Sharon Gless

Plays Madeline Westen

In 2008, Sharon Gless was an Emmy® nominee for Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her chilling performance as Colleen Rose on Nip/Tuck. Previously, Gless starred for five seasons as the outrageous and beloved Debbie Novotny in the groundbreaking series Queer as Folk.

Sharon's first series role was the 1973 Faraday & Company; she went on to guest-star in several top television shows before landing another series part in Switch. In 1982 she landed the career-changing part of New York Police Detective Christine Cagney on the smash hit drama Cagney & Lacey, which ultimately garnered her two Emmys®, a Golden Globe® and six Emmy® nominations. After the show ended in 1988, she reteamed with Cagney & Lacey executive producer Barney Rosenzweig for the drama series The Trials of Rosie O’Neill. That role led to her second Golden Globe® win and two additional Emmy® nominations.

In 1994 and 1995, Gless reunited with her television partner Tyne Daly to recreate their title roles in a quartet of critically acclaimed Cagney & Lacey television movies. Gless and Daly fondly refer to these telefilms as their characters’ “Menopause Years.” In 1995 she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Additional television roles include the series House Calls and Turnabout, as well as the telefilms Separated by Murder, Hard Hat & Legs, Honor Thy Mother, Hobson’s Choice, and Letting Go. She also starred in the miniseries The Immigrants, The Last Convertible, Centennial, and Garson Kanin’s Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara Wars, in which she played screen goddess Carole Lombard. In 2006, she received rave reviews for her starring role as US Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner in the acclaimed miniseries The State Within. She has also starred opposite Michael Douglas in the feature film The Star Chamber.

Gless made her stage debut in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine at Stage West in Springfield, Massachusetts. Since then, she has starred twice on stage in London’s famed West End, the first time in 1993 when she created the role of Annie Wilkes in the stage version of Stephen King’s haunting Misery, and in 1997 in Neil Simon’s comedy Chapter Two. She starred in Claudia Allen’s Cahoots at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre and at Madison Square Garden with the national company of Eve Ensler’s smash The Vagina Monologues. In the summer of 2009, Gless travelled to London’s famed West End to produce and star in a one-night performance of A Round-Heeled Woman. Additionally, she has recorded several books-on-tape and starred in many radio plays. Her recording of Night, Mother earned Gless the International Sony Award.

In 2007, she was the recipient of the Theatre School at DePaul University’s prestigious Award for Excellence of the Arts.

Gless is an active participant in the ongoing struggle for a woman’s right to choose. In 2005, she was honoured by Norman Lear’s People for the American Way for her unwavering support of human rights. She’s also become a vocal advocate for gay and lesbian causes.