Career

Born in Manhattan, she started her acting career in 1986 and appeared in the TV show Santa Barbara. She later landed her first movie role in Eight Men Out. She has made various guest or recurring roles on such television shows as Law & Order, Monsters, NYPD Blue, House, and NCIS.

In 1992 she had a supporting role in the movie Sister Act as the shy but talented singing nun Sister Mary Robert, a role she reprised in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit the following year. She appeared in various other television roles until 1997, when she starred in Air Bud, followed by the independent film Finding North. She continued appearing on television shows such as The Job, Oliver Beene, and Listen Up!

Among her Broadway credits are Pygmalion (1987), Lend Me a Tenor (1989) as "Maggie" and Side Man (1998) as "Terry". In 2013, Makkena appeared as "Carmen Berra" in the Off-Broadway production of Bronx Bombers at (Primary Stages).

Personal life

Makkena has been married since 1997, has one child and lives in New York City.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Eight Men Out	Kate Jackson
1992	Sister Act	Sister Mary Robert
1993	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Sister Mary Robert
1994	Camp Nowhere	Dr. Celeste Dunbar
1995	Whiskey Heir, TheThe Whiskey Heir	Maggie	Short film
1997	People, TheThe People	Jean Leary
1997	Air Bud	Jackie Framm
1998	Finding North	Rhonda Portelli
1999	4 a.m.: Open All Night	Woman	Short film
2004	Noise	Del
2009	State of Play	Greer Thornton

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Santa Barbara	Katie Timmons	TV series
1989	Dream Street	Harry's Ex-Wife	Episode: "True Love"
1991	Monsters	Maggie Price	Episode: "Desirable Alien"
1991	Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace	Brenda	TV movie
1991	Law & Order	Officer Nicki Sandoval	Episode: "A Death in the Family"
1992	Black Magic	Sally Rowe	TV movie
1993	Class of '96	Margaret Parsons	Episode: "The Accused"
1993	A League of Their Own	Mae Mordabito	6 episodes
1994	NYPD Blue	Det. Sharon LaSalle	3 episodes
1994	Touched by an Angel	Robin Dunwoody	Episode: "The Heart of the Matter"
1995	Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story	Mary Newcombe	TV movie
1995	Strange Luck	Louise Brooks	Episode: "The Box"
1996	Death Benefit	Wynn Burkholder	TV movie
1996	On Seventh Avenue	Nadine Jacobs	TV movie
1997	Lies He Told	Patty	TV movie
1997	C-16: FBI	Melanie Harmon	Episode: "Orange Kid"
1997	Dellaventura		Episode: "Fathers"
1998	Trinity		Episode: "No Secrets" Episode: "Hang Man Down"
1999-2000	Judging Amy	Susie Nixon	8 episodes
2001-2002	Job, TheThe Job	Karen McNeil	6 episodes
2002	Law & Order	Janet Weston	Episode: "Born Again"
2002	Philly	Amanda Royce	Episode: "San Diego Padre"
2003-2004	Oliver Beene	Charlotte Caraline Beene	24 episodes
2004-2005	Listen Up!	Dana Kleinman	18 episodes
2006	Ghost Whisperer	Jean Godfrey	Episode: "A Grave Matter"
2007	House	Dr. Julie Whitner	Episode: "Needle in a Haystack"
2007	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Doris Babinkian	Episode: "Ending Happy"
2007	Nine, TheThe Nine	Suzanne	Episode: "Confessions" Episode: "Man of the Year"
2007	Chuck	National Intelligence Director	Episode: "Pilot"
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ellen Van Kuren	Episode: "Transitions"
2009	Desperate Housewives	Fran Schulman	Episode: "Marry Me a Little"
2009	Without a Trace	Jubilee	Episode: "True"
2009	Numb3rs	Kath Berry	Episode: "Shadow Markets"
2010	Numb3rs	Kath Barry	Episode: "Growin' Up"
2010	Deep End, TheThe Deep End	Judge Joan Anderson	Episode: "An Innocent Man"
2010	Miami Medical	Didi	Episode: "What Lies Beneath"
2011	Melissa & Joey	Suzanne Reback	Episode: "Going the Distance?"
2011-Present	NCIS	Dr. Rachel Cranston	4 episodes
2012-2013	The Mob Doctor	Daniella Devlin	13 episodes
2014	Alpha House	Molly P. Andresun	2 episodes
2015	Rizzoli & Isles	IAB Agent Hitchcock	1 episode

[ Source: Wikipedia ]