Laura Linney, Star of Ozark on Netflix, Celebrates Her Birthday

Between the betrayals and the killings, Ozark’s Wendy Byrde rarely has time for celebrations. Luckily the same can’t be said for actress Laura Linney who’s about to pass a very special milestone.

Happy Birthday, Laura Linney!

And that’s because she was born to prominent playwright Romulus Linney and his wife Miriam on February 5, 1964, in New York, New York, which means that this talented performer is turning 57 years old today! Linney spent the early 1990s playing small parts in several big films – Lorenzo’s Oil (1992), Dave (1993), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) – and making a name for herself by starring in the television adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City (1993).

Linney would go on to reprise the role she played, Mid-Western transplant Mary Ann Singleton, in four additional sequels: More Tales of the City (1998), Further Tales of the City (2001), and Tales From the City (2019). In each subsequent adaption, Mary Ann slowly evolved from a wide-eyed innocent, enraptured by the freedoms offered by 1970s San Francisco into a cold, cynical career woman more concerned with her own advancements than in the relationships she cultivated.

Among Linney’s other successes was her Academy Award-nominated performance in Kenneth Lonergan’s feature film You Can Count On Me (2000), and her Emmy Award-winning performances in the miniseries John Adams (2008), and the dramedy The Big C (2011-2013). In the latter, Linney starred as Cathy Jamison, a suburban wife, mother, and school teacher diagnosed with cancer.

Linney’s other credits include episodes of Law & Order (1994), and Frasier (2003-2004), films such as Primal Fear (1996), The Truman Show (1998), Mystic River (2003), and The Squid and the Whale (2005), and a starring role in the Netflix original series Ozark (2017-Present).

Since 2009, Linney has hosted the PBS television series Masterpiece Classic. Her enthusiastic introduction, “Hi, I’m Laura Linney and this is Masterpiece Classic” has become a popular meme and video vine.

In addition to her extensive film and television credits, Linney has appeared in several theatrical productions on Broadway and elsewhere. Among them are her award-winning turn in Hedda Gabler (1994), and a revival of Holiday (1995). She is also a singer whose work is featured on Sandra Boynton’s children’s CD Philadelphia Chickens alongside the likes of Meryl Streep and Patti LuPone.

Linney has been married to drug and alcohol counselor Marc Schauer since May 2009. On the day of her wedding, Linney was escorted down the aisle by actor Liam Neeson – her co-star in several projects including a stage production of The Crucible and the films Love Actually (2003) and The Other Man (2008). On January 8, 2014, Linney gave birth to a son, Bennett Armistead. Entertainment Hub would like to wish Laura Linney a very happy birthday.