Tracy Pollan

Tracy Pollan Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: June 22, 1960

Age: 64 years old

Birth Place: Long Island, New York

Spouses: Michael J. Fox

Siblings: Michael Pollan

A lithe, blonde actress from a prominent New York family, Tracy Pollan is perhaps best known for her recurring role as the love interest of future real-life husband Michael J. Fox's Alex P. Keaton on NBC's "Family Ties." Active professionally since the early 1980s, Pollan acted on stage and had prominent roles in several TV-movies as well as features before slowing down her career in the mid-1990s following the birth of twin daughters.

Beginning her career on stage in 1980's Off-Broadway play "Album," Pollan made her film debut in John Sayles' "Baby, It's You" (1983) and was featured that same year in the TV-movies "Trackdown: Finding the Goodbar Killer" (CBS) and "Sessions" (ABC). More TV work followed, and in 1985, the actress made her Broadway debut in "Pack of Lies" playing a British teenager whose neighbors may be spies.

1985 also marked the beginning of her recurring run on "Family Ties," where she played thoughtful college student Ellen, a headstrong liberal who won the heart of staunchly conservative capitalist Alex P Keaton. Here Pollan was cast opposite Fox, but sparks didn't initially fly. It was while filming the 1988 feature "Bright Lights, Big City" that the two became a couple.

While starring on "Family Ties," Pollan, a graceful and poised actress with fresh-faced beauty, proved a versatile presence, ably portraying both cosmopolitan sophisticates and outdoorsy All-American characters. She impressed with more TV turns, playing a troubled young woman from a high-ranking family who turns to the streets in the 1986 "American Playhouse" (PBS) production "The Little Sister," and portraying an Olympic athlete kidnapped and forcibly held as her captor's wife in "The Abduction of Kari Swenson" (NBC, 1987). Her stirring performance in this fact-based TV-movie and her heartfelt turn in that year's independent drama "Promised Land" underlined the actress' appeal and displayed her capabilities.

Her next major role came in the ABC miniseries "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" (1990) where she played the clan's Kathleen. 1992 saw her return to the Broadway stage with a co-starring turn in Neil Simon's "Jake's Women." That same year she played a Hassidic woman with a checkered past whose jeweler fiance is murdered in the Sidney Lumet crime drama "A Stranger Among Us."

In 1993 Pollan returned to the small screen, portraying a charming con woman who dupes men looking for their match through personal ads in the CBS TV-movie "Dying to Love You." She was cast alongside Peter Horton as the parents of two girls afflicted with a rare disease that prohibits them from daylight in the ABC TV-movie "Children of the Dark" that same year.

After a brief career hiatus, Pollan returned to series television with a guest stint on "Spin City" (ABC) in 1997, playing Renee, a former girlfriend of Fox's deputy mayor Michael Flaherty, a role she reprised in 1998.

A guest turn in 2000 on the NBC drama series "Law & Order," however, not only featured the actress more prominently, it earned her an Emmy nomination for her strong portrayal of a rape victim unable to recover from the trauma and the fear accompanying her attacker's freedom. Pollan displayed her notable dramatic skill with an emotionally gripping and appropriately controlled performance.

Credits

Still: A Michael J. Fox MovieStream

Self
Movie
2023
99%

Access Live

Guest
Show
2017

Live with Kelly and Ryan

Guest
Talk
2017

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonStream

Guest
Talk
2014

The Michael J. Fox ShowStream

Guest Star
Kelly
Series
2013
70%

Home & Family

Guest
Talk
2012

The Chew

Guest
Talk
2011

The Gayle King Show

Guest
Show
2011

Justice for Natalee Holloway

Actor
Beth Holloway
Movie
2011

Watch What Happens Live With Andy CohenStream

Guest
Talk
2009

Natalee Holloway

Actor
Beth Twitty
Movie
2009

Rachael Ray ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2006

MediumStream

Guest Star
Series
2005

1st to Die

Actor
Lindsay Boxer
Movie
2003

Noce fatale

Actor
Movie
2003

Law & Order: Criminal IntentStream

Guest Star
Series
2001

Law & Order: Special Victims UnitStream

Guest Star
Harper Anderson
Series
1999
78%

The View

Guest
Talk
1997

Spin City

Guest Star
Series
1996
69%

Children of the Dark

Actor
Kim Harrison
Movie
1994

Dying to Love You

Actor
Lisa Ann Rohn
Movie
1993

A Stranger Among Us

Actor
Mara
Movie
1992

The Kennedys of Massachusetts

Actor
Kathleen Kennedy
Show
1990

Fine Things

Actor
Liz O'Reilly
Movie
1990

Sueño de Amor

Actor
Movie
1990

Bright Lights, Big City

Actor
Vicky
Movie
1988

Promised Land

Actor
Mary Daley
Movie
1987

El Secuestro de Kari Swenson

Actor
Movie
1987

A Special Friendship

Actor
Elizabeth Van Lew
Movie
1987

The Abduction of Kari Swenson

Actor
Kari Swenson
Movie
1987

Le Vent de la colère

Actor
Movie
1986

The Little Sister

Actor
Nicki Davis
Movie
1986

The Tender Age

Actor
Nicki Davis
Movie
1986

The Baron and the Kid

Actor
Mary Beth Phillips
Movie
1984

Sessions

Actor
Leslie
Movie
1983

Baby, It's You

Actor
Leslie
Movie
1983

Family TiesStream

Actor
Ellen Reed
Series
1982

Good Morning America

Guest
News
1975

Today

Guest
News
1952

News aboutTracy Pollan