Early life

Delaney, an Irish American, was born on November 29, 1961, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joan and Jack Delaney. Delaney's mother was a homemaker and her father a union official and former head of the United Auto Workers. She was raised Roman Catholic. Delaney grew up in Roxborough and has four brothers: Ed, John, Keith, and Patrick. While she was attending J. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School, she worked as a model for the Elite agency. After her graduation, she went to New York and found employment there as a model. At the same time, she studied acting with William Esper.

Career

Delaney first became known for her stint as innocent teenager Jenny Gardner Nelson on the soap opera All My Children, which also was her first job. She played the character from August 1981 to August 1984, earning a Daytime Emmy Award nomination, as well as a loyal fan base; a profile of the actress a decade later noted, "Delaney left the soap in 1984, but fans still remember her as Jenny. 'They come up and will say they've followed everything I've done, and they stopped watching the show after I left, and they're so happy to see me on NYPD Blue, because they love the character.'"

After leaving the show, Delaney began acting in feature films. In 1985, she appeared with Emilio Estevez in That Was Then... This Is Now, a film version of the S. E. Hinton novel of the same name. In 1986, she played a young nun in the military action movie The Delta Force, starring Chuck Norris. In 1987, Delaney was cast as Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful opposite Peter Gallagher, but new director Howard Deutch recast both roles with Lea Thompson and Craig Sheffer before filming. Also in 1987, she appeared both as Jessie in Christmas Comes to Willow Creek, and as associate attorney Leslie Kleinberg during the 2nd season of L.A. Law. In 1988, Delaney starred in the thriller The Drifter. In 1994, she appeared in the film The Force.

In 1988, Delaney became a regular on the CBS television series Tour of Duty. After leaving the show in 1989 to give birth to her and husband Joseph Cortese' son, her character was killed in an explosion just as her All My Children character had died five years earlier. In the years immediately following her departure from her two early television series, her film and TV roles tended to be few and of low quality, both in the opinion of critics and of the actress herself. A 1996 profile article in Entertainment Weekly, on the occasion of her landing a prestigious television role at the end of this period, noted: "Delaney's résumé is spotted with ridiculous roles that range from a nun in the Chuck Norris action movie, The Delta Force, to a possessed nymphomaniac in the soft-core horror film, Temptress. 'There's a lot of things I did to pay the mortgage,' Delaney says resignedly." Roles from this period include her 1992 appearance as Lucky Santangelo in the television miniseries, Lady Boss.

In 1995, Delaney began portraying the role of NYPD Blue Detective Diane Russell. Originally slated for only four episodes, the role became permanent after her character's relationship with Detective Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) became a hit with viewers. In this role, she won her first Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and was also nominated for two other Emmy Awards. After Smits left NYPD Blue, producer Steven Bochco chose Delaney for the lead in the new television series Philly. Despite critical acclaim, the show lasted only one season.

CBS then courted Delaney to take on the female lead on its new drama television series CSI: Miami, a spin-off of sorts from the hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She was written off the series during the first season after just ten episodes; Entertainment Weekly suggested that it had been due to a lack of chemistry between Delaney and star David Caruso.

After briefly returning in 4 episodes of NYPD Blue, Delaney starred in the 2004 NBC miniseries 10.5, and its 2006 sequel, 10.5: Apocalypse. The following year, she began a recurring role on The O.C. In 2006, Delaney starred with Steven Weber in an episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King titled "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band," about Rock and Roll Heaven. Delaney next appeared twice on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in early 2007, guest-starring on the episodes "Philadelphia" and "Florida."

Delaney played the main role of Claudia Joy Holden on the Lifetime Television series Army Wives. In November 2012, it was announced that Delaney would not be returning for the show's seventh season, as her character was killed off.

Delaney will play Mary Todd Lincoln in the upcoming miniseries To Appomattox.

Personal life

Delaney has been married twice. Her first marriage to actor Charles Grant lasted from 1984 to 1988. Her second marriage was to actor Joseph Cortese. They married in 1989 and divorced in 1994. Delaney and Cortese had a son named Jack who was born in 1990. She was engaged to producer Alan Barnette from 1997 to 2006. She has a dog named Penny (a Dachshund) and Sydney (a half Corgi mix).

In 2002, Delaney was arrested in Malibu, California, for suspicion of drunk driving after she refused to take a breathalyzer test. She subsequently pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two-years probation, fined, and ordered to take a defensive driving course.

Delaney was selected as a speaker at the presentation of the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal to Robert Gates in 2011. After delivering a rambling and disjointed speech in which she discussed being a member of a military family, she was escorted off stage. The slurred delivery and often incomprehensible speech fueled reports that she was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of the speech.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	First Affair	Cathy
1985	That Was Then... This Is Now	Cathy Carlson
1986	The Delta Force	Sister Mary
1986	Hunter's Blood	Melanie
1987	Campus Man	Dayna Thomas
1987	Cracked Up	Jackie
1987	Christmas Comes to Willow Creek	Jessie
1988	The Drifter	Julia Robbins
1988	Something Is Out There	Mandy Estabrook
1988	Take My Daughters, Please	Evan
1991	Hangfire	Maria Montoya Slayton
1991	Body Parts	Karen Chrushank
1992	Lady Boss	Lucky Santangelo	Television movie
1992	The Fifth Corner	Erica Fontaine	Television movie
1993	The Disappearance of Christina	Lilly Kroft	Television movie
1994	The Force	Sarah Flynn
1995	Project: Metalbeast	Anne De Carlo
1995	Tall, Dark and Deadly	Maggie Springer	Television movie
1995	Darkman II: The Return of Durant	Jill Randall
1995	Temptress	Karin Swann
1995	Serial Killer	Selby Younger	Direct to video
1996	Closer and Closer	Kate Saunders	Television movie
1997	All Lies End in Murder	Meredith 'Mere' Scialo	Television movie
1997	The Devil's Child	The Devil's Child
2000	Mission to Mars	Maggie McConnell
2001	Love and Treason	Lt. Kate Timmons	Television movie
2004	Sudbury	Sally Owens
2004	Infidelity	Danielle Montet	Television movie
2004	10.5	Dr. Samantha Hill	Television movie
2006	10.5: Apocalypse	Dr. Samantha Hill	Television movie
2011	Finding a Family	Ileana

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981-1984	All My Children	Jenny Gardner Nelson	Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
1986	The Equalizer	Sally Ann Carter	Episode: "Unnatural Causes"
1986	Hotel	Marie Lockhart	Episode: "Forsaking All Others"
1987	Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit	Susan Warrenfield	TV Movie
1987	L.A. Law	Leslie Kleinberg	4 episodes
1989-1990	Tour of Duty	Alex Devlin	18 episodes
1990	Tales from the Crypt	Gloria Fleming	Episode: "The Sacrifice"
1995-2003	NYPD Blue	Det. Diane Russell	132 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series
2001-2002	Philly	Kathleen Maguire	22 episodes Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
2002	CSI: Miami	Megan Donner	10 episodes
2005	The O.C.	Rebecca Bloom	5 episodes
2006	Nightmares and Dreamscapes	Mary Rivingham	Episode: "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band"
2007	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Captain Julia Millfield	2 episodes
2007-2012	Army Wives	Claudia Joy Holden	104 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]