Sela Ward

Sela Ann Ward (born July 11, 1956 in Meridian, Mississippi) is an American actress, most widely known for her Emmy Award-winning television roles as free-spirited Teddy Reed on Sisters (1991-96) and single mother Lily Manning on Once and Again (1999-2002). She is also noted for her portrayal of the murdered wife of Harrison Ford's character in the Oscar-nominated film version of The Fugitive.

Career

While working in New York City as a storyboard artist for multimedia presentations, the 5'7" Ward began modeling to supplement her income. She was recruited by the Wilhelmina agency and was soon featured in television commercials promoting Maybelline cosmetics.

Ward eventually moved to California to pursue acting and landed her first film role in the Burt Reynolds vehicle, The Man Who Loved Women, released in 1983. Her first regular role in a television drama series (as a beautiful socialite on Emerald Point, NAS) followed in the same year. Ward subsequently played variations on the same character in films and television guest spots throughout the 1980s, most notably opposite Tom Hanks in 1986's Nothing in Common. This pattern persisted until she aggressively pursued and won the role of the bohemian alcoholic Teddy Reed on Sisters, for which she received her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994.

Ward also won a CableACE Award for her portrayal of the late television journalist Jessica Savitch in the 1995 TV movie Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story. But capitalizing on her accolades proved difficult as they coincided with a surge in films and programming marketed primarily at teenagers. A 39-year-old Ward was passed over for a Bond girl role, learning that even though then-Bond Pierce Brosnan was 42, the casting director said "What we really want is Sela, but Sela ten years ago."[1] In response, she developed and produced a documentary, The Changing Face of Beauty, about American obsession with youth and its effect on women.

Ward succeeded actress Candice Bergen as commercial spokesperson for Sprint's long distance telephone service from 1999 until 2002, when landline long distance promotions fell out of favor. She also appeared on Frasier as supermodel/zoologist Kelly Easterbrook in the fifth season opener ("Frasier's Imaginary Friend").

When she read for the role of Lily Brooks Manning on the series Once and Again, its creators (Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz of thirtysomething fame) initially deemed Ward "too beautiful" for the average single mother to identify with. After landing the part, she received her second lead actress Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for her efforts.

In 2005, she began a recurring role in the series House as Stacy Warner, the hospital's former attorney who happens to be the ex-partner of the protagonist, Dr. Gregory House (played by British actor Hugh Laurie).

Ward was originally offered the role of Megan Donner on CSI:Miami and Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives, but turned both down. The parts later went to Kim Delaney and Teri Hatcher, respectively. Ward says she does not want another lead role in an hour-long series due to the time away from her family it would require. [2] She developed and produced a pilot for a half-hour situation comedy (in which she would also star) for CBS' 2006 season but it was not selected by the network for its roster.

She currently is the national spokesperson for Comcast digital voice.

Personal

Ward is the eldest of four children born to Granberry Holland Ward and the late Annie Kate Ward, who died of ovarian cancer in 2002.

She attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she performed as one of the Crimson Tide cheerleaders, was homecoming queen, and dated football star and future Miami Dolphin Bob Baumhower. She double-majored in Art and Advertising, graduating in 1977. She presently performs narration for the university's nationally-televised commercials.

Ward dated actor Richard Dean Anderson for three years and was once engaged to actor Peter Weller. Since 1992, she has been married to wealthy venture capitalist Howard Sherman; they have two children, Austin (b. 1994) and Anabella (b. 1998).

After meeting two foster children during a holiday trip home to Mississippi in 1997,[3] Ward decided to meet a broader need for abused and neglected children by initiating and partially funding the creation of an emergency shelter for those awaiting placement in foster homes. Housed on a 30-acre property once used as a Masonic orphanage, Hope Village for Children opened in Ward's hometown of Meridian in January 2002 and is intended to serve as a pilot for a nationwide network of similar shelters. In 2006, Hope Village provided over 10,000 nights of service to over 200 children in need. [4]

A business district portion of 22nd Avenue in Meridian (from 6th Street to the I-20 interchange) has been named Sela Ward Parkway in Ward's honor. [5]

In 2002, Ward published her autobiography, Homesick: A Memoir, through HarperCollins' ReganBooks imprint.

Selected filmography

Awards

• Emmy Award, Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Sisters, 1994.
• CableACE Award, Best Lead Actress in a Movie or Miniseries, Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, 1995.
• Emmy Award, Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Once and Again, 2000.
• Golden Globe Award, Best Actress in a TV Series Drama, Once and Again, 2001.

Trivia

• As a guest star on Batman: The Animated Series, she played the role of Calendar Girl, a villain obsessed with the aging process, which in turn acted as an expose with the American obsession with youth. The episode, Mean Seasons, first aired in 1998. Two years later, she developed and produced The Changing Face of Beauty, a documentary which coincidentally looked at this exact same issue.

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