After years of taking on iconic roles and earning countless accolades in front of the camera, she is embarking on her next chapter and looking to get behind it.
After joining the cast of the iconic and enduring Law & Order in the show’s 24th season, Maura Tierney is reminding the world once again why she’s been a constant presence on our screens for decades.
A career like Boston native Maura Tierney’s is a Hollywood badge of honor, and when speaking with her, it is immediately evident why she has remained booked and busy for the better part of 40 years. From her Golden Globe-winning performance as Helen Solloway on Showtime’s The Affair, to flexing her comedic chops as Lisa Miller in the cult-favorite NewsRadio, to her 10-season run as the beloved Abby Lockheart on ER, it seems there is no role Tierney cannot take on.
When I got the chance to speak to Tierney, she was palpably kind in a way that translated even through the phone. She seems like the type of person that would fill you in on the inside joke you missed in a room full of close friends just so you don’t feel left out. Throughout our conversation, she had a dry, clever sense of humor and pleasant equanimity, so I was surprised when she recounted her shyness as a challenge she faced early on in her career. “I always loved acting, but I think I was a very shy person, so it hasn’t always been so easy breezy for me on set, especially when I was younger,” she shared.
It was the close bonds with castmates and her natural growth through earned experience that she credits for getting her out of her shell, “You learn how to cope with it [shyness], but I think I used to be a lot more timid and the longer I got to work and the greater actors I got to work with, you know, you get more confidence which is really nice. And I think actually from my first real real job I had, which was on NewsRadio, we loved each other. I got really fortunate that way…It’s not that often that you get a group or a cast that is so deeply fond of one another and works well together and I think I got that on NewsRadio so I had an understanding of that. And then ER, obviously, and then I was another person, and then I was in my 40s and it was different. I had a little more ease about myself.”
Tierney’s own level-headed demeanor can be seen in many of the characters she’s played throughout her decades-long career. I asked if she intentionally brought her own personality traits to the characters she’s embodied over the years, or if she shoots for roles that stray from her natural state. “I think they’re always sort of me because, well, it’s me. There’s nowhere to get around that,” she said. Tierney went on to share that she pulled some inspiration from tender personal experiences to deliver her award-winning performance in the hit drama The Affair. “I was divorced not that long before I did that show and it wasn’t my call. I didn’t pick it. So, I had that experience. I don’t know how much of my personal experience I brought with it, but I understood emotionally getting the rug pulled out from under you that way from someone you’re really in love with…I think it’s a mishmash. It’s a mixture of inspiration and what comes from me,” she explained.
One throughline that seems to find its way into nearly all of Tierney’s roles is an undercurrent of strength in character that, after speaking with her, seems to naturally percolate from her and into whatever character she is assuming the role of. She shared that she is fortunate to have been raised by a mother who set an example of resiliency for her, “My mother is a very strong woman who took really good care of me.” Having that positive example helped set her up for success. “I’ve always supported myself my whole entire life. That’s something I’m really proud of, since I was 21 or something,” she said.
Hollywood is notorious for boxing even the most skilled actresses into roles that perpetuate a patriarchal gender norm, but Tierney seems to have done a pretty good job of taking on characters that are some combination of interesting, flawed, and motivated by their own wants and desires. Nowadays, there are thankfully more opportunities for actresses to take on roles that go beyond being a supporting player in a man’s storyline, but scripts should still be read with a sharp eye. I inquired about whether Tierney intentionally seeks out multidimensional women characters and how she vets a script for a potential role. “It’s usually pretty obvious to me, I’m pretty visceral. I will say that is not always the case. A lot of the time it’s about trust in the creators and the writers.”
She gave ER as an example of her exercising that trust, a decision that obviously worked out in her favor. But, as is expected for any woman in the entertainment industry who has worked as long and as prolifically as Tierney, she didn’t always get so lucky. She mentioned that one-note women characters are something she more often has to dodge when looking for film roles than television, and that sometimes a director won’t always follow through on their promises to eventually flesh a character out. “I don’t think I’m gonna play just anybody’s mom again,” Tierney remarked, “Being a mom is hard work, but most moms I know are interesting people. So in the movies I do feel like, for the writers who are writing the mom or the girlfriend, take one more pass. Just one more pass at the script to give this person some personality.”
Several of Tierney’s most notable roles were as women in traditionally male-dominated fields. She’s played women who were and are boldly present in the legal field, law enforcement, and medicine, among other things. And, while she noted that playing a cop is fun, she chose her character in Showtime’s crime drama,Your Honor, as one role she is particularly fond of. “What the writer put in the description of the character was ‘it’s as if Patty Smith became a lawyer,’ and I was like ‘got it.’ She’s just kind of out there and I loved her physicality in the courtroom. That was a really fun character for me to play,” Tierney explained.
A lot of her work history falls in the genre of crime drama or thriller, so I was curious if it was a genre she enjoyed as a consumer of media, too. Namely, is she into the true crime scene that seems to have gripped our collective consciousness with podcasts and documentaries around every corner? To that she replied, “No, I mean I do feel like my mother before me and every woman of a certain age listens to Dateline. I do it to go to sleep. It’s so disturbing and it works like a charm. I have listened to true crime but lately I’m mostly listening to political stuff. Pod Save America is a podcast I really like. So I can easily binge on true crime stuff but lately it’s been more political stuff.”
Maura has most recently returned to our screens in the crime drama genre as the commanding officer of the Manhattan North Homicide Squad, Lieutenant Jessica Brady, in the culturally influential Law & Order. She’s a natural in the role, drawing on her Irish heritage and East Coast upbringing to deliver the inherent stoicness that a woman leading a specialized law enforcement team would need. It makes perfect sense that Law & Order came looking for her. “I got a phone call from my agents and they were like, ‘We have a job offer for you,’ and I really was not expecting that, to be quite honest. I had a very short time to make up my mind–like a long weekend or something like that. They called me on a Wednesday and I had to go to work the next Tuesday. It happened very quickly, but I was flattered,” she explained.
And, while she may have been new to the role of Lieutenant, Tierney is no stranger at NBC. “I worked for NBC for a long time. I make a joke that I’ve lasted, like, I don’t know, ten NBC presidents that have come and gone in my time here,” said Tierney. Now as Lieutenant Brady, Tierney leads a team of Manhattan’s most skilled detectives as they solve murders and other crimes committed by and against wealthy residents of New York City.
I asked Tierney–whose own father was a politician–if she ever thought her character would run for public office. She let out an amused chuckle before saying, “Well, I think she’d have to go to charm school first but, my God, that would be so amazing if she was in politics. What fun. She could be like a no-bullshit politician…I think that’s a great idea. Maybe I’ll pitch it to the writers? You know the show is filled with rich people crime so maybe. I like it.”
Beyond taking on a leading role in what is arguably one of the most influential television shows of all time, Tierney is also currently doing work with The Wooster Group, a New York-based experimental theater company where she serves on the advisory board and performer in the company’s current running of Nayatt School Redux. This unique theater space first opened in 1975 and it gives her a bit of variety in artistic expression. She explained, “It’s experimental theater so it’s performing, it’s not really acting, so it’s very very technical. It’s very precise. Liz LeCompte, the director, will always say, ‘Stop acting, stop acting.’ There’s no emotion, I don’t cry. It’s about being on task and hyper super focused on whatever in the moment you need to be doing, which is really demanding in a different way than what I’m used to doing. I’m usually paid to read the lines and interpret them. This is not that. I am a vessel when I work with The Wooster Group, so it’s really different and it’s really fun and I love those people too. That gang of people is crazy. I’m going to London with them and it’s like traveling with a band. Really fun.”
Her work with both The Wooster Group and on Law & Order means she is spending lots of time in New York City as of late, a fact that she seemed excited about. When asked where in her life she is finding joy, she shared that apartment hunting and walks around the city despite the extreme cold are her go-tos right now. “I know this is weird, but I really like how fucking freezing it is out,” she said, “I love it. It makes me feel alive. I love walking around if you have the right gear on. It’s very invigorating to me so this cold weather is bringing me joy. And also, I do like looking inside other people’s houses. I’ve lived in the same apartment for 24 years and I’m finally thinking about moving so that’s kind of bringing me joy too. It’s fun.”
Tierney is looking for new beginnings in her professional life, too. When asked what might be on the horizon for her, she stated, “I want to be in charge, so I’ve been working with a partner on creating a show that’s different that I may or may not be in.” While she is a seasoned actor, Tierney is ready to get behind the camera. “I would really like to explore,” she shared, “I’ve been acting for a long time and I really do enjoy acting, but I’d like to explore being more part of the creation of the world rather than the inhabiting of the world. That’s what I’d really like to explore next, so hopefully that will happen. It’s not easy…but that’s something I’ve been working towards for a while with a partner.”
Photographer: Gregg Delman
Stylist: Karen Schijman
Hair: Creighton Bowman
Makeup: Edward Cruz
