Kathryn Erbe

Kathryn Elsbeth Erbe was born on July 5, 1965, in Newton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Elsbeth and Richard Erbe. She graduated from New York University in 1989, and while still an undergraduate there, she was cast in the sitcom Chicken Soup, playing the daughter of Lynn Redgrave's character.

Erbe went on to become a member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, appearing in several of their productions, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Curse of the Starving Class, and The Grapes of Wrath. The Grapes of Wrath ran for six months and won the 1990 Tony Award for Best Play, and it was among her Broadway credits. Her Broadway work spans from 1990 to 2016 and also includes A Month in the Country, The Speed of Darkness, The 24 Hour Plays 2004, and The Father. Her portrayal of Mary in The Speed of Darkness earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1991.

On screen, Erbe built a substantial film career with appearances in What About Bob?, Stir of Echoes, Rich in Love, and Kiss of Death, in which she starred opposite David Caruso. Her independent film credits include Dream with the Fishes, Love from Ground Zero, and Entropy. On television, she portrayed Shirley Bellinger in the HBO series Oz and made a guest appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1997. From 2001 through the series finale, she starred as Detective Alexandra Eames on the NBC/USA Network drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent alongside Vincent D'Onofrio, returning to reprise the role for the show's eight-episode final season after both she and D'Onofrio had departed in 2010. She has also reprised the role of Detective Eames in guest appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2014, she appeared in an episode of Last Week Tonight parodying her Criminal Intent role, and she later played Fay Ambrose, wife of Detective Harry Ambrose, in the USA Network series The Sinner.

Erbe was married to actor Terry Kinney, her co-star in Oz, from 1993 until their divorce in 2006. The two have two children together.