Personal life

Murphy, the eldest of seven children, was born in Corona, Queens, New York, the daughter of Jeanne (née Fink) and Robert Murphy, an aerospace engineer. Murphy is of Irish, French, German, and Czech ancestry. Her family moved to Hauppauge, Long Island, New York. At age three, she asked for voice lessons, and she put on shows as a child in Hauppauge. She later moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts and graduated from Masconomet Regional High School in 1977.

Murphy was married to actor and singer Shawn Elliott from 1990 until his death in March 2016. She is the stepmother of Elliott's two daughters. In 2005, they adopted a daughter from Guatemala, Darmia Hope.

Career

Murphy dropped out of the New York University drama program in her sophomore year when she was cast to understudy the three backup singers in the 1979 Broadway musical They're Playing Our Song. In a 2007 interview, Murphy explained, "At the end of my sophomore year, I took a leave of absence. I needed to audition without cutting classes." She also studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

She has appeared in many Off-Broadway productions, including the musical Francis in 1981 at the York Theatre at St. Peter's, The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1985 at the Public Theater's Delacorte Theatre, Birds of Paradise in 1987 (Promenade Theatre), Privates on Parade (Roundabout Theatre) in 1989, the musical Song of Singapore in 1991, the Michael John LaChiusa musical Hello Again at the Lincoln Center Mitzi Newhouse Theater in 1993, Twelve Dreams at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in 1995, and Helen at the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival in 2002. In 2012, she appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at The Public Theater's Delacorte Theatre as the Witch.

On Broadway, after They're Playing Our Song (1979), she was an understudy in the musical/opera The Human Comedy in April 1984 and played various roles in The Mystery of Edwin Drood from 1985 to 1987. She also played Audrey in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's Little Shop of Horrors. In 1994, she played the role of Fosca in Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's Passion, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. A year later she appeared in Lapine's revival, Twelve Dreams. In 1996, she played Anna Leonowens in the revival of The King and I alongside Lou Diamond Phillips. The role earned her a second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She appeared as Ruth Sherwood in a revival of Wonderful Town from 2003 to 2005 (having previously performed in the New York City Center Encores! 2000 staged concert of that musical), and was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Actress in a Musical and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. In 2007, she appeared in LoveMusik as Lotte Lenya, opposite Michael Cerveris as Kurt Weill, receiving nominations for Tony and Drama Desk Awards. She appeared in the 2007 New York City Center Encores! staged concert of Follies as Phyllis. She appeared in the Roundabout Theatre production of a new musical, The People in the Picture, which opened on April 28, 2011 and closed on June 19, 2011. She was nominated for a 2011 Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in the production.

Murphy's film roles include, Anij, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's love interest, in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), in the film Center Stage, as a ballet teacher (2000), as Rosalie Octavius, wife of Dr. Otto Octavius, the film's villain in Spider-Man 2 (2004), as Betty, a surgical research assistant in Darren Aronofsky's film The Fountain (2006), Scarlett Johansson's mother in The Nanny Diaries (2007), Mother Gothel in the animated musical film Tangled (2010) and sang the song "Mother Knows Best", Kathleen, Vera Farmiga's mother in Higher Ground (2011) and Marie in Dark Horse (2011). In 2012, she appeared as government secretary Dita Mandy, in The Bourne Legacy.

On television, Murphy appeared in the NBC soap opera Another World from 1989 through 1991 as District Attorney Morgan Graves. She won an Emmy in 1997, for playing Armando Agrelo in Someone Had to be Benny (1996), an episode of the HBO series Lifestories: Families in Crisis. Other television series roles include, a recurring role as Abigail Adams in Liberty! The American Revolution (1997), Murder One (1995-1996), Law & Order as Carla Tyrell in a recurring role (2000), Hack (2002-2003) and Trust Me (2009). Her voice-over work in TV commercials, includes the Le Vian chocolate diamonds series for Jared Jewelry.

Broadway theatre

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1979	They're Playing Our Song	Swing/Sonia Walsk	Imperial Theatre February 11, 1979 - September 6, 1981
1984	The Human Comedy	Bess Macauley & Mary Arena	Royale Theatre April 5, 1984 - April 15, 1984
1985	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	Various Characters	Imperial Theatre December 2, 1985 - May 16, 1987
1994	Passion	Fosca	Plymouth Theatre May 9, 1994 - January 7, 1995
1996	The King and I	Anna Leonowens	Neil Simon Theatre April 11, 1996 - March 1997
2003	Wonderful Town	Ruth Sherwood	Al Hirschfeld Theatre November 23, 2003 - September 26, 2004
2007	LoveMusik	Lotte Lenya	Biltmore Theatre May 3, 2007 - June 24, 2007
2011	The People in the Picture	Bubbie/Raisel	Studio 54 April 28, 2011 - June 19, 2011

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Tales from the Holywood Hills: A Table at Ciro's	June the Vocalist	Television film
1995	Jade	Karen Heller
1996	Passion	Fosca	Television film
1998	The Day Lincoln Was Shot	Mary Todd Lincoln	Television film
1998	October 22	Carole
1998	Star Trek: Insurrection	Anij
1999	The Astronaut's Wife	Natalie Streck
2000	Center Stage	Juliette
2000	The Last Debate	Joan Naylor	Television film
2004	The Door in the Floor	Frame Shop Owner
2004	Spider-Man 2	Rosalie Octavius
2006	Ira & Abby	Dr. Betsy Goldman
2006	World Trade Center	Judy Jonas
2006	The Fountain	Betty
2007	The Nanny Diaries	Judy Braddock
2008	Sherman's Way	Evelyn Black
2010	Sondheim! The Birthday Concert	Herself	Television film
2010	Tangled	Mother Gothel	Voice role
2011	Higher Ground	Kathleen Walker
2011	Dark Horse	Marie
2012	The Bourne Legacy	Dita
2013	House of Versace	Maria	Television film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Another World	D.A. Morgan Graves
1993	Law & Order	Karen Unger
1996	Lifestories: Families in Crisis	Armanda Agrelo
1995-1996	Murder One	Francesca Cross
1996	Remember WENN	Ruth Geddy
1997	Nothing Sacred	Camille
1997-2000	Law & Order	Carla Tyrell
1997	Liberty! The American Revolution	Abigail Adams	Miniseries
1998	The Practice	Marie Hanson
1998	Ally McBeal	Maries Hanson
2000-2001	What About Joan?	Dr. Ruby Stern
2002	The Education of Max Bickford	Esther Webber
2002-2003	Hack	Heather Olshansky
2005	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Captain Annie Krame, LAPD
2006	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Blair
2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Maureen Pagolis
2007	Damages	Nancy
2008	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Dr. Raye Massey
2009	Trust Me	Denise Goodman
2010	Ugly Betty	Eve
2012	Made in Jersey	Darlene Garetti
2013	The Mentalist	Diandra Sunderland
2014	The Good Wife	Judge Alice Adelson
2014	Royal Pains	Berta
2014	Resurrection	Angela Forrester
2015	Hindsight	Georgie Brady

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
1992	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical	Song of Singapore	Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Nominated
1993	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical	Hello Again	Nominated
1994	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical	Passion	Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Won
1996	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical	The King and I	Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Nominated
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated
1997	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special	Lifestories: Families in Crisis	Won
2004	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical	Wonderful Town	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Won
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Won
2007	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical	LoveMusik	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Won
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Won
2011	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical	The People in the Picture	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Nominated
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Musical		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]