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Mary Margaret Helgenberger (born November 16, 1958) is an American Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated film and television actress. Helgenberger is known for her role as Catherine Willows in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and her role as KC Koloski in China Beach, for which she won an Emmy. A comely, red-haired leading lady with an open-faced, forceful manner, Marg Helgenberger began on the small screen as the feisty rookie police officer Siobhan Ryan on ABC's Irish-flavored daytime soap, "Ryan's Hope". After some primetime guest spots, she landed a regular role supporting Margot Kidder and James Reid on the short-lived CBS series about two former con artists, "Shell Game" (1987). She fared better with her second series, winning an Emmy for the provocative Vietnam War drama, "China Beach" (1988-91). As K.C., a prostitute who attaches herself to a M.A.S.H. unit in Vietnam, Helgenberger brought forthright feminist insights to her brash, hard-bitten character. Though she would have a recurring role as George Clooney's love interest on NBC's popular medical drama "ER" in 1996, she had to wait for her return as a series regular until the Las Vegas-set "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS, 2000- ). Cast as senior forensics investigator Catherine Willows, who tries to balance work and motherhood, the actress enjoyed a meaty role that earned her an Emmy nomination in its first season. Marg (pronounced with a hard "G," unlike the name Marge) Helgenberger was born in Fremont, Nebraska, the daughter of Kay, a nurse, and Hugh Helgenberger, a meat inspector. Her father was German-American and her mother is Irish-American and had a Catholic upbringing. Marg has one older sister named Ann and a younger brother named Curt. One of her first jobs, as a teenager, was spending her summers and her Christmas breaks working as a "boner" at the meat packing plant where her father was employed. Helgenberger played the French horn in her high school (North Bend Central High School) marching band. Until she went to college, Helgenberger wanted to be a nurse like her mother. Marg attended the attended Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) in Kearney, Neb., then attend Northwestern Alumnus School of Speech in Evanston, Illinois (now the School of Communications) and earned a degree B.S degree in Speech and Drama. Originally planning to be a nurse like her mother, Helgenberger got her start as a nightly local news weather girl in her hometown Nebraska (her name was changed by the producer to Margi McCarty) and as a meat boner at the meat packing plant her father was working at during the day. After portraying the role of Blanche Dubois in a university production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” she was bitten by the acting bug. While performing in a summer of 1981 NU campus productions of Shakespeare's “Taming of the Shrew,” in which she played Kate, Marg was spotted by a scout for the TV show “Ryan's Hope.” Soon after completing college, Marg landed her first professional acting role on the long-running soap opera, playing uptight amateur cop Siobhan Ryan Novak (1982-1986), which was previously played by Sarah Felder and Ann Gillespie but Helgenberger is the one most identified with the part. After being replaced by Carrell Myers in 1986, Marg guest starred in an episode of ABC's mystery/detective series based on Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" novels, "Spenser: For Hire," NBC's legal drama "Matlock" and ABC's ground-breaking, award-winning drama "thirtysomething." She also played a regular role as Natalie Thayer, opposite Margot Kidder and James Reid, on CBS’ six-episode drama comedy series "Shell Game" (1987). Karen Charlene "K.C." Koloski, a heroin addicted prostitute on the ABC war drama series "China Beach," was Marg’s first prominent role. Her performance from 1988 to 1991 on the highly-acclaimed dramatic series won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1990. After making her feature debut as an all-night answering service operator in the mediocre anthology thriller "After Midnight", Helgenberger had a small role in Steven Spielberg's engaging fantasy "Always" (both 1989). But her bread-and-butter through the 90s were TV-movies and miniseries, many of which were made for the Lifetime Channel: "Death Dreams" (1991), "A Friend in Need" segment of "The Hidden Room" series (1991), "Lie Down with the Lions" (1994), "Giving Up the Ghost" (1998), and "Keys to Her Past" (1999) to name a few. Though "Stephen King's The Tommyknockers" (ABC, 1993) was not one of the better made-for-TV King adaptations, "Peacemaker" (PBS, 1991) was a thoughtful drama of life in the nuclear 1950s, and the CBS drama "In Sickness and in Health" (1992) offered her the plum role of Mickey, the lusty caretaker who befriends her charge (Lesley Ann Warren) suffering from multiple sclerosis, only to betray that trust by sleeping with her husband (Tom Skerritt). Her leading role in "The Cowboy Way" (1994) offered Helgenberger some feature exposure, as did "Species" (1995) and its regrettable 1998 sequel "Species II", "My Fellow American" (1996) and "Fire Down Below" (1997), but nothing about her work in these films would erase perceptions of her as a TV actress. Meanwhile, in 1989, Marg made her feature film debut in a leading role as an all-night answering service operator in one segment of the Wheat brothers’ horror anthology After Midnight. She followed it up with a role in Steven Spielberg's romantic comedy-drama Always (starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman), a modern version of the original 1943 Victor Fleming film A Guy Named Joe. During the early to mid 1990s, Marg played roles in Michael Bortman's adaptation of Robert Boswell's novel, Crooked Hearts (1991; with Peter Berg, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Noah Wyle and Peter Coyote), Gregg Champion's action comedy The Cowboy Way (1994), in which she played Woody Harrelson's love interest, and had a small role as Capt. Alison Sinclair in Michael Bay's action comedy film starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, Bad Boys (1995). She also played Dr. Laura Baker, a molecular biologist, in Roger Donaldson's sci-fi thriller starring Natasha Henstridge, Species (1995), and later reprised the role in the sequel, Species II (1998). With Tom Hanks' "I'll Be Waiting" (1993) segment of the "Fallen Angels" series, Helgenberger began an association with Showtime which would include Peter Weller's "Partners" (1994, from the "Directed By" series), "Conundrum" (1996), "Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast" (1997), "Thanks of a Grateful Nation" (1998) and "Happy Face Murders" (1999). Excellent as the sex-starved widow of "Gold Coast", in which she rejoined Weller, she delivered arguably her best performance as the sister of a veteran felled by Gulf War Syndrome in the critically-acclaimed "Thanks of a Grateful Nation". During that time, TV viewers could also catch her in such television films Blind Vengeance, Lifetime’s Death Dreams, PBS’ historical documentary Not on the Frontline (as a narrator) and CBS’ In Sickness and in Health. Additionally, she was also seen opposite Bruno Kirby in I'll Be Waiting, a segment of Showtime's Fallen Angels helmed by Tom Hanks, and as a novelist on the ABC miniseries Stephen King's The Tommyknockers opposite Gary Cole. She was also seen in the CBS miniseries When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn and made her first collaboration with director Peter Weller in Showtime's Partners. After playing a recurring role as George Clooney's love interest on NBC's popular medical drama ER, Marg became David Caruso's sex-starved widow on Showtime’s Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast, helmed by Weller, and starred as a woman involved with Steven Segal in the 1997 cult action film Fire Down Below. She also starred as a talk show host on Murder Live and portrayed the furious sibling to Steven Weber's character on Showtime's miniseries about the elusive Gulf War Syndrome, Thanks of a Grateful Nation. She also starred opposite Ann-Margret in Showtime's Happy Face Murders. She was equally terrific in NBC's "Murder Live!" (1997) as shallow talk-show host Pia Postman and "Perfect Town, Perfect Murder" (2000), a thoughtful CBS miniseries look into the killing of JonBenet Ramsey. That year also found her in her biggest feature success to date, playing the woman whose medical condition leads Julia Roberts to uncover evidence of corporate wrongdoing in Steven Soderbergh's "Erin Brockovich". She appeared next in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama by PaulWeitz, “In Good Company” (2004), in which she played the pregnant wife of a recently demoted executive (Dennis Quad). Helgenberger scored another big break when she snagged the co-starring role of Catherine Willows, a former show girl employed as a blood spatter analyst on the popular Emmy Award-winning CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Her performance as the female lead has earned her two Emmy Award two Golden Globe nominations. In 2005, she and her fellow cast members won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. When CSI first started filming, Helgenberger visited the Clark County Coroner’s Office (Las Vegas) to see how things were really done. She even viewed autopsies that were being performed. Helgenberger has stated that she was angered at the franchising of CSI.[citation needed] She has also stated that she is unlikely to stay past her current contract on CSI which ends in 2008.[citation needed] She says that she often plays hacky sack with the guys during their free time on set. Helgenberger got the chance to act with her husband, Alan Rosenberg, again when he guest starred on CSI, season 5 (Weeping Willows) and season 7 (Leaving Las Vegas). During her hefty stint on the hit show, Marg supported Julia Roberts in the true story-based, Oscar-winning film Erin Brockovich and portrayed Patsy Ramsey in the CBS miniseries about the mysterious murder of 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant JonBenét Ramsey in Perfect Murder, Perfect Town. She also starred as Dennis Quaid’s wife and Scarlett Johansson’s mother in writer-director Paul Weitz's romantic drama comedy In Good Company (2004) and appeared on Pond's Smooth Perfection Skin Cream 2005 print ad. Recently, on June 1, 2007, Marg's latest film, Mr. Brooks, was released. In the gripping suspense thriller directed by Bruce A. Evans, she co-stars as the beautiful, loving wife to Kevin Costner. Demi Moore, William Hurt and Dane Cook also star in the film. About the film, Marg said, “It’s one of the only scripts I’ve read in my life that I really didn’t think I could put down. It has style, suspense, thrills and the characters really get under your skin because they are such complicated and tortured souls.” Marg is currently filming Conan: Red Nails, in which she will provide the voice of Princess Tascela, and writer-director Charles Burmeister's upcoming thriller, Columbus Day, starring Val Kilmer. In 2005, Universal Studios submitted Helgenberger in the best supporting actress category for the Oscars for her performance as Ann Foreman in her 2004 movie In Good Company. In 2007, She was featured in the movies Conan: Red Nails and Mr. Brooks. In Mr. Brooks her character's daughter is played by Danielle Panabaker, the sister of Kay Panabaker, who plays Catherine Willow's daughter on "CSI" In mid 2006, Helgenberger’s home town of North Bend, Nebraska, population 1213, renamed the street on which Helgenberger had her childhood home "Helgenberger Avenue." While not appearing in-frame, she is the unrequited love interest of the bespectacled amphibian Buddy in Mark Heath's "Spot the Frog" comic strip. It has been reported that Season 8 of CSI is going to be her last. Helgenberger continues to be included in lists of Hollywood's Most Beautiful. In 2003 she was listed on People Magazine’s "50 Most Beautiful People", #16 on VH1's 40 Hottest Women over 40, number 15 of The 25 Most Attractive (Famous) Women in America in 2004, she was Esquire Magazine’s “5 More Women We Love” in 2002, in 2004 she ranked number 35, 30, 29, 20, 17, 12 and 9 on The Glamour Girls Hot 100 due to her movie In Good Company and her TV Guide cover. She was on the list for about 10 weeks and spent 1 week on the top ten. She is the 4th oldest woman to be in the top ten, her character, Catherine Willows, along with the character of Gil Grissom, was named number 82 in "Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters" and on March 2006 Catherine Willows was named number 6 on The Star's Top Ten Hottests TV Characters, in 2007, she was named one of the most pleasant celebrities on E! online's Answer B!tch Q&A page, and on March 2007 Helgenberger was named one of the sexiest TV stars of 2007 by TV Guide Magazine. In 2003, Helgenberger was asked to pose in Playboy Magazine but turned it down. In fact, Helgenberger's only three on-screen nude appearances to date were in the 1996 film "Frame By Frame", a brief topless shot in the sci-fi thriller Species in which her scene was overshadowed greatly by Natasha Henstridges extensive nude scenes and a brief side view of her right breast as she put on a bra in series two, episode twelve of "Tales from the Crypt". Helgenberger and Jorja Fox sang Stand by Me as a duet for What a Pair 4!! This is an annual charity event to raise money for breast cancer research. CSI co-star Gary Dourdan's nickname for Helgenberger is "Margalicious”. Helgenberger's production company "Don't Call Me Marge!" is her humorous jab at people’s mispronunciation of her name. She loves the Steely Dan song “Babylon Sisters” for the lyrics “Drive west on Sunset to the sea,” which she and her husband did on their first date. In 1984, Marg Helgenberger met Alan Rosenberg, a guest actor on Ryan's Hope. The two became friends and started dating in 1986. They married in 1989 and have one son, Hugh Howard Rosenberg (born October 21, 1990), named after Marg Helgenberger's late father, Hugh Helgenberger. A result of Marg Helgenberger's mother's 27 year battle against breast cancer, Marg Helgenberger and her husband Alan Rosenberg have become involved in the fight against breast cancer. They host the Marg and Alan's Celebrity Weekend every year in Omaha, Nebraska and have done so since 1997. |
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