Caroline Aaron

Caroline Aaron, born Caroline Sidney Abady on August 7, 1952, in Richmond, Virginia, is an American actress whose career spans Broadway, film, and television. Her mother, Nina Abady, was an Alabama-raised civil rights activist of Syrian descent who worked full time to support her three children following the death of Aaron's father, who was of Lebanese-Jewish descent. Aaron's elder sister, Josephine Abady, was a theatre director and producer who died of breast cancer on May 25, 2002, at age 52. Aaron studied performing arts at American University in Washington, D.C., and later trained at HB Studio in New York City, where she has since served as a guest instructor.

Aaron's Broadway career extended from 1985 to 2011 and included appearances in The Sisters Rosensweig, I Hate Hamlet, The Iceman Cometh, and George is Dead. Her stage work also encompassed productions of Relatively Speaking and Social Security.

On screen, Aaron built a substantial body of work through collaborations with several prominent directors. Her film credits include Mike Nichols' Heartburn (1986) and Primary Colors (1998), Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Alice (1990), and Deconstructing Harry (1997), and Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle (1993). She also appeared in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990), Stanley Tucci's Big Night (1996), and both 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel 22 Jump Street (2014).

Her television work includes guest appearances on Wings, Frasier, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Desperate Housewives, Transparent, Madam Secretary, The Good Fight, and Ghosts. From 2017 to 2023, Aaron was a series regular on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the Primetime Emmy Award-winning comedy in which she played a Jewish mother. Her work on that series earned her two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series alongside the show's cast.

Aaron has been married to James Foreman since 1980, and the couple has two children.