Deirdre Lovejoy

Deirdre Lovejoy Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: June 30, 1962

Age: 62 years old

Birth Place: Abilene, Texas

The strawberry locks, blue eyes, alabaster complexion, and winning smile of Deirdre Lovejoy might lead one to believe that characters of inner warmth and comforting natures would be the actress's forte. But hard-nosed prosecutors, angry mothers, and even a dirty United States attorney turned hardened kidnapper and child killer are the roles in which she is most comfortable. Lovejoy was a child actress in community theater in Elkhart, Indiana, later receiving her Master of Fine Arts from New York University.

The refined yet hard-edged performer began her adult career appearing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s, appropriately garnering her first television role as the tragically impaired Rosemary Kennedy in the biographical miniseries "The Kennedys of Massachusetts." She bounced around various TV shows in the '90s with bit parts on the comedy juggernaut "Seinfeld" and the legal-series standard "Law & Order" until making a splash as a bungling policewoman in the ripped-from-the-headlines docudrama "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder."

With a demonstrated capacity for grippingly realistic portrayals, Lovejoy landed her big break as the no-nonsense Baltimore prosecutor Rhonda Pearlman on HBO's masterful sociopolitical series "The Wire" (2002-2008). The crowing achievement of Lovejoy's style, Pearlman was a character of intrinsic ethics who was nevertheless behaviorally suspect, caught up in a world of corruption demanding both amoral nuance and procedural integrity.

In 2009, Lovejoy brought a bit of grittiness to the mainstream with her depiction of a detective in the eerie home-invasion remake "The Stepfather."

Credits

Lilly

Actor
Jocelyn Samuels
Movie
2024

Spiked

Actor
Chief Collins
Movie
2021

Manhunt: Deadly Games

Guest Star
Judy Clarke
Miniseries
2020

Beauty Mark

Actor
Pastor Hodges
Movie
2017

I Am Elizabeth SmartStream

Actor
Wanda Barzee
Movie
2017

BullStream

Guest Star
Rebecca Whalen
Series
2016

American GothicStream

Guest Star
Series
2016
58%

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Actor
Billy's Mother
Movie
2016

Thirsty

Actor
Doris Townsend
Movie
2016

NCIS: New OrleansStream

Guest Star
Claire McDermott
Series
2014

The BlacklistStream

Guest Star
Cynthia Panabaker
Series
2013
91%

Orange Is the New BlackStream

Guest Star
Series
2013
90%

Lionhead

Actor
Detective Lundgren
Movie
2013

Shadow on the Mesa

Actor
Sally Bates
Movie
2013

American Horror Story: Asylum

Guest Star
Lana's Host
Show
2012

ElementaryStream

Guest Star
Series
2012
95%

GirlsStream

Guest Star
Margot
Series
2012
89%

Body of ProofStream

Guest Star
Series
2011
76%

ShamelessStream

Guest Star
Rita
Series
2010
82%

Stars in Shorts

Actor
Toaster
Show
2010

The Forgotten

Guest Star
Show
2009

Lie to MeStream

Guest Star
Holly Sando
Series
2009

The StepfatherStream

Actor
Det. Tylar
Movie
2009
13%

Eli StoneStream

Guest Star
A.D.A. Samantha Jarrells
Series
2008
60%

Private PracticeStream

Guest Star
Series
2007

Saving GraceStream

Guest Star
Series
2007
76%

Brothers & SistersStream

Guest Star
Marissa Crandall
Series
2006
79%

SharkStream

Guest Star
Series
2006
52%

Step Up

Actor
Kathleen
Movie
2006

Close to Home

Guest Star
Show
2005

Criminal Minds: EvolutionStream

Guest Star
Series
2005

BonesStream

Guest Star
Heather Taffet
Series
2005
90%

The CloserStream

Guest Star
Melissa Langner
Series
2005
83%

NUMB3RSStream

Guest Star
Daria Samson
Series
2005

MediumStream

Guest Star
Series
2005

Cold CaseStream

Guest Star
Series
2003

Two and a Half MenStream

Guest Star
Series
2003
65%

Nip/TuckStream

Guest Star
Allie Tedesco
Series
2003
74%

Without a TraceStream

Guest Star
Series
2002

The WireStream

Actor
Rhonda Pearlman
Series
2002
94%

The Wire FREE

Actor
Rhonda Pearlman
Show
2002

Law & Order: Criminal IntentStream

Guest Star
Agent Carmen Martino
Series
2001

Perfect Murder, Perfect Town

Actor
Miniseries
2000

Law & Order: Special Victims UnitStream

Guest Star
Penelope Fielding
Series
1999
78%

Judging Amy

Guest Star
Series
1999

Spin City

Guest Star
Series
1996
69%

Touched by an AngelStream

Guest Star
Series
1994

NYPD BlueStream

Guest Star
Michelle Foster
Series
1993
83%