Trivia: Perhaps most famous for his dramatic work on TV series like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Christopher Meloni has also been praised for his comedic appearances on screens of all sizes. His resumé proves him a versatile actor, indeed, with experience on television, in feature films -- both comedic and dramatic -- and even on-stage. (He acted in the 2001 Williamstown Theatre Festival.)He was born on April 2, 1961, in Washington, D.C., and earned his degree in 1983 at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Having grown interested in acting in college, he next studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City with Sandford Meisner. First noted for his role that began in 1990 on the hit series The Fanelli Boys on NBC, Meloni's accomplished television background consists of appearances on NYPD Blue (1993), the HBO's prison series Oz (1997), and numerous other series and TV movie roles. His lengthy list of supporting appearances on film includes major features like 12 Monkeys (1995), Bound (1996), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). In 1999, he played one of Julia Roberts' husbands-to-be in Runaway Bride. Building upon his Oz experience, he starred in the PBS feature Shift in 2001, in a dramatic role as a prison inmate lovesick over a woman whom he only knows via telephone, and who doesn't know his whereabouts. Also in that year, he played a crazy 'Nam vet chef -- who provided some of the most accessible laughs of the absurd comedy -- at summer camp in David Wain's Wet Hot American Summer.In the years to come Meloni would appear in films like Nights in Rodanthe, Carriers, and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, as well as the series True Blood.

Trivia: The daughter of legendary sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, Mariska Hargitay appears born to play the type of larger-than-life roles that would make her a Hollywood idol. Instead, from her breakthrough performance as a vulnerable single mother on ER to her starring turn as a somber detective on Law & Order: SVU, the talented actress has built her career by portraying real-life characters and keeping out of the spotlight. Raised in Los Angeles, Hargitay was a child of divorce before she celebrated her first birthday. In 1967, her mother died tragically when her car collided with a truck outside of New Orleans. Hargitay, then only three years old, was asleep in the backseat of the vehicle, but escaped uninjured. Days later, she moved in with her father and stepmother, Ellen Siano, a flight attendant. Hargitay participated in scores of activities throughout grade school, including cheerleading, student government, and athletics. She also developed a passion for performing: at 18, after being crowned 1982's Miss Beverly Hills, she enrolled in the University of California at Los Angeles' prestigious undergraduate theater program. Hartigay began her professional acting career while she was still a student with a bit part in Bob Fosse's Dorothy Stratten biopic Star 80 (1983). In 1985, she appeared in the B-movie Ghoulies and agreed to portray a teenage parolee inCBS' short-lived series Downtown. Roles in the teen comedies Welcome to 18 (1986) and Jocks (1987) quickly followed. In 1988, the actress joined her dad in the biopic of his own career, Mr. Universe. That same year, Hargitay earned the recurring role of Carly Fixx on television's Falcon Crest. The next several years found Hargitay acting in B-movies, such as a martial arts film called The Perfect Weapon (1991), and a handful of television films, such as Blind Side (1993) and Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (1994). She earned a small role in Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and replaced Gabrielle Fitzpatrick as Dulcea in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995), but her scenes were eventually re-shot with Fitzpatrick in the role. Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, Hargitay also appeared in numerous popular television shows -- In the Heat of the Night, Baywatch, Wiseguy, thirtysomething, Booker, Seinfeld, Ellen, The Single Guy -- and in quite a few failed series -- Tequila and Bonetti, Key West, Can't Hurry Love, Prince Street, and Cracker. In subsequent years, producer Dick Wolf tapped the actress for his Law & Order spin-off, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). As NYPD Detective Olivia Benson, Hargitay became a familiar and a celebrated face: She earned several award nominations for her performance on the show, as she stuck with the popular show for over ten years.In addition to working in film and television, Hargitay found time for the theater -- appearing on the Los Angeles stage in Salad Days, Women's Work, and Porno -- and read Rochelle Majer Krich's crime story Regrets Only on a mystery-themed audiobook. She also established her own charity, Spirit of the Dolphin, which gives abused children the chance to swim with dolphins in Hawaii. In 2007, Hargitay served as the National Ambassador for Lee National Denim Day to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. In terms of off-camera activity, Hargitay's successful pregnancy at the age of 42 (with her husband, SVU co-star Peter Hermann) made headlines as well.

Trivia: Launching his career as a standup comic, American performer Richard Belzer entered the 1970s as a member of an odd New York-based comedy troupe called Channel One. Anticipating the home video explosion by over a decade, Channel One staged satirical, scatological routines lampooning the banalities of television -- and staged them in front of TV cameras, which transmitted the routines to little TV monitors, which in turn were watched by the live audience. Some of the best sketches were assembled into an X-rated comedy feature, The Groove Tube (1970), which featured Belzer, Ken Shapiro, and a brash newcomer named Chevy Chase. For the next decade, Belzer played the comedy-club circuit, popped up as a talkshow guest, and appeared in occasional films like Fame (1982). He joined still another comedy troupe in 1983, which appeared nightly on the syndicated interview program Thicke of the Night. The host was Allan Thicke, and Belzer's comic cohorts included such incipient stars as Charles Fleischer, Chloe Webb and Gilbert Gottfried. Thicke of the Night was one of the more notorious bombs of the 1983-84 season, but it enabled Belzer to secure better guest-star bookings, and ultimately a hosting job on his own program, debuting in 1986 over the Lifetime Cable Service. It was on this series that wrestler Hulk Hogan, demonstrating a stranglehold on Belzer caused the host to lose consciousness -- which prompted a highly publicized lawsuit instigated by Belzer against the Hulkster. In the early 1990s, Richard Belzer could be seen as a non-comic regular on the TV series Homicide. His Homicide character, John Munch, would become one of the longest-running fictional creations on TV appearing in more than a half-dozen other television shows, most notably Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Trivia: Often cited as the founding father of gangsta rap, Ice-T has also crafted a successful film career from his hardened street persona. Despite the fact that his early roles stuck closely to his public image as a thuggish West Coast pimp, T has since proved both his versatility and his sense of humor by appearing as everything from a mutant kangaroo (Tank Girl [1995]) to, in a surprisingly effective about-face, a police officer (New Jack City [1991]). Born Tracy Marrow in Newark, NJ, in 1958 and later adapting his better-known persona as a tribute to pimp-turned-author Iceberg Slim, T was sent at age 12 to live in Califorina with an aunt after his father died of a heart attack (his mother had died four year earlier, also of a heart attack). Ice-T soon began to develop an obsession with rap music, and after serving a two-year stint in the Army, he began recording and appeared in the films Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (both 1984). Following a near death auto accident in 1986, T devoted his life to music and released his debut album, Rhyme Pays, the following year. T gained positive accolades for his first major film role in 1991's New Jack City, in which he played a dedicated police officer, and the irony was not lost on fans the following year when he caused a stir with a song entitled "Cop Killer." After sticking close to the streets in Ricochet (1991), Trespass (1992), and Surviving the Game (1994), T took a sci-fi detour with Tank Girl and Johnny Mnemonic (both 1995). Generally appearing in straight-to-video schlock from the mid-'90s on, Ice-T could be seen as a naval pilot in Stealth Fighter (1999) and stealing a magic flute from a vengeful green meanie in Leprechaun in the Hood (2000). Though his appearances in such films grew nearly too frequent to count, T occasionally appeared in such theatrical releases as 3000 Miles to Graceland and Abel Ferrara's 'R Xmas (both 2001). After offering curious insight into the life of a pimp in the documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down, T continued to expound on the life of a hustler in Pimpin' 101 (2003). He also took on a recurring role on the Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and later joined the cast as a regular in the show's second season, soon becoming a popular fixture on prime time TV. T would also enjoy success on the reality circuit, starring in the candid reality show Ice Loves Coco with his wife, Nicole "Coco" Austin.

Trivia: Dann Florek was a working actor for 15 years, on stage, in movies, and on television before he became a television star on Law and Order. Born in Flat Rock, MI (near Detroit) in 1950, he was a physics major at Eastern Michigan University until he discovered his affinity for acting and theater. He moved to New York in the early 1970s and became a member of The Acting Company at The Juilliard School. Florek's New York theater credits included work in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost, and Death of a Salesman. He later performed in many productions staged at the La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. Florek's film credits include Sweet Liberty, Hard Rain, Angel Heart, and The Flintstones, and he has made appearances on NYPD Blue, Wings, The Pretender, and The Practice. Additionally, he played Abraham Lincoln in the short-lived Fox Network series The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. It was as Dave Meyer on L.A. Law that Florek first came to the attention of television viewers, but it was his four seasons on Law and Order that made him a star. He became a familiar and popular actor as Lieutenant (and later Captain) Donald Cragen, the head of the detective squad on whose investigations the series focuses from week to week. Florek also directed several episodes of the series after leaving the cast of the show in 1993, and is an active member of the Directors Guild of America. In 1999, he joined the cast of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, reprising and greatly expanding his role of Captain Cragen, now head of a detective unit specifically assigned to the investigation of sex crimes. Equally skilled at comedy and drama (although more familiar for his work in the latter), Florek is one of a new generation of triple-threat actor/directors to emerge from television in the 1980s and 1990s. Florek continued to work on Law & Order until 2010.

Trivia: She might not be a household name, but the statuesque character actress Tamara Tunie sports a resumé as distinctive as she is innately glamorous. Tunie landed her first major role as litigator Jessica Griffin McKechnie Harris on the soap opera As the World Turns in 1986 -- a part she played for 11 years. In the mean time, Tunie signed for a small role in the endearing yet sadly overlooked coming-of-age dramedy Sweet Lorraine (1987), an unsung predecessor to the box-office blockbuster Dirty Dancing, starring Maureen Stapleton and Trini Alvarado. Tunie signed for a bit part in the 1989 period murder mystery Bloodhounds of Broadway, but despite the fact that it claimed a pedigree as impressive as Lorraine (with Matt Dillon, Madonna, Jennifer Grey, and others), the movie unfortunately failed to deliver on its noble intentions. Over the course of the next several years, Tunie turned up several times on Steven Bochco's NYPD Blue, and landed the bit part of Leslie Christos in the Al Pacino big-city crime drama City Hall (1996), directed by Harold Becker (Taps). She re-teamed with Pacino for the darkly comic supernatural horror film The Devil's Advocate (1997), then worked with Brian De Palma and Nicolas Cage on the 1998 thriller Snake Eyes. Tunie's most high-profile work, however, was yet to come. In 2002, she delivered a compelling performance as Alberta Green in the first season of the series thriller 24. In 1999, the actress resumed her portrayal of Jessica Harris on As the World Turns and continued to sporatically return to the role through the 2000s. Beginning in 2000, Tunie also portrayed Melinda Warner on the popular series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Trivia: For his role in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly, talented stage and screen actor B.D. Wong (born Bradley Darryl Wong) would enter into history as the only actor ever to be honored with a Tony, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Clarence Derwent Award, and a Theater World Award for a single performance. Proving equally adept onscreen, Wong's memorable early roles in The Freshman (1990) and Father of the Bride (1991) found him simultaneously attempting to break out of the Asian-American cinema stereotype while seeking out roles that would expand his dramatic capabilities. A native of San Francisco whose musical experimentation during his childhood eventually lead to the discovery of acting, Wong's parents were consistently supportive in nurturing his creative energy. Wong worked his way into Bay Area community theater while still a student at Lincoln High School, and his association with the San Francisco Unified School District proved an essential component in developing his skills as an actor. Following his subsequent graduation from San Francisco State University Wong moved to New York City, where he performed in dinner theater and off-Broadway productions. After making his professional bow in a New York Town Hall production of Androcles and the Lion, Wong began to essay small television roles on such series as Simon & Simon and Sesame Street about the time of his feature debut in The Karate Kid II (1986). Soon thereafter, Wong received coaching from Donald Hotton to prepare for his role in M. Butterfly, and following much critical acclaim, Wong slowly gained onscreen momentum with roles in Jurassic Park (1993) and the HBO AIDS-drama And the Band Played On (both 1993). In his constant search to portray original and diverse characters, Wong had a recurring role as Father Ray Makuda on the HBO series Oz. Subsequent performances included roles in Seven Years in Tibet (1997), voice work in the animated Disney film Mulan (1998), and the crime thriller The Salton Sea (2002). Television viewers became acquainted with Wong through his role on Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit.

Trivia: Unpredictable American actress Christine Lahti majored in drama at the University of Michigan, then toured Europe with a group of pantomimists. She studied with Uta Hagen in New York, taking whatever stage work that came along (including her Obie award-winning performance in an Off-Broadway revival of Little Murders) before being steadily employed on TV. In 1978, Lahti was co-starred in The Harvey Korman Show as Korman's daughter. The following year, she made her first film, ...And Justice for All. A scene stealer par excellence, Lahti often found her film roles reduced in the cutting room, usually at the behest of nervous stars. Her performance as Hazel Zenutti in Swing Shift (1984) was severely pared down after previews, but that didn't prevent Lahti from being nominated for an Oscar. The endearingly off-balance nature of many of Lahti's screen characters is best summed up by her scene in Housekeeping (1987), in which she calmly carries on a conversation while her living room fills up with water. In 1995, Lahti joined the cast of the Emmy-Award-winning TV medical drama Chicago Hope, playing the part of heart-surgeon Dr. Kathryn Austin.

Trivia: Exhibiting perpetual intensity and the dark, hangdog looks of someone who has been run over by life one too many times, Stephen Rea is one of Ireland's most popular and well-respected actors. Although he has acted in films in diverse genres, Rea is most closely associated with his collaborations with director Neil Jordan, particularly The Crying Game, for which he earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations.Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1943, Rea was brought up in a working-class Protestant family. After training at the Abbey Theatre School, he began acting on the stage, screen, and television, making his film debut in the 1970 thriller Cry of the Banshee. He first collaborated with Jordan in 1982 on Angel, a crime drama in which he played a saxophonist who witnesses a number of brutal murders. The two again collaborated in 1984 on The Company of Wolves, a modern retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. That same year, Rea worked with Mike Leigh on Four Days in July; he would later work with him on Leigh's celebrated Life is Sweet (1991). In addition to his work on the screen, Rea formed the Field Day Theatre Company with playwrights Brian Friel and Seamus Heaney, bringing theatre to rural communities across Ireland.In 1992, Rea was introduced to international audiences with his role as an IRA "volunteer" in The Crying Game. Thanks to the film's great success and the praise surrounding his performance, Rea went on to appear in a number of high profile films, including Jordan's adaptation of Interview with the Vampire and Robert Altman's Ready to Wear, in which he gave a delightful portrayal of an egotistical fashion photographer. In addition to further collaborations with Jordan (1996's Michael Collins, 1997's The Butcher Boy), Rea continued to do solid work in films ranging from dramas (This is My Father, 1998) to comedy spoofs (Still Crazy, also 1998). In 1999 alone, Rea could be seen in no less than four divergent films. Following a turn as a psychiatrist in the big-budget thriller In Dreams, he starred as a bohemian photographer with a predilection for young, deeply insecure women in Audrey Wells' celebrated Guinevere. Later that year, he returned to Ireland for I Could Read the Sky and then starred alongside Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes in the adaptation of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair. Over the next several years, Rea would prove to be a consistent presence on screen, appearing in movies like The Good Shepherd, Control, V for Vendetta, and Underworld: Awakening.

Trivia: Actress Deborah Ann Woll began her career with a series of TV guest appearances playing minor roles on episodes of ER, CSI, and My Name Is Earl. Her big break came in 2008 when she was cast in the HBO series True Blood as Jessica Hamby, vampire offspring of Bill Compton.

Trivia: The comely blonde supporting actress Diane Neal is best known for her ongoing portrayal of District Attorney Casey Novak on the blockbuster series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her resumé also includes appearances in such direct-to-video exploitationers as Dracula II: Ascension and Dracula III: Legacy.

Trivia: For many fans, the image of fair-haired actress Stephanie March includes a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses, which she wore for the role of Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot on the series Law & Order: SVU. The role was one of the Texas native's first TV gigs, and she remained with the series from 2000 to 2004, then rejoined the series in 2009. March made her Broadway debut opposite Brian Dennehy in Death of a Salesman, and later appeared in a filmed version of the show. She also appeared in a number of other projects, like the Angelina Jolie spy movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, before reprising the role of Alexandra Cabot for the Law & Order spinoff Conviction. March continued to make memorable guest appearances in shows like Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock and Happy Endings. She had a supporting role in the film Innocence in 2014.

Trivia: Wrote an essay that was published in the book Struggle for Ethnic Identity: Narratives by Asian American Professionals. In 2001, played the role of Florizel in Winter's Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Was the Artistic Associate of the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) in 2005 and has appeared in five NAATCO productions. Played Ariel in the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's stage production of The Tempest in 2009. In 2013, received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Solo Performance for his role as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata's one-person play Hold These Truths.

Trivia: Began acting in community theater productions at age 6. Played on her high-school softball team. Appeared in the short-lived Broadway-bound play Bobbi Boland opposite Farrah Fawcett after arriving in New York in 2002. Costarred in the Web sitcom The Burg. Made television debut on the ABC soap opera All My Children in 2005. Filmed Past Life in Atlanta, Georgia, located about 45 minutes from her hometown of Cumming. Spent a week with real U.S. Marshals to prepare for her starring role in NBC's Chase.

Trivia: Is the son of Cuban immigrants. In his youth, aspired to become a baseball player or a lawyer, or join the Coast Guard. Was a lifeguard in Miami as a teen. Met his future wife, Lilly, during a middle-school theater class when they were just 13. They continued their education together through junior high, high school, college and graduate school. Off-camera pursuits include writing; received writing credits on the Cold Case episodes "Stealing Home" (2009) and "Metamorphosis" (2010).

Trivia: UCLA grad Joanna Merlin made her first film appearance in 1956, as one of Jethro's daughters in the Cecil B. DeMille superspectacular The Ten Commandments. Five years later she first stepped on a Broadway stage in Jean Anouilh's Becket. Her subsequent theatrical credits include the role of Tzeitel in the original 1964 production of Fiddler on the Roof. In films, she has specialized in such ethnically oriented character roles as the landlady in Hester Street (1975). From bag ladies to judges, Merlin has played 'em all. More recently, Joanna Merlin has functioned as a Hollywood casting director.

Trivia: Met her husband onstage during a theater production, which is the same way her parents met. Considers her parents the most influential people in her career. Appeared on Broadway in Getting Away With Murder in 1996. Won a Robby Award (a California theater award) for her performance in The Violet Hour with South Coast Repertory in 2002.

Trivia: John F. O'Donohue may not be as well known as Dennis Farina, Eddie Egan, or Barney Martin -- three police officers who became television stars -- but he's in the running. A 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, O'Donohue joined the acting profession in the late '80s and ascended to bit parts in movies, moving up to supporting and guest-starring roles in television before reaching regular status on NYPD Blue in 2004. Born in New York, he was a career officer who rose as high as lieutenant in the Midtown North precinct, turning to acting as an outlet for feelings he repressed as a police officer. After some classes, and appearances in off-off-Broadway productions, he made his debut in the Ben Stiller-directed MTV program Colin Quinn: Back to Brooklyn. O'Donohue retired from the force and moved to Los Angeles to pursue work in television, making appearances in bit roles in episodes of Knots Landing and Reasonable Doubts, but it was Stiller who pulled him out of the pack of working actors. Stiller remembered O'Donohue's work in the MTV show when he was putting together the cast for his FOX network satirical series The Ben Stiller Show, and made him a regular on the series. O'Donohue showed his comedic abilities as a member of Stiller's stock company, and he later worked on The John Larroquette Show as a regular cast member in addition to appearances in series such as Knots Landing, Reasonable Doubts, and Matlock. He was a natural at playing cops (and also, occasionally, firemen), not just by experience but also with his easy New York working-class vernacular, bald physiognomy, and muscular presence. He made his first appearance on NYPD Blue in 1994 as a court clerk in the second season lead-off episode "Trials and Tribulations" and its follow-up, "From Whom the Skell Rolls." O'Donohue made the rounds on television, alternating between dramas and comedies, including Mad About You, Seinfeld, The Single Guy, Chicago Hope, Brooklyn South, Cybill, Diagnosis Murder, and Columbo, in ever larger parts. One of his funniest guest appearances was in the 1998 "Civil War" episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, playing Harry, the Civil War reenactor friend of Peter Boyle's Frank Barone. Although it was drama that would make O'Donohue into a star, he got there by way of his ability with comedy. In 2000, he rejoined NYPD Blue as a recurring cast member, portraying Detective Eddie Gibson, a veteran cop who's gone a little bit goofy working the night tour at the 15th squad, a character intended to interact comically with Dennis Franz's taciturn, slow-burning Detective Andy Sipowicz. O'Donohue was good enough as Gibson that the character was brought back and embellished over the ensuing seasons, presented as a man out-of-his-depth in modern detective work, but who also has a big heart where kids are concerned. In March 2004, O'Donohue rejoined the cast as a regular in March of 2004, playing newly promoted squad commander Det./Sgt. Eddie Gibson, still a tiny bit goofy, but knowing his limitations. During that season of the cop drama, O'Donohue gave a vivid portrayal of the increasingly rare old-fashioned cop, probably second generation on the force and Irish on at least one side, and likely a member of the Emerald Society. His presence on the series since 2000 was reminiscent of actors such as Horace McMahon on Naked City, among dozens of others, and provided the show with a great degree of verisimilitude.

Trivia: Learning the ropes at the Bucks County Playhouse and New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, Jessica Walter, born January 31st, 1949, made her Broadway debut in 1961's Advise and Consent. The raven-haired leading lady was then seen on a regular basis in several Manhattan-based TV programs, including the daytimer Love of Life and the 1965 nighttime series For the People. In films from 1964, Jessica was one of eight young female "newcomers" (Candice Bergen, Elizabeth Hartman, Joanna Pettet et. al.) who went on to greater things after appearing en masse in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). Her flashiest screen role was as the dangerously possessive "number one fan" Evelyn Draper in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me (1971). Of her many weekly-TV assignments, Walter's title role in the mid-'70s cop series Amy Prentiss garnered her the most attention; that is, until recently, when Walter found late-career acclaim on the award-winning sitcom Arrested Development. As the insensitive, materialistic matriarch of the Bluth family, Walter garnered a plum comedic role, and Emmy attention to boot. Walter continued to remain active in television appearances following the cancellation of Arrested Development, and joined the cast of the Broadway revival of Anything Goes in 2011.

Trivia: Is of Jewish descent.Started his acting career in theaters.Made his debut on television and film in 1993.Used to read novels out loud to his wife when their child was a toddler.In 2019, he supported the Riley's Way Foundation, aimed to provide teen lead projects to inspire them kindness.Is skilled at tennis.

Trivia: Elizabeth Shepherd is a British-born actress with extensive theatrical and television experience, as well as feature film work to her credit. Shepherd has played starring and featured roles in pictures such as Michael Powell's The Queen's Guards (1962) and Roger Corman's The Tomb of Ligeia (1964). But perhaps her most well-known small-screen credit involves a role that she was never seen in by the public -- in 1964, following the departure of Honor Blackman from the cast of The Avengers television series, Shepherd was announced as her replacement in the role of Mrs. Emma Peel; and two episodes, "Town of No Return" and "The Murder Market," were filmed -- but then she was dropped from the role and replaced by Diana Rigg, who also appeared in re-shot versions of both of those episodes.Shepherd (sometimes misspelled Shephard or Sheppard) was born in London, the daughter of a Methodist missionary. She attended Bristol University as a drama major and her theatrical career began not long after, and it has encompassed major roles in the works of Shakespeare, Shaw, and Ibsen. Her television credits include episodes of Dixon of Dock Green, with Jack Warner, and Danger Man (aka Secret Agent), with Patrick McGoohan; the matter of The Avengers was barely a hiccup in her work, to judge from her list of credits in those years. She has described herself as the "Queen of the BBC miniseries," though she has also had some memorable film roles -- in addition to her work with Powell, and her performance opposite Vincent Price in The Tomb of Ligeia, she was the doomed journalist in Don Taylor's Damien: Omen II. She has also worked in American soap operas, and in more recent years has added voice work in animated series such as The Silver Surfer and The Avengers -- as the voices of Infinity and Agatha Harkness, respectively -- to her long list of credits. Since the 1970s, she has resided principally in Canada and performed extensively on-stage in England and America.