Sharon Lawrence
NWHM Ambassador Sharon Lawrence is a multiple Emmy-nominated and SAG Award-winning actress, often known for her roles on NYPD Blue, Grey's Anatomy (for which she earned her fourth EMMY nod), Monk, Law and Order: SVU, Rizzoli & Isles, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, among many others. Her fifth EMMY nomination came in 2021 as Lead Actress in a digital series, The Gaze.
You can find Sharon starring in streaming shows opposite Kirsten Dunst in the Showtime series On Becoming a God in Central Florida and Home Before Dark for Apple. Many recurring roles include CW’s Dynasty and CBS’s Criminal Minds, Showtime’s Shameless, Netflix’s The Ranch opposite Sam Elliott, Amazon’s The Last Tycoon, and the critically acclaimed series Queen Sugar, produced by Ava DuVernay. She was also seen in Jenny Mollen’s series I Like You Just the Way I Am for ABC digital, the unforgettable crossover episode of How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal, Blunt Talk with Sir Patrick Stewart, NBC’s Game of Silence, and several beloved holiday movies including the two-time GLAAD Award nominated, The Christmas House on Hallmark. Sharon also headlined her own comedy series, Fired Up, with Leah Rimini, Mark Feurestein, and Jonathan Banks for NBC and starred in Ladies Man starring Alfred Molina and Betty White for CBS. Other prominent appearances include her much Twittered about stints on One Tree Hill and Drop Dead Diva. Audiences also saw her on Community, The Mentalist, and Body of Proof.
Film work includes Solace with Sir Anthony Hopkins, The Lost Husband with Leslie Bibb and Josh Duhamel, and the indie hit Middle of Nowhere, directed by Ava DuVernay (Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival 2012; two Gotham Award and four Spirit nominations.)
An accomplished stage actress and 2012 Lunt-Fontane Ten Chimneys Fellow, Sharon most recently won Best Performance as Katharine Graham at United Solo Festival in NYC for The Shot, a play about the lauded publisher of the Washington Post. LA theatre includes her acclaimed performance in The Mystery of Love and Sex at the Mark Taper Forum; playing twenty different women in the Love, Noel cabaret at The Wallis; Noel Coward’s final play, A Song at Twilight; and as Vivan Leigh in Orson's Shadow, for which she was nominated for an Ovation Award and won the LA Drama Critics Circle Award. Sharon created the role of Maureen in the premier of Theresa Rebeck’s Poor Behavior at the Mark Taper Forum, and her last Broadway appearance was as Velma Kelly in Chicago.
Sharon earned her BA in journalism in 1983 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, while playing leads in many productions at UNC-CH Playmakers Repertory Theater including The Three Sisters, The Greeks, and Juliet in an original musical of Shakespeare’s most famous romance called Star-Crossed Lovers. She has been honored with UNC-Chapel Hill’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award and served on the Board of Directors for the university’s General Alumni Association. In addition to serving as an Ambassador for the National Women's History Museum and speaking out for protection of endangered polar bears for the World Wildlife Fund, Sharon is the second vice president of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and is current Chair of the Board of Heal The Bay. Other acknowledgements of achievement include Prism, Method Fest, and Drama Logue Awards.