Early life and education

Preston was born and raised in Macon, Georgia. Her mother is an artist and art therapist, and her father is a geo-technical engineer. She began performing in community theater shows at age 8, and by age 12 she had begun her own front-yard theater company with other neighborhood kids. Her brother is actor John G. Preston. Both are graduates of Central High School in Macon, Georgia.

She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Evansville (1990), followed by an acting diploma from the Juilliard School's Drama Division (Group 23: 1990-1994).

Career

Preston has worked with her husband, actor Michael Emerson, on a number of projects. Emerson played Ben Linus on television's Lost, and Preston was a guest star in episode 20 of season 3, "The Man Behind the Curtain" as Ben's mother Emily in flashback scenes, though she and Emerson never shared scenes together. The couple were featured in the 2004 comedy film Straight-Jacket and the 2008 feature film, Ready? OK!. Most recently, she has appeared in several episodes of Person of Interest as Grace Hendricks, the former fiancée of Emerson's character, Harold Finch.

Preston is co-owner of the production company Daisy 3 Pictures with James Vasquez and Mark Holmes. For seven seasons she played Arlene Fowler on True Blood. On July 31, 2010, Carrie Preston and her husband, Michael Emerson, read A. R. Gurney's Love Letters, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, at the Charleston Stage. They performed it as a fundraiser for the South Carolina's theatre. The reading was followed by a brief "Question and Answer" session.

Preston has a recurring role playing Elsbeth Tascioni, an eccentric but extremely effective trial lawyer on CBS's The Good Wife. First introduced in season one and recurring on seasons three through seven the character is a fan favorite, and Preston won the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the show.

On September 6, 2013, it was announced that Preston signed on to play a recurring character in the second season of the Kevin Bacon-led thriller, The Following. She portrayed Judy, a prostitute and ill-fated groupie of Joe Carroll. The show's second season premiered in January 2014.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Just a Friend	Mint Jennifer
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	Mandy Newhouse
1997	The Journey	Laura Singh
1997	For Richer or Poorer	Rebecca Yoder
1998	Mercury Rising	Emily Lang
1999	Guinevere	Patty
1999	Cradle Will Rock	VTA - Administrator
2000	Woman Wanted	Monica
2000	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Idalyn Greaves
2004	Straight-Jacket	Sally Stone
2004	The Stepford Wives	Barbara
2005	Transamerica	Sydney Schupak
2007	Lovely by Surprise	Marian Walker
2007	Towelhead	Evelyn Vuoso
2008	Ready? OK!	Andy Dowd
2008	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Sally
2008	Doubt	Christine Hurley
2009	Duplicity	Barbara Bofferd
2009	That Evening Sun	Ludie Choat
2010	Virginia	Betty
2011	A Bag of Hammers	Lynette Patterson
2011	Sironia	Grace
2012	Vino Veritas	Claire
2012	Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf?	Chloe / Angel Tits
2013	Beneath the Harvest Sky	Kim
2014	5 Flights Up	Miriam Carswell
2016	Equity	Compliance Officer Abby
2017	To the Bone		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Cutty Whitman	Sheriff	TV film
1997	Union Square	Jester	Episode: "Michael's First Stand"
1998	Five Houses	Unknown	TV film
1998	Significant Others	Patti Pasternak	Episode: "My Left Kidney"
1998	Grace & Glorie	Charlene Stiles	TV film
1999	Spin City	Gayle	Episode: "Carter & Stuart & Bennett & Deirdre"
1999	Sex and the City	Madeline Dunn	Episode: "The Chicken Dance"
2001	Emeril	B.D. Benson	10 episodes
2003	Good Morning, Miami	Kiera Donahue	Episode: "The Slow and the Furious"
2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Megan Colby	Episode: "Zoonotic"
2004	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Doreen Whitlock	Episode: "Magnificat"
2004	Wonderfalls	Sister Katrina	Episode: "Wound-Up Penguin"
2004	Hope & Faith	Sally Jones	Episode: "Queer as Hope"
2005	Numb3rs	Vicky Sites	Episode: "Dirty Bomb"
2005	The Inside	Kelly Comack	Episode: "Pre-Filer"
2006	Arrested Development	Jan Eagleman	Episode: "Fakin' It"
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Lena Copeland	Episode: "Bedfellows"
2007	Lost	Emily Linus	Episode: "The Man Behind the Curtain"
2007	Desperate Housewives	Lucy Lindquist	Episode: "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover"
2008-14	True Blood	Arlene Fowler	76 episodes
2009	Private Practice	Yvonne Pierce	Episode: "Do the Right Thing"
2010-16	The Good Wife	Elsbeth Tascioni	14 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series
2011	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Bella Zane	Episode: "Educated Guess"
2012	Royal Pains	Jackie Van Ark	Episode: "Hurts Like a Mother"
2012-16	Person of Interest	Grace Hendricks	7 episodes
2014	The Following	Judy Lang	3 episodes
2014	Getting On	Denya Thorp	Episode: "The 7th Annual Christmas Card Competition"
2015	Happyish	Debbie Dubonte	10 episodes
2016	Crowded	Martina Moore	13 episodes
2016	Grace and Frankie	Krystle	Episode: "The Goodbyes"

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Indiscretions	Madeleine (Standby)	Ethel Barrymore Theatre
1995	The Tempest	Miranda	Broadhurst Theatre
1997	Antony and Cleopatra	Octavia the Younger	The Public Theater
1998	Freedomland	Polly Underfinger	Playwrights Horizons
2000	Straight-Jacket	Sally Stone	Playhouse 91
2000	She Stoops to Conquer	Kate Hardcastle	Center Stage
2001	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Honey	Guthrie Theater
2001	Chaucer in Rome	Sarah	Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
2002	Boys and Girls	Shelly	Duke on 42nd Street
2002	No Foreigners Beyond This Point	Paula Wheaton	Center Stage
2004-05	The Rivals	Julia Melville	Vivian Beaumont Theater
2005	Cycling Past the Matterhorn	Amy	Harold Clurman Theater
2005	Hamlet	Ophelia	McCarter Theatre Center
2006	Festen	Mette	Music Box Theatre
2010	Love Letters	Melissa Gardner	Charleston Stage

Other works

Year	Title	Notes
2005	29th and Gay	Director, executive producer, editor
2007	Feet of Clay	Director, executive producer
2008	Ready? OK!	Executive producer
2008	Girl Talk	Director
2012	That's What She Said	Director, producer

[ Source: Wikipedia ]