Laura Linney

On Showtime's dark comedy series, Laura Linney plays a terminally ill cancer patient. The actress's own father died from lung cancer while the series was being made; her mother was a cancer nurse when Linney was young. These experiences, she says, inform her performance.

She was nominated for an Academy Award this year for best actress in the film You Can Count on Me. Shes currently starring in Further Tales of the City, the third installment of Armistead Maupins saga of San Francisco life in the 1980s. Linney also starred in the previous Tales of the City and More Tales of the City. Her other films include The House of Mirth and The Truman Show. Linney got her start in the theatre when she was 12 years old.