|
Andrea grew up the eldest of four children
raised in a very strict Catholic household. Her father, Leslie Gerald
Thompson, was a hotel manager and in 1971, when Andrea was 9, moved his
entire family to Melbourne Australia. By the time she was 15, she had
lived in 32 different places. Her parents divorced in the mid-70's and her
mom, Mary, a Registered Nurse, hauled the kids back to the US, settling in
Florida. Andrea graduated from Vero Beach High School at the tender age of
16. Shortly afterwards, she moved to New York City were she was discovered
by the powerful agent, Irene Marie. A successful modeling career ensued.
During her early 20's, in between
modeling assignments, she hit the road traversing this expansive blue
globe of ours. Backpacking through Europe and North Africa, once the bug
was exorcised from her system, back to New York she headed. There she
began to pursue a career in acting. Studying first under the tutelage of
Uta Hagen, at the Herbert Bergdorf Studios and at the Strasberg Studio,
she was than accepted into the prestigious Actors Studio. While honing her
craft she married entertainment agent Davod Guc in 1987. They were
divorced 3 years later. While at the Actors Studio, a compliment from
Arthur Millers' daughter (Andrea had been performing a scene from
"After the Fall") infused her with confidence. That boost, and
the thought of suffering through another hot sticky New York summer,
influenced her decision to head for California. While there she began
auditioning for parts.
Her first audition landed her the lead in
the quirky sci-fi movie DOIN' TIME ON PLANET EARTH (although she did do a
couple of things before Doin' Time, so I don't know if saying she landed
her first role on her first audition is accurate!). From there she has
kept on going, starting with small roles in WALL STREET and DELIRIOUS, and
then landing as a series regular on FALCON CREST as Genele Erickson. As
'bad' girl Genele, she earned a Soap Opera Digest award nomination for her
performance. A brief relationship resulted in the birth of her son , Alec,
in 1992. Andrea bounced around TV, doing guest roles here and there,
before landing the role as telepath Talia Winters, in the sci-fi series
BABYLON 5. She meet fellow B5'r Jerry Doyle at a friend's birthday party.
He offered to buy her a cocktail. They were married in 1995. Deciding to
leave B5 after just two season (she did have a 5 year contract), Andrea
made the jumped to prime time on the series JAG. She had a recurring role
as the tough-as-nails JAG prosecutor Commander Allison Krennick. In the
mist of that show shuffling from one station to another, Andrea didn't.
Luckily for us all, David Milch, co-creator of NYPD Blue was looking for
another actress to add to his assemble cast. Originally the character of
Kirkendall was only suppose to appear in 3 episodes during season four,
but they liked her so much, she was moved up to regular cast status in
season five and has a 3 year contract.
Not only is she a regular cast member of
NYPD Blue, but she has starred in several other features, A GUN, A CAR, A
BLONDE which premiered at the 1997 Slamdance Festival in Park City, Utah.
Last year, Andrea guest-starred on the hit HBO series, ARLI$$, and
completed filming a starring role in the feature, THE LOST VALLEY. She has
also done some production work and is developing several film features.
Because of her distinctive throaty voice, Andrea also has a successful
voice-over career, which continues today. Recently she did a spot for the
Braun Thermoscan thermometer.
|
