Life and career

Born in Austin, Texas, Forbes hoped to become a ballet dancer. She began receiving formal acting training at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. While on vacation in New York City at the age of 16, she found herself auditioning for a film; although she was not selected, she signed with the William Morris Agency and began her professional acting career. In 1987, at age 22, she landed the dual roles of Solita Carrera and Sonni Carrera Lewis on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light. She performed on the show for two years, receiving a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her performance in 1990.

After this role, she continued in theater, which was an early love of hers, and began appearing in small guest roles on television to raise her profile. She went on to make guest appearances on a few other TV shows (including Star Trek: The Next Generation and Father Dowling Mysteries) before landing the recurring role of Ro Laren, a fiery, yet reserved Bajoran, towards the end of the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Her portrayal of disgraced Bajoran Starfleet officer Ensign Ro won her many fans among the genre community, and her character quickly became a favorite despite appearing in just eight episodes.

The producers of Star Trek invited Forbes to reprise Ro in the spin-off series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but Forbes declined the offer and decided to focus on a career in films. She received praise, as well as a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, for her performance as the photographer Carrie Laughlin in the 1993 thriller Kalifornia. This was followed with the lead female role in the acclaimed 1994 black comedy Swimming with Sharks, as well as supporting roles in such films as The Road Killers, Just Looking and John Carpenter's 1996 science fiction/action sequel Escape from L.A. She continued performing on television during this period, with guest spots on Seinfeld, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, to which she returned to tie up the Ro Laren storyline in the series' penultimate episode.

In 1996, Forbes joined the cast of NBC's popular police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, playing chief medical examiner Julianna Cox. She remained with the show for two years, then was let go as part of a major cast overhaul (the series would be canceled after one more season). However, she would reprise the role in the 2000 TV special Homicide: The Movie. That same year, Forbes became a regular on Wonderland, an ABC series, but it was pulled from the air after only two episodes. Forbes was next seen in a recurring role on the police drama The District.

She was subsequently given roles in films such as 2001's Perfume and 2002's American Girl, as well as the 2001 British TV movie Messiah (for which she studied British sign language for a week) and its sequel installments: Messiah 2: Vengeance is Mine in 2002 and Messiah III in 2003. During the 2002-2003 TV season, Forbes played the recurring character of Lynne Kresge, the aide to the President of the United States, on the second season of the action series 24. Actor Dennis Haysbert, who played President Palmer, reportedly was a big Star Trek fan and excited to work with her given her history with the show. She followed her role on 24 with a guest spot on Alias, then went on to play Admiral Helena Cain in three episodes of the re-imagining of the classic sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica, as well as starring in the TV movie Battlestar Galactica: Razor. She followed this up with a recurring role as Agent Samantha Brinker on the drama Prison Break and guest starred on Boston Legal and Lost.

Forbes starred as the lead in the adaptation of the comic-book Global Frequency, the single produced episode of which infamously leaked online the following year, eight months after the series failed to be picked up by Warner Bros. networks. This was the first instance of an unaired pilot episode leaking via P2P and BitTorrent clients.

Forbes returned to British television screens with guest roles in both Holby City and as a Mossad agent in Waking the Dead. In 2008, Forbes starred in two HBO drama series; In Treatment, portraying the wife of the central character, and in True Blood as a Maenad named Maryann Forrester. She reprised her semi-regular roles in both series in their respective second seasons in 2009, as well as joining the cast of the Canadian psychological drama series Durham County for its second season as Dr. Penelope Verity.

Forbes played the role of Mitch Larsen in the U.S. television series The Killing, a 2011 remake of the Danish crime series Forbrydelsen. Forbes appeared as Retro Girl in the web series Powers. She also landed a prominent supporting role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2.

Personal life

She was married to Ross Kettle; the marriage ended in divorce. Afterward she dated fellow Homicide: Life on the Street co-star Reed Diamond for a period.

Forbes has been a vegetarian since she was a teen and became vegan in 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Love Bites	Nerissa
1993	Kalifornia	Carrie Laughlin	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1994	Swimming with Sharks	Dawn Lockhard
1994	Roadflower	Helen
1995	Just Looking	Mary
1995	The Chosen One	The Mother
1995	Black Day Blue Night	Rinda Woolley
1996	The Prosecutors	Dist. Atty. Rachel Simone	Television movie
1996	Escape from L.A.	Brazen
1998	Dry Martini	Valeria
2000	Bullfighter	Mary
2000	Homicide: Life Everlasting	Dr. Julianna Cox	Television movie
2001	Perfume	Francene
2002	Confessions of an American Girl	Madge Grubb
2002	Johnson County War	Rory Hammett	Television movie
2004	Dandelion	Ms. Voss
2004	Al Roach: Private Investigator	Dede Dragonfly
2007	Unthinkable	Jamie McDowell	Television movie
2007	Battlestar Galactica: Razor	Admiral Helena Cain	Television movie
2009	Diplomacy	U.S. Secretary of State
2010	Highland Park	Sylvia
2013	The Hunters	Jordyn Flynn
2015	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2	Lieutenant Jackson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987-1989	Guiding Light	Dr. Sonni Carrera-Lewis	Unknown episodes Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
1991	Father Dowling Mysteries	Gym Instructor	Episode: "The Fugitive Priest Mystery"
1991	Shannon's Deal	Maren	Episode: "The Inside Man"
1991	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Dara	Episode "Half a Life"
1991-1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Ensign Ro Laren	8 episodes
1994	Seinfeld	Julie	Episode: "The Big Salad"
1996	The Outer Limits	Jamie Pratt	Episode: "Stitch in Time"
1996-1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Dr. Julianna Cox	30 episodes Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series
1998	Brimstone	Assistant D.A. Julia Trent	Episode: "Executioner"
2000	The District	Helen York	7 episodes
2000	Wonderland	Dr. Lyla Garrity	8 episodes
2001-2004	Messiah	Susan Metcalfe	6 episodes
2002	Strong Medicine	Assistant District Attorney Jill Sorenson	2 episodes
2002	Fastlane	Lena	Episode: "Get Your Mack On"
2002-2003	24	Lynne Kresge	18 episodes Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2004	Love is the Drug	Reena	3 episodes
2004	Global Frequency	Miranda Zero	Unsold TV pilot
2005	Alias	Dr. Maggie Sinclair	Episode: "Another Mister Sloane"
2005	The Inside	Zoya Petikof	Episode: "Thief of Hearts"
2005-2006	Battlestar Galactica	Admiral Helena Cain	3 episodes
2005-2006	Prison Break	Samantha Brinker	7 episodes
2006	Boston Legal	Juliette Monroe	Episode: "The Nutcrackers"
2007-2008	Waking the Dead	Sarah	3 episodes
2008	Lost	Karen Decker	Episode: "There's No Place Like Home: Part 1"
2008-2009	In Treatment	Kate Weston	13 episodes
2008-2009	True Blood	Maryann Forrester	15 episodes Satellite Award for Best Cast - Television Series Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2009	Durham County	Dr. Pen Verrity	6 episodes
2011-2012	The Killing	Mitch Larsen	20 episodes Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2013	Chicago Fire	Gail McLeod	10 episodes
2014-	Orphan Black	Dr. Marian Bowles	3 episodes
2014	Rake	Lucy Marks	Episode: "Jury Tamperer"
2015	Powers	Retro Girl	10 episodes
2015	The Returned	Helen Goddard	Recurring role
2016	Berlin Station	Valerie Edwards	Main role

Video games

Year	Title	Voice
2004	Half-Life 2	Dr. Judith Mossman
2006	Half-Life 2: Episode One	Dr. Judith Mossman
2007	Half-Life 2: Episode Two	Dr. Judith Mossman
2009	The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena	Captain Gail Revas
2011	DC Universe Online	Circe

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1990	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Guiding Light	Nominated
1990	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Daytime Villainess	Guiding Light	Nominated
1993	Saturn Award	Best Actress	Kalifornia	Nominated
2003	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	24	Nominated
2010	Saturn Award	Best Guest Starring Role in Television	True Blood	Nominated
2010	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	True Blood	Nominated
2011	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	The Killing	Nominated
2011	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	The Killing	Nominated
2011	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actress in Television	The Killing	Won

Charities

Michelle Forbes supports the following charitable causes: Environment, Animals, Children, AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]