Laura Leggett Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964, into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright Romulus Linney, whose own great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother, Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her father's house (her parents having divorced when she was an infant), Linney's world revolved, in part, around his profession from the earliest age. She graduated from Brown University in 1986 and studied acting at Juilliard and the Arts Theatre School in Moscow and, thereafter, embarked on a career on the Broadway stage receiving favorable notices for her work in such plays as "Hedda Gabler" and "Six Degrees of Separation".

Linney's film career began in the early 1990s with small roles in Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and Dave (1993). She landed the role of Mary Anne Singleton in the PBS film adaptations of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series, playing her in Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City (1998) and Further Tales of the City (2001). Linney's first substantial big-screen role was as the ex-girlfriend of Richard Gere's character in Primal Fear (1996) and her superb performance brought her praise and a better selection of roles. Clint Eastwood chose Linney to play his daughter, another prominent role, in 1997's Absolute Power (1997), followed by another second billing in the following year's The Truman Show (1998).

Always a strong performer, Linney truly came into her own after 2000, starting the decade auspiciously with her widely-praised, arguably flawless performance in You Can Count on Me (2000). She found herself nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first lead role, for which her salary had been $10,000. Linney won numerous critics' awards for her role as Sammy, a single mother whose life is complicated by a new boss and the arrival in town of her aimless brother. On the heels of this success came her marvelous turn as Bertha Dorset in The House of Mirth (2000), clearly the best performance in a film of strong performances. Since then, Linney has frequently been offered challenging dramatic roles, and always rises to the occasion, such as in Mystic River (2003) and Kinsey (2004), for which she received another Academy Award nomination.

Upgrade membership to get access to client roster details.

Upgrade to see how you're connected to other professionals through your credits.

Upgrade membership to unlock contact and representation information.

Upgrade membership to unlock box office data.

Upgrade membership to add and manage your images.

Select your profession and Known For titles

Access full contact and representation details

Find the right people with Discover advanced search

View contact info and get hired with IMDbPro

Add your primary image and get discovered

Find contact info for agents and management

View connections to industry professionals

See who's working on in-development titles

Upgrade membership to access historical STARmeter charts for yourself and other professionals.

Get insights on who this person is frequently credited with.

Upgrade membership to add and manage demo reels.

Kevin Kline and Laura Linney in American Classic (2026)

Laura Linney and Jon Tenney in American Classic (2026)

Brooke Shields and Laura Linney in Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (2023)

Jason Bateman and Laura Linney in A Hard Way to Go (2022)

Jason Bateman and Laura Linney in Ozark (2017)

Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Katrina Lenk, and Julia Garner in Ozark (2017)

Laura Linney, Kristin Davis, and Andy Cohen in Kristin Davis & Laura Linney (2022)

Laura Linney in You Can Count on Me (2000)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Laura Linney

Laura Linney

Known for

Credits summary

Photos729

Videos144

STARmeter

Contacts

Frequently credited with