Maura Tierney

About

Maura Lynn Tierney (born February 3, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on the sitcom NewsRadio (1995–1999), Abby Lockhart on the medical drama ER (1999–2009), and Helen Solloway on the mystery drama The Affair (2014–2019), the last of which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.
Tierney has also appeared in films including Primal Fear (1996), Liar Liar (1997), Primary Colors (1998), Insomnia (2002), The Iron Claw (2023), and Twisters (2024).

Tierney was born and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, the eldest of three children in an Irish American Catholic family. Her mother Pat (née James) is a real estate broker, while her father, Joseph M. Tierney, was a prominent Boston politician who served on the Boston City Council for 15 years.
Tierney attended Mount Alvernia Academy Elementary School and Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, where she studied drama, which led to her appearance at the Boston Globe Drama Festival. After graduation, she attended New York University, where she majored first…