Maggie Lawson

Actress Maggie Lawson worked steadily in juvenile roles throughout the late 1990s before finding success as James Roday's foil and romantic partner on the popular USA Network series "Psych" (2006-14). A likable presence in both straight drama and broad comedies, Lawson rose from bit parts in kid-friendly series like "Boy Meets World" (NBC 1993-2000) and the occasional feature like "Pleasantville" (1998) without making much impact.

Her career turned around in earnest in 2006 when she was cast as Detective Julie O'Hara on "Psych." The smart, witty banter between Lawson and series lead James Roday, who also became her off-screen partner as well, became one of the highlights of the comedy series, and led to other opportunities for the actress, including a pair of fashion-themed mysteries for The Lifetime Network, before Lawson landed her own program in 2013 with "Back in the Game" (ABC), which in turn led to supposition that she would depart "Psych" after its seventh season that same year. Lawson's versatility and appeal with younger television viewers helped to mint her as a well-liked presence on the small screen for nearly two decades.

Born Margaret Cassidy Lawson on August 12, 1980 in Louisville, Kentucky, Maggie Lawson was the daughter of hotel manager Mike Lawson and his wife, Judy, a homemaker. She began performing as a grade schooler in local community theater, and also served as a youth correspondent for her local FOX affiliate station before moving to Los Angeles. Lawson landed her first acting roles in her mid-teens, appearing in youth-oriented programs like "Hang Time" (NBC 1995-2000) and "Boy Meets World" (ABC 1993-2000).

In 1998, she made her feature film debut in "Pleasantville" opposite Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon. Her first lead role came as a shy teenager whose resemblance to a famous model gives her entry into the fashion world in "Model Behavior" (ABC 2000), a "Wonderful World of Disney" (ABC 1969-1979, 1997-2008) TV-movie co-starring Justin Timberlake. Between short-lived assignments as a series regular on the sitcoms "Inside Schwartz" (NBC 2001) and "It's All Relative" (ABC 2003-2004), she played the titular teen detective in an updated take on "Nancy Drew" (2002) for ABC.

Lawson worked steadily in unremarkable TV and feature projects until landing her breakout role as Juliet O'Hara on "Psych." A good-natured but competent young detective, Juliet's tenacity won over her skeptical co-workers, including dubious psychic Shawn Spencer (James Roday). Over the course of the next six seasons, the pair became romantically entangled - a situation that repeated itself off-camera as well when Roday and Lawson also became a couple in 2006.

The popularity of the series led to more screen work for Lawson, including the theatrical feature "Cleaner" (2007) with Samuel L. Jackson, and the Lifetime original productions "Killer Hair" (2009) and "Hostile Makeover" (2009), which cast her as author Ellen Byerrum's fashion journalist turned sleuth, Lacey Smithsonian. In 2013, she was cast in a new sitcom, "Back in the Game" (ABC 2013) as a former softball champion who pairs with her father (James Caan), a failed athlete in his own right, to coach her son's woeful softball team.