick Nolte in the political comedy series Graves She had a leading role in the crime series FBI 2018 for its 1st season