Early life

Ward was born in Meridian, Mississippi to Annie Kate (née Boswell), a housewife who died of ovarian cancer on February 12, 2002, and Granberry Holland "G.H." Ward, Jr., an electrical engineer who died on January 13, 2009. Ward is the eldest of four children with a sister, Jenna, and two brothers, Brock and Granberry (Berry) III.

Ward attended the University of Alabama, where she was Homecoming Queen, a Crimson Tide cheerleader, and joined Chi Omega sorority. She double-majored in fine art and advertising.

Career

While working in New York City as a storyboard artist for multimedia presentations, the 5'7" (170 cm) Ward began modeling to supplement her income. She was recruited by the Wilhelmina agency and was soon featured in television commercials promoting Maybelline cosmetics. Ward eventually moved to California to pursue acting and landed her first film role in the Burt Reynolds vehicle, The Man Who Loved Women, released in 1983. Her first regular role in a television drama series, as a beautiful socialite on Emerald Point N.A.S., followed in the same year. Ward continued to land guest roles in both television and movies throughout the 1980s, most notably opposite Tom Hanks in 1986's Nothing in Common. In 1991 she was cast as the bohemian alcoholic Teddy Reed on Sisters, for which she received her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994.

Ward won a CableACE Award for her portrayal of the late television journalist Jessica Savitch in the 1995 TV movie Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story. Almost Golden remains Lifetime's most watched TV movie to date.

In 1995, Ward was passed over for a Bond girl role, learning that even though then-Bond Pierce Brosnan was 42, the casting director said "What we really want is Sela, but Sela ten years ago". In response, she developed and produced a documentary, The Changing Face of Beauty, about American obsession with youth and its effect on women. Later on, Ward would voice the part of former model turned villain Page Monroe in an episode (Calendar Girl) of The New Batman/Superman Adventures, which focused primarily on the media's (sometimes callous) obsession with youth.

Ward succeeded actress Candice Bergen as commercial spokesperson for Sprint's long distance telephone service from 1999 until 2002. She also appeared on Frasier as supermodel/zoologist Kelly Easterbrook in the fifth season opener ("Frasier's Imaginary Friend"). When she read for the role of Lily Brooks Manning on the series Once and Again, its creators (Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz of thirtysomething fame) initially deemed Ward "too beautiful" for the average single mother to identify with. Ward received her second lead actress Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.

In 2004, she played the role of a private investigator, Bobbi Bacha of Blue Moon Investigations, in the TV movie Suburban Madness. The same year, she also appeared in the hit movie The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhall. In 2005, she began a recurring role in the Fox dramatic series House as Stacy Warner, the hospital's former attorney and formidable ex-partner of the protagonist, Dr. Gregory House (played by British actor Hugh Laurie). In 2006, Ward's character was written off the show. She made her last guest appearance in the House series finale titled "Everybody Dies" which aired on May 21, 2012, as one of House's hallucinations and an attendee at his funeral.

Ward was originally offered both the role of Megan Donner on CSI: Miami and Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives, but turned both down. Ward was reluctant to commit to another lead role in an hour-long series because of the time away from her family it would require. Although she was on a brief hiatus from television she continued to appear in feature films. In 2006 she starred opposite Kevin Costner in The Guardian and in 2009 starred in the thriller The Stepfather.

In July 2010, Ward signed on to star in the police drama CSI: NY, at the start of the seventh season playing Jo Danville, "an experienced investigator from Washington, D.C., whose work is driven by her empathy for the victim". Ward remained on the show until the end of the ninth and final season in February 2013.

Ward appeared as newswoman Sharon Schieber in Gone Girl (2014). She has finished filming Independence Day Resurgence, to be released June 2016. Ward plays the current President of the United States, President Lanford. She also plays the leading role alongside Nick Nolte in the upcoming political comedy, Graves.

Personal life

On May 23, 1992, Ward married entrepreneur Howard Elliot Sherman. They have two children.

After meeting two foster children during a holiday trip home to Mississippi in 1997, Ward decided to meet a broader need for abused and neglected children by initiating and partially funding the creation of a permanent group home and emergency shelter, as well as transition houses. Hope Village is housed on a 30-acre (120,000 m2) property once used as a Masonic-owned and -operated (not an orphanage, a Home for children who had lost a parent or parents were unbale to care for their children. i think we only had 2true orphans, but the remainder of us had at least one parent. any child accepted to the Masonic Home was directly related to a member of a Masonic order . there was never an adoption. the Masonic orders sponsered each child from the time of their acceptance until either graduating High School or, if one choose, a college education. Not An Orphanage! the Hope Village for Children opened in Ward's home town of Meridian in January 2002 and is intended to serve as a pilot for a nationwide network of similar shelters. Hope Village currently has a capacity for 44 residents and serves an average of 200 children per year.

A business district portion of 22nd Avenue in Meridian (from 6th Street to the Interstate 20 highway interchange) has been named the "Sela Ward Parkway" in Ward's honor.

In 2002, Ward published her autobiography, Homesick: A Memoir, through HarperCollins' ReganBooks imprint.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Man Who Loved Women, TheThe Man Who Loved Women	Janet Wainwright
1985	Rustlers' Rhapsody	Colonel's Daughter
1986	Nothing in Common	Cheryl Ann Wayne
1987	Hello Again	Kim Lacey
1987	Steele Justice	Tracy
1989	The Haunting of Sarah Hardy	Sarah Hardy
1992	Double Jeopardy	Karen Hart
1993	Fugitive, TheThe Fugitive	Helen Kimble
1996	My Fellow Americans	Kaye Griffin
1998	54	Billie Auster
1999	Runaway Bride	Pretty Woman in Bar	Cameo
2002	The Badge	Carla Hardwick
2004	Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights	Jeannie Miller
2004	Day After Tomorrow, TheThe Day After Tomorrow	Dr. Lucy Hall
2006	Guardian, TheThe Guardian	Helen Randall
2009	Stepfather, TheThe Stepfather	Susan Harding
2014	Gone Girl	Sharon Schieber
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	President Elizabeth Lanford	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983-84	Emerald Point N.A.S.	Hilary Adams	22 episodes
1985	I Had Three Wives	Emily	Episode: "Til Death Do us Part"
1986	Hotel	Isabel Atwood	Episode: "Hornet's Nest"
1986	L.A. Law	Lynette Pierce	2 episodes
1987	Night Court	Heather	Episode: "Christine's Friend"
1990	Rainbow Drive	Laura Demming	Television film
1991-96	Sisters	Teddy Reed	127 episodes
1995	Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story	Jessica Savitch	Television film
1997	Frasier	Kelly Easterbrook	Episode: "Frasier's Imaginary Friend"
1997	Stories of Courage: Two Women	Marie-Rose Gineste	Television film
1999	New Batman Adventures, TheThe New Batman Adventures	Page Monroe/Calendar Girl	Voice role; Episode: "Mean Seasons"
1999-2002	Once and Again	Lily Manning	63 episodes
2000	Catch a Falling Star	Sydney Clark	Television film
2004	Suburban Madness	Bobbi Bacha	Television film
2005-12	House	Stacy Warner	10 episodes
2010-13	CSI: NY	Jo Danville	57 episodes
2016	Graves	Margaret Graves

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1994	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama	Sisters	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series		Won
1996	CableACE Awards	Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story	Won
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Sisters	Nominated
		Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story	Nominated
2000	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama	Once and Again	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series		Won
	Television Critics Association Awards	Individual Achievement in Drama		Nominated
	Viewers for Quality Television	Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series		Won
2001	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama		Won
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated
2002	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama		Nominated

Charities

Sela Ward supports the following charitable causes: Women's Issues, Heart Disease, AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]