Patricia Anne Wettig (born December 4, 1951) is an American actress and playwright.[1] She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston in the television series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Wettig was born in Milford, Ohio, to Florence (née Morlock) and Clifford Neal Wettig, a high school basketball coach. She has three sisters: Pam, Phyllis, and Peggy. She was raised in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1970.[2] She attended Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated from Temple University in 1975. She returned to her studies later in life and received a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting from Smith College in 2001.[3]F2M, a play she authored, was performed in 2011 as part of the New York Stage and Film and Vassar College's 2011 Powerhouse Theater season.[4][5]
Career
Wettig began her career on stage and worked as a personal dresser for Shirley MacLaine.[6] On television, she appeared in episodes of 1980s dramas Remington Steele, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, before taking a recurring role as Joanne McFadden in the NBC medical drama series St. Elsewhere from 1986 to 1987.[3] Later in 1987, Wettig was cast as Nancy Weston in the ABC drama series thirtysomething.
Patricia Wettig and Ken Olin on the red carpet at the 41st Annual Emmy Awards
Wettig has starred in a number of made-for-television movies, include Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story (1992) and Parallel Lives (1994). She played the role of Laurel Stevenson in the 1995 Stephen King's miniseries The Langoliers. Later in 1995, she returned to television with a leading role of tough female judge in the CBS drama series Courthouse. Wettig intended to leave the show due to "creative differences", with sources saying that she wanted the show to be more of a star vehicle for her, rather than an ensemble cast, but the show was cancelled before her character could be written out.[12]
In 2002, Wettig was a regular cast member in the short-lived Bravo drama series Breaking News. From 2002 to 2004, she played the recurring role of CIApsychotherapist Dr. Judy Barnett on Alias (on which her husband was an executive producer and director). From 2005 to 2007, Wettig appeared in 18 episodes of Fox television drama, Prison Break, playing fictional Vice PresidentCaroline Reynolds. She turned down Fox's offer of becoming a series regular on Prison Break in order to pursue the ABC comedy-drama series Brothers & Sisters, which debuted in September 2006. Wettig starred in the series as the Walker family patriarch's mistress, Holly Harper. She left the show midway through the show's fifth and final season after her character executive Holly Harper followed her daughter to New York along with her fiancé David played by real life husband Ken Olin.[13]
In 2012, Wettig joined the national tour for Larry Kramer's production, The Normal Heart.[14] In 2014, she starred in the unsold the CW drama pilot Identity opposite Ahna O'Reilly[15] In 2019, she played a leading role in the episode of Netflix anthology series Heartstrings.[16] In 2020, ABC ordered a sequel for Thirtysomething and Wettig set to return alongside Olin, Timothy Busfield and Mel Harris.[17]
Personal life
Wettig is married to actor and producer Ken Olin; they have a son Clifford (born 1983) and a daughter Roxy (born 1985).[1]
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