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Kim Delaney
Delaney at the 36th Annual Gracie Awards in 2011
Born	(1959-11-29) November 29, 1959 (age 65) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Charles Grant (1984–1988) Joseph Cortese (1989–1994)
Partner	Alan Barnette (1997-2006)
Children	John Philip Cortese (b. 1990)

Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1959) is an American actress best known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series NYPD Blue, for which she has won an Emmy Award. Early in her career, she played the role of Jenny Gardner in the ABC daytime television drama All My Children. She later had leading roles in the TV dramas Philly, CSI: Miami and on the Lifetime television drama Army Wives.

Early life

Delaney, an Irish American, was born on November 29, 1959, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joan and Jack Delaney. Delaney's mother was a homemaker and her father a union official and former head of the United Auto Workers. She was raised Roman Catholic. Delaney grew up in Roxborough and has four brothers: Ed, John, Keith, and Patrick. While she was attending J. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School, she worked as a model for the Elite agency. After her graduation, she went to New York and found employment there as a model. At the same time, she studied acting with William Esper.

Career

Delaney first became known for her stint as innocent teenager Jenny Gardner Nelson on the soap opera All My Children, which also was her first job. She played the character from August 1981 to August 1984, earning a Daytime Emmy Award nomination, as well as a loyal fan base; a profile of the actress a decade later noted, "Delaney left the soap in 1984, but fans still remember her as Jenny. 'They come up and will say they've followed everything I've done, and they stopped watching the show after I left, and they're so happy to see me on NYPD Blue, because they love the character.'"

After leaving the show, Delaney began acting in feature films. In 1985, she appeared with Emilio Estevez in That Was Then... This Is Now, a film version of the S. E. Hinton novel of the same name. In 1986, she played a young nun in the military action movie The Delta Force, starring Chuck Norris. In 1987, Delaney was cast as Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful opposite Peter Gallagher, but new director Howard Deutch recast both roles with Lea Thompson and Craig Sheffer before filming. In 1987, she also appeared as Jessie in Christmas Comes to Willow Creek. In 1988, Delaney starred in the thriller The Drifter. In 1994, she appeared in the film The Force.

In 1988, Delaney became a regular on the CBS television series Tour of Duty. After leaving the show in 1989 to give birth to her and husband Joseph Cortese' son, her character was killed in an explosion just as her All My Children character had died five years earlier. In the years immediately following her departure from her two early television series, her film and TV roles tended to be few and of low quality, both in the opinion of critics and of the actress herself. A 1996 profile article in Entertainment Weekly, on the occasion of her landing a prestigious television role at the end of this period, noted: "Delaney's résumé is spotted with ridiculous roles that range from a nun in the Chuck Norris action movie, The Delta Force, to a possessed nymphomaniac in the soft-core horror film, Temptress. 'There's a lot of things I did to pay the mortgage,' Delaney says resignedly." Roles from this period include her 1992 appearance as Lucky Santangelo in the television miniseries, Lady Boss.

In 1995, Delaney began portraying the role of NYPD Blue Detective Diane Russell. Originally slated for only four episodes, the role became permanent after her character's relationship with Detective Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) became a hit with viewers. In this role, she won her first Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and was also nominated for two other Emmy Awards. After Smits left NYPD Blue, producer Steven Bochco chose Delaney for the lead in the new television series Philly. Despite critical acclaim, the show lasted only one season.

CBS then courted Delaney to take on the female lead on its new drama television series CSI: Miami, a spin-off of sorts from the hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She was written off the series during the first season after just ten episodes; Entertainment Weekly suggested that it had been due to a lack of chemistry between Delaney and star David Caruso.

After briefly returning in 4 episodes of NYPD Blue, Delaney starred in the 2004 NBC miniseries 10.5, and its 2006 sequel, 10.5: Apocalypse. The following year, she began a recurring role on The O.C. In 2006, Delaney starred with Steven Weber in an episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King titled "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band," about Rock and Roll Heaven. Delaney next appeared twice on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in early 2007, guest-starring on the episodes "Philadelphia" and "Florida."

Delaney played the main role of Claudia Joy Holden on the Lifetime Television series Army Wives. In November 2012, it was announced that Delaney would not be returning for the show's seventh season, as her character was killed off.

Delaney will play Mary Todd Lincoln in the upcoming miniseries To Appomattox.

Personal life

Delaney has been married twice. Her first marriage to actor Charles Grant lasted from 1984 to 1988. Her second marriage was to actor Joseph Cortese. They married in 1989 and divorced in 1994. Delaney and Cortese had a son named Jack who was born in 1990. She was engaged to producer Alan Barnette from 1997 to 2006. She has a dog named Penny (a Dachshund) and Sydney (a half Corgi mix).

In 2002, Delaney was arrested in Malibu, California, for suspicion of drunk driving after she refused to take a breathalyzer test. She subsequently pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two-years probation, fined, and ordered to take a defensive driving course.

Delaney was selected as a speaker at the presentation of the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal to Robert Gates in 2011. After delivering a rambling and disjointed speech in which she discussed being a member of a military family, she was escorted off stage. The slurred delivery and often incomprehensible speech fueled reports that she was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of the speech.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. 29/11/1961 New York Times bio of Kim Delaney; accessed 2008-06-21
2. TELEVISION/RADIO; Another Series Sees What It Needs in Kim Delaney; New York Times; Published: September 22, 2002; accessed 2008-06-21
3. "Kim Delaney - AskMen". AskMen.
4. ^ David Brian Walton. "Blue streak", Kokomo Tribune, January 29, 1996, page A5.
5. Bruce Fretts. "Small-screen gem: Kim Delaney – The actress talks about her role on NYPD Blue" (part of cover-story package on NYPD Blue), Entertainment Weekly, Issue 357, December 13, 1996.
6. Weinraub, Bernard (September 22, 2002). "TELEVISION/RADIO; Another Series Sees What It Needs in Kim Delaney". The New York Times.
7. ^ "Kim Delaney". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 2010-05-14. Having been raised Catholic, it was perhaps not much of a stretch for her to play a nun in "The Delta Force".
8. Siegler, Bonnie (March 27, 2009). "Q&A with Kim Delaney of 'Army Wives'". Bankrate. Retrieved May 14, 2010.:(Commentary; "Delaney was a quiet and shy student growing up at J.W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School in Philadelphia.")
9. ^ Fretts, Bruce (December 13, 1996). "Small-Screen Gem". Entertainment Weekly.
10. Kim Delaney Emmy Winner
11. Weinraub, Bernard (September 22, 2002). "TELEVISION/RADIO; Another Series Sees What It Needs in Kim Delaney". The New York Times.
12. ^ Susman, Gary (November 8, 2002). "'Miami' Beached". Entertainment Weekly.
13. Ausiello, Michael (November 17, 2012). "Army Wives Exclusive: Major Character Getting Killed Off Amid Season 7 Shake-Up". TVLine. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
14. Beale, Lauren (May 11, 2015). "'NYPD's' Kim Delaney stands to make a killing in Beverly Hills". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
15. Susman, Gary (January 30, 2002). "NYPD Booze". Entertainment Weekly.
16. Marikar, Sheila (September 23, 2011). "Kim Delaney Booted Off Stage at Liberty Medal Award Ceremony". ABC News.

External links

• Kim Delaney at IMDb
• Kim Delaney at Emmys.com

Template:Persondata

• American film actresses
• American soap opera actresses
• American television actresses
• Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
• American people of Irish descent
• Living people
• Actresses from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1959 births
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses