Sela Ward

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Sela Ward.

Sela Ann Ward (born July 11, 1956 in Meridian, Mississippi) is an American actress most widely known for her Emmy Award-winning television roles, playing free-spirited Teddy Reed on Sisters (1991-96) and single mother Lily Manning on Once and Again (1999-2002). She is also noted for her portrayal of the murdered wife of Harrison Ford's character in the Oscar-nominated film version of The Fugitive.

1 Career
2 Personal
3 Selected filmography
4 Awards
5 External links

[edit] Career

While working in New York City as a storyboard artist for multimedia presentations, the 5'7" Ward began modeling to supplement her income. She was recruited by the Wilhelmina agency and was soon featured in television commercials promoting Maybelline cosmetics.

Ward eventually moved to California to pursue acting and landed her first film role in the Burt Reynolds vehicle, The Man Who Loved Women, released in 1983. Her first regular role in a television drama series (as a beautiful socialite on Emerald Point, NAS) followed in the same year. Ward subsequently played variations on the same character in films and television guest spots throughout the 1980s, most notably opposite Tom Hanks in 1986's Nothing in Common. This pattern persisted until she agressively pursued and won the role of the bohemian alcoholic Teddy Reed on Sisters, for which she received her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994.

Ward also won a CableACE Award for her portrayal of the late television journalist Jessica Savitch in the 1995 TV movie Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story. But capitalizing on her accolades proved difficult as they coincided with a surge in films and programming marketed primarily at teenagers. A 39-year-old Ward was passed over for a Bond girl role, receiving word that the casting director wanted "Sela Ward, but Sela Ward 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.

Later she appeared on Frasier as supermodel/zoologist Kelly Easterbrook in the fifth season opener ("Frasier's Imaginary Friend"). Ward also succeeded actress Candice Bergen as commercial spokesperson for Sprint's long distance telephone service from 1999 to 2002.

When she read for the role of Lily Brooks Manning on the series Once and Again, its creators (Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz of thirtysomething fame) initally deemed Ward too beautiful for regular single mothers to identify with. After landing the part, she received her second lead actress Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for her efforts.

In 2005, she began a recurring role in the series House as Stacy Warner, the hospital's former attorney who happens to be the ex-partner of the protagonist, Dr. Gregory House (played by British actor Hugh Laurie).

Ward was originally offered the role of Megan Donner on CSI:Miami and Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives, but turned both down. The parts later went to Kim Delaney and Teri Hatcher, respectively. Ward says she does not want another lead role in an hour-long series due to the time away from her family it would require. [1] She developed and produced a pilot for a half-hour situation comedy (in which she would also star) for CBS' 2006 season but it was not selected by the network for its roster.

[edit] Personal

Ward is the eldest of four children born to Granberry Holland Ward and the late Annie Kate Ward, who died of ovarian cancer in 2002.

She attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she performed as one of the Crimson Tide cheerleaders, was homecoming queen, and dated football star and future Miami Dolphin Bob Baumhower. She double-majored in Art and Advertising, graduating in 1977. She presently performs narration for the university's nationally-televised commercials.

Ward dated actor Richard Dean Anderson for three years and was once engaged to actor Peter Weller. Since 1992, she has been married to wealthy venture capitalist Howard Sherman; they have two children, Austin (b. 1994) and Anabella (b. 1998).

After considering an adoption in 1999, Ward decided to meet a broader need for abused and neglected children by initiating and partially funding the creation of an emergency shelter for those awaiting placement in foster homes. Housed on a 30-acre property once used as a Masonic orphanage, Hope Place opened in Ward's hometown of Meridian in January 2002 and is intended to serve as a pilot for a nationwide network of similar shelters. In 2005, Hope Place housed, educated, and counseled more than 140 children. [2]

In 2002, Ward published her autobiography, Homesick: A Memoir, through HarperCollins' ReganBooks imprint.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] Awards

Emmy Award, Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Sisters, 1994.
CableACE Award, Best Lead Actress in a Movie or Miniseries, Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, 1995.
Emmy Award, Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Once and Again, 2000.
Golden Globe Award, Best Actress in a TV Series Drama, Once and Again, 2001.