Bio
Sherry Stringfield is an American actress best known for her role as Dr. Susan Lewis on the medical television drama ER; a role for which she has received three Emmy Award nominations.
Stringfield was one of ER's original cast, but she sensationally quit the show during its third season, despite being contractually tied to appear in five. She reprised the role in 2001, but quit once again in 2005.
Away from ER she has acted mainly on television, but she has also played various parts in films.
Stringfield has famously left several major roles on successful television programmes at the height of their popularity, which has led to her being nicknamed "The Goodbye Girl" in Hollywood.
Early Life
Stringfield — the eldest of three children — was born in Colorado Springs. Her family briefly relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, before settling in Spring, Texas, a sister community of Klein, Texas, where Stringfield grew up.
She developed a penchant for acting while attending the Klein High School in Klein, Texas and at the age of 18 she attended the Acting Conservatory of SUNY at Purchase — rooming with fellow actress and student, Parker Posey.
During this time, she appeared in numerous off-Broadway productions and she tamed her Texan accent with the help of a college speech teacher.
Stringfield graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts.
Career
She got her first role on the soap opera Guiding Light, playing Christina "Blake" Thorpe from 1989 until 1992.
After three years she left the show to spend a year travelling Europe, but soon returned to the small screen on the ABC drama, NYPD Blue. She played Manhattan A.D.A. Laura Kelly, the ex-wife of officer John Kelly (David Caruso) during the first season (1993-94) of the series.
Unsatisfied, she was released early from her contract.
With minimal delay she became one of the original cast members of ER. Her personal success mirrored the show's success; she was nominated for an Emmy Award for lead actress during each of her first three seasons of the show.
However, despite being contractually tied to ER for five seasons, a desire for a "normal life" and to esacpe ER's grueling filiming schedule prompted her to leave the successful prime-time drama early in its third season.
In order to be released from her contract Stringfield was forced to sign a no-work agreement, which blocked her from working on television for the remainder of her original contract.
Stringfield's decision to quit reportedly angered the show's executive producer, John Wells, because she left just as Dr. Lewis got embroiled in a budding romance with Anthony Edwards' Dr. Mark Greene.
Stringfield has commented: "I wouldn't describe the situation as pleasant. The producers were in shock. They tried to talk me out of it. It took a long time to get out of my contract."
Stringfield's much publicised departure reportedly "sent a small shock wave through Hollywood" and her exit episode in November 1996 attracted 37-million viewers, the biggest night of the season for the NBC network.
Stringfield quit just as television executive, Dick Robertson, was closing a deal that guaranteed the ER cast millions in future earnings from sales to cable and syndication, meaning she effectively "walked away from a fortune."
After leaving she married, taught a script analysis class and directed several plays at her alma mater. She took roles in films such as 54 (1998) and Autumn in New York (2000) and appeared in the television movies Border Line (1999) — produced by her ER co-star Anthony Edwards — and Going Home (2000), in which she starred opposite Jason Robards.
She also guest-starred in the CBS drama, Touched by an Angel, in 1999.
Stringfield claims she was asked to reprise the role of Susan Lewis in ER several times, but turned each offer down. However, following the birth of her first baby, she approached the producers of ER and then rejoined the cast in 2001, the show's eighth season.
"I changed my mind," Stringfield commented, "I really want to work now. It just made sense for me to go back to ER."
26.7-million people watched Stringfields's return, placing the show at first place in the ratings and displacing the hugely popular Friends from the top spot.
During her second stint in ER, Stringfield's character was featured in a special 'crossover' with NBC's New York based police drama, Third Watch, which aired in 2002.
She remained in the role for four additional seasons, however in August 2005 Stringfield announced that she would be leaving the show again as the 12th season got underway.
"I am extremely grateful for the time I spent on ER," Stringfield explained. "It is a wonderful show, and there are so many people I will miss. But I'm ready for new roles and new challenges."
She was subsequently cast in the pilot episode of the CBS drama Company Town, playing Angie Amberson, a mother of teenagers and a whistle-blower on the investment firm where she works. However, Company Town failed to get picked up for the 2006 fall season.
In 2007 Stringfield stars in the Andrew Shea film Forfeit. She plays the role of Karen, the ex-girlfriend of a clinical sociopath, who schemes and plots to stage a massive robbery and sets Karen up to take the rap.
Stringfield also has a recurring role in the HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me (previously known as "Sexlife"), also in 2007.
In addition to acting, Stringfield has also done voice-over work, which has included providing the voice of Eyeleen in the children's television show Blue's Clues and voicing her ER character for the PC game, ER: The Game.
Stringfield was also featured in the U.S. Got Milk? advertising campaign, despite being lactose intolerant.
Awards
In 1991 and 1993 Stringfield was nominated in the "Outstanding Villain/Villainess" category at the Soap Opera Digest Awards for her role in The Guiding Light.
She has also received multiple awards and award-nominations for her role as Susan Lewis in ER, including three separate Emmy Award nominations in the category "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
In 1995 she was nominated in the category "Favorite Female Performer" at the People's Choice Awards and in 1995 and 1997 she was nominated in the "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series -Drama" category at the Golden Globe Awards.
In 1996 she won a Q Award for "Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series" and in 1997 she, along with several of her ER cast-mates, won a Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series".
In addition Stringfield was voted one of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World" by readers of FHM Magazine in 1997.
Personal Life
In the early 1990s Stringfield dated British businessman Paul Goldstein (chairman of Nevica skiwear) for nearly three years, but the pressures of a long-distance romance eventually ended the relationship.
During her first stint in ER, Stringfield was romantically linked to her co-star Noah Wyle, who played Dr. John Carter.
Stringfield notoriously dated the investment banker Odell Lambroza and it was widely reported that Lambroza was the reason she quit ER in 1996, in order to move to New York with him.
The couple split in 1997, reportedly due to objections from Lambroza's family — Orthodox Jews, who were against their sons's engagement to a Christian and wanted Stringfield to convert to Judaism, which she refused to do.
However, Stringfield claims the break-up was amicable and denies that it was religion related.
Stringfield went on to marry the journalist Lawrence Joseph in October 1998. Stringfield and Joseph divorced in January 2006 after 7 years of marriage. They have two children together: daughter Phoebe, born in March 2001; and son Milo, born April 12, 2004.
Stringfield currently resides in Los Angeles.