12 ‘Law & Order’ Actors Who Double-Dipped as Guest Stars
Longtime Law & Order viewers might be feeling a little déjà vu seeing Maura Tierney starring as Lt. Jessica Brady this season, since the ER vet also played Patti Blane in the L&O Season 2 episode “Aria.”
“I barely remember that,” Tierney admitted to TV Insider this month. “I remember the story was that my character’s mother forced my sister into porn, and I had to testify against my mom being a stage mom, a porn stage mom.”
Tierney isn’t alone — Jerry Orbach, S. Epatha Merkerson, Annie Parisse, Michael Imperioli, and Camryn Manheim all logged guest appearances on the NBC procedural before becoming series regulars.
And the dozen actors pictured below all played two, three, or even four Law & Order characters during guest spots. Guess they made an impression with casting agents!
Christine Baranski
This star of The Gilded Age and The Good Fight played mafia wife Katherine Masucci Beigel in the Season 1 two-parter “The Torrents of Greed,” then returned to play children’s rights attorney Rose Siegal in Season 4’s “Nurture.”
Ty Burrell
Before Modern Family, Burrell played Paul Donatelli, the husband of a subway murder victim, in Season 11’ s “Turnstile Justice” and Herman Capshaw, a child abductor, in Season 13’s “Sheltered.”
Ann Dowd
Among her many Law & Order franchise appearances, this Handmaid’s Tale star has played four characters on the original L&O: Teresa Franz in Season 1, Dorothy Baker in Season 4, Patricia Smith in Season 6, and Dr. Beth Allison in Season 14.
David Harbour
Another fave of L&O casting agents, this Stranger Things star played a waiter named Mike in Season 10’s “Patsy” and the scamming wine dealer Jay Carlin in Season 18’s “Submission.”
Allison Janney
Before The West Wing got going, Janney guest-starred on Law & Order as Nora, a secretary to a soap star, in Season 2’s “Star Struck,” and Ann Madsen, a witness who is assassinated in the street, in Season 4’s “Old Friends.”
Ron Cephas Jones
This late This Is Us actor guest-starred in back-to-back L&O seasons, playing Frank Doyle, the father of a boy involved in drug operations, in Season 6’s “Slave” and Roland Books, leader of the African American Congress, in Season 7’s “Entrapment.”
Ellen Pompeo
Now No. 1 on the call sheet on Grey’s Anatomy, Pompeo played Jenna Weber, a student who had her family members murdered, in Season 6’s “Savior” and Laura Kendrick, a woman implicated in her boyfriend’s serial killings, in Season 10’s “Fools for Love.”
Sam Rockwell
This Oscar-winning actor portrayed Randy Borland, a man who murdered a boy at his mother’s behest, in Season 2’s “Intolerance” and an NYPD cop named Weddeker in Season 3’s “Manhood.”
J.K. Simmons
Better known for his recurring as Law & Order psychiatrist Emil Skoda between Season 8 and Season 20, this Oscar winner also guest-starred as TV cameraman Jerry Luppin in Season 4’s “Sanctuary.”
J. Smith-Cameron
Smith-Cameron, now known for her part in Succession, has played four characters on Law & Order: Ms. Moskowitz in Season 2, Paula Downing in Season 9’s “Flight,” Linda Drosi in Season 14’s “Blaze,” and Attorney Ward in Season 19’s “Take-Out.”
Jeremy Allen White
Michael Kenneth Williams
This late star of The Wire had a threepeat on Law & Order, playing Delmore Walton in Season 8’s “Shadow,” Marcus Cole in Season 11’s “A Losing Season,” and Charles Cole in Season 20’s “Great Satan.”
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