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Emily Mallory Procter (born October 8, 1968) is an American actress best known for her leading female role as Calleigh Duquesne in CSI: Miami and her recurring role as Ainsley Hayes in The West Wing. A gorgeous, perky blond with milky white skin, a petite figure and a snappy twang, Emily Procter has built a strong career out of her Steel Magnolia-style Southern charm. Procter was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a graduate of Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. While at East Carolina University she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After she received her degrees in journalism and dance at East Carolina, she was employed as a television weather anchor at WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina. When the Raleigh, North Carolina, native tried to get into the theater department at East Carolina University, they told the future “CSI: Miami” star that they were full. Procter studied journalism and dance instead and got a job as a weather girl on the Greenville CBS affiliate while working on her degrees. She moved to Los Angeles after graduation and her father paid for her acting classes for two years. Her first Hollywood speaking role was an appearance in Tobey Maguire’s extremely short-lived series “Great Scott” (Fox, 1992). The former sorority girl and soup kitchen volunteer ironically got early breaks with a small role in “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995) and an appearance that year on NBC’s powerhouse sit-com “Friends.” Procter then made a string of TV guest appearances, including “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” and “Early Edition.” She also played an anchorwoman on a 1997 episode of the NBC sit-com “Just Shoot Me." After the move to Los Angeles, her father provided the costs for acting school for two years. Before even graduating, she had already landed a number of small roles in films such as Jerry Maguire (1996) and Breast Men (1997), where she appeared along with David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper. During the 1995–96 season (season 3) of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, she portrayed Lana Lang the first blond actress to ever do so. She also briefly appeared in the 1997 TV movie The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! as Mavis. Her movie credentials quickly started piling up with a role as one of Tom Cruise’s ex-girlfriends in “Jerry Maguire” (1996), followed by a part in the well-reviewed HBO movie “Breast Men” (1997) opposite David Schwimmer. In the film, two plastic surgeons (Schwimmer and Chris Cooper) pioneer silicone breast implants Procter plays the object of Schwimmer’s desire who becomes first his patient and then his wife and partner. The film includes eyebrow-raising shots of Procter before and after a staged augmentation. The first shot is the real Emily Procter, while the second is a CGI-enhanced shot of her upper body. The late 90s brought many movie roles Procter’s way, including: “The Girl Gets Moe” (1997) with Tony Danza, the telepic “The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion” (1997): “Family Plan” (1998) with Leslie Nielsen, Judge Reinhold and Joely Fischer; the indie “Kingdom Come” (1999) and the well-reviewed “Guinevere” (1999) as one of Stephen Rea's many former students/paramours. Proctor played Whitney, the cool dance club employee, in “Body Shots” (1999), the underwhelming graphic 90s dating expose with Amanda Peet, Sean Patrick Flannery, Tara Reid. She then appeared in the hair industry mockumentary “The Big Tease” (1999) and “Forever Fabulous” (2000) with Jean Smart. She also had a recurring guest role as Associate White House Counsel Ainsley Hayes on NBC's The West Wing. She landed her breakthrough with the role of Calleigh Duquesne in the television series CSI: Miami, which has been running on American television since 2002. She took the role after consulting with her friend Jorja Fox. Her star rose to new heights in 2000, when she joined “The West Wing,” cast in a breakout role as the endearingly ultra-verbal, tough-minded aide Ainsley Hayes, the lone Republican on Jeb Bartlett’s White House staff, as well as the only potential love interest to ignite real sparks with Rob Lowe’s character, Sam Seaborn. As Ainsely provided a conservative political counterpoint to the left-leaning main characters, many “West Wing” fans mourned her quick and unexplained departure following the 2002 season. Off-screen, Procter’s star was on the rise: she soon reappeared as the gorgeous, tough, gun-toting Detective Calleigh Duquesne on the forensic franchise spin-off “CSI: Miami” (CBS, 2002 - ), a role that made her a household name, particularly after her character received more screen time following first-season lead Kim Delany’s departure. She next co-starred alongside Martin Lawrence in “Big Momma’s House 2” (2006), playing a clueless Southern belle who hires the FBI agent disguised as Big Momma to be a nanny to her children. She participated in 2007's LiveEarth by reading (along with several other actresses) an essay written by Michelle Gardner-Quinn while Gardner-Quinn was a student at the University of Vermont. |
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