Amanda Donohoe

Amanda Donohoe is an English actress born on 29 June 1962 in London to Ted and Joanna Donohoe. She has an older sister, Cordelia, and is of Irish, Russian, and Swiss ancestry. Her father's career with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office required the family to relocate frequently, though London remained their base. Following his retirement, her father joined her mother in an antiques business. Donohoe was educated at the Francis Holland School.

At age 15, Donohoe met pop singer Adam Ant, and a year later she left her parents' home to live with him in Notting Hill. In October 1980, she accompanied Ant to a Top of the Pops recording of "Dog Eat Dog," during which she intervened physically to defend him from an assault by rival band 4" Be 2" in the BBC corridors. In 1981, she appeared in the promotional videos for the Adam and the Ants singles "Antmusic" and "Stand and Deliver," broadcast during the height of the band's popularity. Shortly before the band's 1981 world tour, she accepted a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Following her graduation, Donohoe made her film debut in Foreign Body in 1986 and co-starred alongside Oliver Reed as Lucy Irvine in Castaway that same year. She subsequently appeared in two films directed by Ken Russell: The Lair of the White Worm (1988) and The Rainbow (1989), as well as An Affair in Mind (1988). Her performance in The Lair of the White Worm earned her a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress in 1990.

Donohoe relocated to Los Angeles in 1990 to join the cast of the NBC drama series L.A. Law, playing attorney Cara Jean "C.J." Lamb across the fifth and sixth seasons of the show. In February 1991, her character participated in what became recognized as the first lesbian kiss depicted on American television, when C.J. privately kissed fellow lawyer Abby Perkins, portrayed by Michele Greene. Donohoe won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 1992 for the role. She also appeared in a guest role in the Frasier episode "Call Me Irresponsible" and in Ally McBeal, and had a major supporting role in the 1997 comedy film Liar Liar, starring Jim Carrey.

Donohoe made her Broadway debut in 1995 in a production of Uncle Vanya at the Circle in the Square Theatre, playing Yelena. In 2001, she returned to the United Kingdom to portray Mrs. Robinson in a stage production of The Graduate. After resettling in the UK in the early 2000s, she took on the role of DI Susan Alembic in the crime drama Murder City, which ran from 2004 to 2006. In 2009, she joined the cast of the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as businesswoman Natasha Wylde, departing the series in November 2010.