Nancy Travis

Nancy Ann Travis (born September 21, 1961) is an American actress.

Nancy Travis
Travis in 2012
Born	Nancy Ann Travis (1961-09-21) September 21, 1961 New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	New York University
Alma mater	Circle in the Square Theatre School
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Robert N. Fried ( m. 1994)
Children	2

She began her career on Off-Broadway theater, before her first leading screen role in the ABC television miniseries Harem opposite Omar Sharif. Her breakthrough came in 1987, playing Sylvia Bennington in the comedy film Three Men and a Baby, she later starred in its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady (1990).

Travis has starred in many films, including Internal Affairs (1990), Air America (1990), Passed Away (1992), Chaplin (1992), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Greedy (1994), and Fluke (1995). On television, Travis went on to star in the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect in 1995, which ran two seasons, and in the short-lived Work with Me (1999). In 2002, she played a leading role in the ABC miniseries Rose Red, and later joined the cast of the CBS sitcom Becker for its final two seasons.

From 2011 to 2017 and again in late 2018, Travis starred as Vanessa Baxter in the ABC/Fox sitcom Last Man Standing. In 2018, she began starring opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method.

Early life

Travis was born in Queens, the daughter of Theresa, a social worker, and Gordon Travis, a sales executive.[1] Travis was raised in Framingham, Massachusetts,[1][2] and Baltimore, Maryland.[1][3] She was raised Catholic.[4]

Career

Travis' first job after graduating from high school was in a play, It's Hard to Be a Jew, at The American Jewish Theatre in NYC. After that, Travis appeared in a stage version of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and was a founding member of the Off-Broadway theater company Naked Angels. She appeared in their Frank Pugliese play Aven U-Boys, as well as in King of Connecticut. She made her Broadway debut in I'm Not Rappaport. She starred in Athol Fugard's My Children, My Africa.

Travis has had roles in many films, including Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady, plus Air America and Internal Affairs (as the wife of Andy García's character), So I Married an Axe Murderer, as the bride of Mike Myers' character, thriller The Vanishing with Kiefer Sutherland, Greedy with Michael J. Fox, and in the action-comedy Destiny Turns on the Radio with Dylan McDermott. Other notable films include the 1995 box office bomb Fluke,[5] 1996 Whoopi Goldberg's comedy Bogus, political comedy/drama Running Mates with Three Men and a Baby co-star Tom Selleck, 2001 drama film Auggie Rose, 2005 comedy The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and 2007 ensemble cast romantic drama The Jane Austen Book Club adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler. She was featured in Chaplin opposite Robert Downey, Jr., portraying Joan Barry, the woman who filed a paternity suit against Chaplin.

Travis starred with Peter Gallagher and Isabella Rossellini in the Tom Cruise-directed episode of the Showtime series Fallen Angels in 1993. From 1995–1997, Travis played a leading role in the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect. The show was canceled after two seasons. In 1999 she starred in the short-lived TV series Work with Me, Travis was also a producer.[6] Due to low ratings, the show was cancelled after four episodes.[7]

Travis had the leading role of psychology professor Dr. Joyce Reardon in 2002's four-hour television adaptation of Stephen King's Rose Red.[8] In 2002, Travis joined the cast of the CBS sitcom Becker as Chris Connor. She starred in the show for its final two seasons, replacing the series' original female lead, Terry Farrell. From 2007 to 2009 Travis appeared in the television sitcom The Bill Engvall Show as Bill's wife Susan. In 2009 she starred in the Hallmark Channel film Safe Harbor, about a happily married couple, Doug (Treat Williams) and Robbie Smith (Travis) about to retire and spend their days cruising the world on their sailboat.[9] In 2010, she starred in TV films The Pregnancy Pact, In My Shoes and was a guest star in two episodes of Desperate Housewives.[10] In 2011, she guest starred in the television series Grey's Anatomy[11] and How I Met Your Mother.[12]

In 2011, Travis was cast in the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing opposite Tim Allen.[13][14] Travis also was cast in the same time in The CW medical drama series Hart of Dixie as Emmeline "Mrs. H" Hattenbarger, but due to her commitments with the 20th Century Fox-produced Last Man Standing left the show after two episodes.[15] Last Man Standing was canceled in 2017, after six seasons and 130 episodes, but was revived by Fox in the fall of 2018.[16] The show debuted on September 28, 2018, and had its highest rating since season two.[17]

In 2018, Travis was cast as a female lead opposite Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method, created by Chuck Lorre.[18]

Personal life

In 1994, Travis married Robert N. Fried, the former president and CEO of Savoy Pictures and Founder & former CEO of Hallmark Movies Now (formerly known as SpiritClips and FeeIn). They have two sons: Benjamin E. born in 1998, and Jeremy, born in 2001. She starred in the 2007 short film Sally, featuring Benjamin and written by her husband.[19]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Three Men and a Baby	Sylvia Bennington
1988	Married to the Mob	Karen Lutnick
1988	Eight Men Out	Lyria Williams
1988	I'll Be Home for Christmas	Leah Bundy
1989	How Much Is Really True?		Short film
1990	Loose Cannons	Riva
1990	Internal Affairs	Kathleen "Kathy" Avilla
1990	Air America	Corinne Landreaux
1990	Three Men and a Little Lady	Sylvia Bennington
1992	Passed Away	Cassie Slocombe
1992	Chaplin	Joan Barry
1993	The Vanishing	Rita Baker
1993	So I Married an Axe Murderer	Harriet Michaels
1994	Greedy	Robin
1995	Fluke	Carol Johnson
1995	Lieberman in Love	Kate	Short film
1995	Destiny Turns on the Radio	Lucille
1995	Body Language	Atty. Theresa Janice 'T.J.' Harlow
1996	Bogus	Lorraine Franklin
1999	My Last Love	Susan Morton	Also producer
2000	Beyond Suspicion	Carol
2005	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	Lydia Rodman
2007	The Jane Austen Book Club	Cat Harris
2007	Sally	Sally	Short film
2014	Squatters	Carol
2014	Dissonance	Bobbi	Short film
2015	The Submarine Kid	Mrs. Koll
2017	Bernard and Huey	Mona
2018	Married Young	Rachel

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Malice in Wonderland	Ann	Television film
1986	Harem	Jessica Gray	Television film
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Maggie Ellis	Episode: "The Hopes and Fears"
1993	Fallen Angels	Bette Allison	Episode: "The Frightening Frammis"
1994–1997	Duckman	Bernice / Beverly / Beatrice/Grandma-ma	67 episodes, voice role
1995–1997	Almost Perfect	Kim Cooper	Series regular, 34 episodes
1996	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Spencer	Voice role
1998	Superman: The Animated Series	Darci Mason	1 episode, voice role
1999	Work with Me	Julie Better	Series regular, 9 episodes, also producer
2000	Running Mates	Jennifer "Jenny" Pryce	Television film
2002	Stephen King's Rose Red	Prof. Joyce Reardon	Miniseries
2002–2004	Becker	Christine "Chris" Connor	Series regular, 39 episodes
2007–2009	The Bill Engvall Show	Susan Pearson	Series regular, 30 episodes
2007	The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker	April Brenner	Television film
2008	Medium	Laura Swenson	Episode: "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
2009	Numb3rs	Dr. Jane Karellen	Episode: "First Law"
2009	Safe Harbor	Robbie	Television film
2010	The Pregnancy Pact	Lorraine Dougan	Television film
2010	A Walk In My Shoes	Cindy/Trish	Television film
2010	Desperate Housewives	Dr. Mary Wagner	2 episodes
2011	Grey's Anatomy	Alison	Episode: "Not Responsible"
2011	How I Met Your Mother	Cheryl Whittaker	Episode: "Legendaddy"
2011	Hart of Dixie	Emmeline Hattenbarger (Mrs. H)	2 episodes
2011–present	Last Man Standing	Vanessa Baxter	Series regular, 130 episodes
2017–present	Mr. Mercedes	Donna Hodges	7 episodes
2018	The Ranch	Karen	Episode: "Telling Me Lies"
2018–present	The Kominsky Method	Lisa	Series regular

References

1. "Becker's Nancy Travis Rekindles Her Baby Love with Ted Danson". People Magazine. January 13, 2003.
2. "Travis gives high praise to Framingham drama coach". bostonherald.com. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
3. "Nancy Travis- Biography". Yahoo! Movies. July 7, 2013. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014.
4. Gerri Miller. "The Jewish Paparazzi: Nancy Travis, Dave Lieberman, and Jerry Springer". American Jewish Life. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
5. Fluke (1995), Box Office Mojo
6. ""Work with Me" (1999)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
7. Pursell, Chris (October 25, 1999). "CBS pink slips 'Work With Me'". Variety. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
8. Wilkes, Neil (Jul 18, 2001). "ABC Fall miniseries: Full details". DigitalSpy. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
9. "Christian Therapeutic Boarding School – Safe Harbor Boys Home". Safe Harbor.
10. Ausiello, Michael (Sep 16, 2010). "'Desperate Housewives' Exclusive: Nancy Travis is B.A.G.'s mom!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
11. Wightman, Catriona (Jan 27, 2011). "Nancy Travis lands 'Grey's Anatomy' role". DigitalSpy. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
12. Jeffery, Morgan (Feb 2, 2011). "Nancy Travis signs for 'HIMYM' role". DigitalSpy. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
13. Becky Kirsch. "ABC 2011 Pilots Including Good Christian Belles, Charlie's Angels, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Last Man Standing, Scandal, Revenge". POPSUGAR Entertainment. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
14. Jeffery, Morgan (Mar 30, 2011). "Nancy Travis joins ABC Tim Allen pilot". Digital Spy. Retrieved Oct 8, 2019.
15. "Coming This Fall to The CW..." TV Fanatic. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
16. "Fox picked up 'Last Man Standing' after being 'emboldened' by response to 'Roseanne'". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-07-03.
17. Otterson, Joe; Otterson, Joe (Sep 29, 2018). "TV Ratings: 'Last Man Standing' Surges in Fox Debut". Retrieved Oct 8, 2019.
18. Andreeva, Nellie (11 January 2018). "'The Kominsky Method': Nancy Travis To Co-Star In Netflix Comedy Series".
19. "Nancy Travis on the View". YouTube. December 7, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-11.

External links

• Nancy Travis on IMDb
• Nancy Travis at AllMovie