Wendy Crewson

Canadian-born brunette actress Wendy Crewson attended Queens University in Kingston, Ontario where she won the prestigious Lorne Greene Award for outstanding work in the theater. She then studied at The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London before returning across the pond to begin an acting career that has seen her work both here and in her native country. Crewson performed in television nearly a decade before her first feature "The Doctor" (1991) opened in theaters. A regular on the short-lived CBS dramatic series "Hard Copy" (1987) that introduced her to husband Michael Murphy, she also acted with him in Robert Altman's critically-acclaimed HBO series "Tanner '88" (1988). Her role as a regular on "Home Fires" won her an ACTRA Award (Canada's Emmy) as Best Actress in a Television Drama.

Crewson's first significant feature role came as the mother of an evil Macauley Culkin in "The Good Son" (1993). She starred opposite Tim Allen in his impressive debut in "The Santa Clause" (1995), a film better than the standard holiday fare indicated by the title. Crewson was the attractive single female brought to distract Peter Gallagher from his preoccupation with dead wife Michelle Pfeiffer in "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday" (1996) and brought warmth to her role as First Lady Grace Marshall opposite Harrison Ford in the blockbuster "Air Force One" (1997). TV provided her a turn as Roberta Crachit in "Ebbie" (1995), a gender-bent "A Christmas Carol" starring Susan Lucci, and Crewson has kept busy on the small screen, assuming the role of Susan Silverman in a pair of telepics based on the Robert Urich TV series adapted from Robert Parker's "Spenser For Hire" novels, as well as essaying novelist Gail Bowen's heroine Joanne Kilbourn in a series of Lifetime TV movies under the banner title "Criminal Instinct." She also had prominent roles in "The Last Brickmaker in America" (2001) starring Sidney Poitier, and "The Matthew Shepard Story" (2002). On the big screen, the actress has continued to make her presence known, largely in supporting roles. She appeared as one of robotic Robin Williams' owners in "Bicentennial Man" (1999), as the conservative, in-the-dark mother of one of the lesbian lovers in "Better Than Chocolate" (1999), as Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife in "The Sixth Day" (2000) and as part of the ensemble of the multi-storylined "Between Strangers" (2002). In 2001 Crewson also co-executive produced and starred in the independent film "Suddenly Naked," in which she played a lonely Jackie Collins-style novelist who falls for a much-younger man.

• Born:
  May 9, 1956 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Housekeeper

Family

• Daughter: Maggie Murphy. born c. 1989; father, Michael Murphy
• Son: John Branton Murphy. born August 20, 1992; father, Michael Murphy

Education

• Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, drama, BA
• Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London, England

Milestones

• 1982 US TV-movie debut, Rona Jaffe s Mazes and Monsters (ABC)
• 1987 Met husband Michael Murphy when the two starred in the short-lived CBS crime series Hard Copy
• 1988 Played first mistress to Presidential candidate Jack Tanner (Michael Murphy) in HBO s critically-acclaimed series Tanner 88 , directed by Robert Altman
• 1989 First feature released in theaters, The Doctor , starring William Hurt
• 1993 First significant feature role, mother of evil Macauley Culkin, in The Good Son
• 1994 Assumed the role of Susan Silverman in a pair of TV movies reviving Robert Urich s Spenser For Hire TV character
• 1994 Played Tim Allen s ex-wife in The Santa Claus
• 1995 Played Roberta Crachit in the Lifetime TV-movie Ebbie , a gender-bent A Christmas Carol , starring Susan Lucci in title role
• 1996 Appeared in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday
• 1997 Co-starred in Gang Related
• 1997 Portrayed Harrison Ford s wife, the First Lady, in Air Force One
• 1998 Played Faye Stafford in the Tom Hanks-produced HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon
• 1999 Appeared as Ma am in the Robin Williams film Bicentennial Man
• 1999 Co-starred in Better Than Chocolate
• 2000 Appeared as Arnold Schwarzenegger s wife in The 6th Day
• 2000 Played widowed detective Joanne Killborne, novelist Gail Bowen s recurring heroine, in a series of Lifetime telepics entitled Criminal Instinct
• 2000 Produced and starred in the romantic comedy Suddenly Naked
• 2001 Played Maggie Steech in ABC s summer series The Beast
• 2001 Starred alongside Sidney Poitier in the CBS TV movie The Last Brickmaker in America
• 2002 Appeared in the telepic The Matthew Shepard Story
• 2002 Cast in the ensemble independent film Between Strangers (lensed 2001)
• 2002 Reprised her role for The Santa Claus 2
• 2003 Joined the cast of Fox s 24 in a recurring role as Dr. Anne Packard
• 2004 Cast in the thriller The Clearing which starred Robert Redford and Helen Mirren
• 2006 Reprised role as Tim Allen s ex-wife in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
• 2007 Co-starred with husband, Michael Murphy in Sarah Polley s directorial debut, Away From Her
• While supporting herself as a chargirl in London, keeping houses for the wealthy, including the great granddaughter of pre-Raphaelite painter William Hollman Hunt, founded the American Repertory Theatre with other American actors; produced productions like Hot L Baltimore and Archie and Mehitabel