Lauren Michael Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an
American actress. She is known for her role as Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the TV series
Picket Fences, as Mary Swanson in the 1994 film
Dumb & Dumber, and her relationship with Canadian actor
Jim Carrey. She also portrayed
Jenny Shepard on the TV series
NCIS from 2005 until 2008.
Biography
Early life
Lauren Holly was born in
Bristol, Pennsylvania. Her father is an English Literature professor at
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, her mother
Michael Ann Holly an eminent art historian who was a professor at the
University of Rochester. Lauren was raised in upstate
Geneva, New York, and is a 1981 graduate of
Geneva High School, where she was a cheerleader. She graduated from
Sarah Lawrence College in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.
Career
At age 23, Holly joined the cast of the iconic ABC television soap opera
All My Children as
Julie Chandler (1986–1989). She portrayed the comic book character Betty on television's
Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again in 1990.
[
Holly at the 1991 Emmy Awards.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Lauren Holly (right) with [[Holly Marie Combs] (left) at the 1993 Emmy Awards]]
Perhaps her best known film role came as Mary Swanson, Lloyd Christmas's love interest in the 1994 Jim Carrey comedy
Dumb & Dumber. She also portrayed
Linda Lee Cadwell, the wife of martial artist and actor
Bruce Lee, in 1993's
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story; a doctor in Sydney Pollack's 1995 remake of
Sabrina; and Lieutenant Emily Lake, the only woman aboard a submarine, in the 1996 Kelsey Grammer comedy
Down Periscope.
Holly starred as small-town Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in
David E. Kelley's long-running TV series
Picket Fences. In 2005, she joined the cast of
NCIS as Director
Jenny Shepard.
In March 2001, she married investment banker Francis Greco and has adopted 3 sons, Alexander, George, and Henry.
Filmography
Television
