Laurie Metcalf

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The theater, called Steppenwolf, became one of the most acclaimed theatre companies in the US. Maybe you were lucky enough to see Laurie in the Off-Broadway rendition of Balm in Gilead back in the 80s – she won a bunch of awards for her part in it.

You almost definitely know Laurie from TV’s Roseanne. For 9 years she played Jackie, Roseanne’s sister on the show. She’s now starring in The Conners, the ABC produced spinoff of the show.

In 2017, she was nominated for her first Academy Award for her starring role opposite Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird, the fascinating, beautiful coming of age film directed by Greta Gerwig.

The movie centers around the title character, Lady Bird McPherson, a high school senior living in Sacramento, California. She’s played by Ronan. Lady Bird dreams of leaving Sacramento, moving to the east coast, going… wherever writers live, she says.

These days, Laurie’s been working a lot on Broadway. She’s been nominated for a bunch of Tony’s and won 2017’s Best Actress award for her role in A Doll’s House Part II. In a profile earlier this month the New York Times called her “The First Lady of American Theater.”

This interview originally aired in February of 2018