Kathryn Elsbeth Erbe (born July 5, 1966) is an
American actress, known for her role as
Det. Alexandra Eames in
Criminal Intent, a
spin-off of
Law & Order and deathrow inmate
Shirley Bellinger in the
HBO series,
Oz.
Personal life
Erbe was born the oldest of three children in
Newton, Massachusetts. Her mother, Elisabeth Magnarelli, was a vice president of a
Boston management firm, and her father, Dr. Richard Erbe, is an
internist at the University at Buffalo subspecialized as a
medical geneticist.
She graduated from
New York University in 1989. She was formerly married to actor
Terry Kinney, with whom she has two children: daughter Maeve (born 1995) and son Carson Lincoln (born 2003). Erbe currently resides in
Brooklyn, New York.
Career
While an undergraduate student at NYU, Erbe was cast as
Lynn Redgrave's daughter on the sitcom
Chicken Soup. Following the series, she became a member of the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company and has starred in many of their productions, including
A Streetcar Named Desire, Curse of the Starving Class,
My Thing of Love, and
The Grapes of Wrath, which ran for six months and won the 1990
Tony Award for Best Play. Erbe earned a Tony Award nomination in 1991 for her portrayal of Mary in
The Speed of Darkness, written by......
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