Andrea Thompson
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Rebecca Andrea Thompson (born January 6, 1960)
Film Reference. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
is an American actress, known for her roles on the television series ''
Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Channing family in the California ...
'', ''
Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tele ...
'', '' JAG'', '' 24'', and ''
NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble c ...
''.


Early life

Andrea Thompson was born January 6, 1960 in
Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
. When she was six, her family moved to Australia. She left high school at 16, and after an extended period of travel, she moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She began modeling and studied acting at the Strasberg Studio and the
Herbert Berghof Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...
under
Uta Hagen Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' by Edward Albee, who called her "a ...
.


Career


Acting career

Thompson began her career as a voiceover artist, which continues today. Her first significant film role was in the 1987 film ''
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
''. In 1989, she was cast on the
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Channing family in the California ...
'' as the scheming Genele Ericson during the show's final season, and played photojournalist Maggie Dawson in the Season 3, Episode 2 of the series ''
Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a phys ...
''. In 1991, she played Nurse Helen Caldwell in the comedy film ''
Delirious Delirious may refer to: * A state of delirium Film and television * Delirious (1991 film), ''Delirious'' (1991 film), an American comedy directed by Tom Mankiewicz, starring John Candy * Delirious (2006 film), ''Delirious'' (2006 film), an Americ ...
''. In 1993 she was cast on the
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
series ''
Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tele ...
'' as
telepath Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
Talia Winters The list of ''Babylon 5'' characters contains characters from the entire ''Babylon 5'' universe. The Babylon station was conceived as a political and cultural meeting place. As such, one of the show's many themes is the cultural and social intera ...
. Thompson left the series in the middle of its second season. Thompson moved on to join the cast of '' JAG'' midseason as Commander Alison Krennick, an aide to the
Judge Advocate General of the Navy The Judge Advocate General of the Navy (JAG) is the highest-ranking uniformed lawyer in the United States Department of the Navy. The Judge Advocate General is the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations o ...
and direct supervisor of
Harmon Rabb Harmon 'Harm' Rabb, Jr. is a fictional character and lead role in the American television series '' JAG''. The character was created by Donald P. Bellisario, as a work for hire for Paramount Television, in the script for the ''JAG'' pilot ep ...
. She was among several actors who left the show when it was canceled by
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
after one season before
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
picked it up. She then went on to play Detective Jill Kirkendall on four seasons of crime drama ''
NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble c ...
'', leaving in April 2000 to pursue a career in journalism.


Journalism career

Thompson started to prepare for her journalism career in 1999, by earning her
GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...
and working for one year with Jack Hubbard, associate director of
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
's News Service and a veteran journalist of
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
. During this time, she also took a writing seminar with
KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV ma ...
's feature reporter
Wayne Freedman Wayne Freedman is a former feature reporter for KGO-TV; the ABC owned television station in San Francisco, California. Early life and education Freedman was raised in Los Angeles by his parents, Alicia Krug Freedman, a Broadway performer, and M ...
. She began her work with
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate
KRQE KRQE (channel 13) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister to Santa Fe–licensed ''de facto'' CW owned-and-operated station KWBQ (channel 19) a ...
in
Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
as a general assignment reporter for $26,000 per year. Thompson joined '' CNN Headline News'' as an evening anchor in June 2001. CNN had
laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...
400 of 4,000 employees in January, and was refocusing on personalities to draw in younger viewers. Her first words on-screen as reporter were "Hi, I'm Andrea Thompson, and unless you've been living in a cave, you probably already know that." Her hiring generated controversy in journalism circles, mostly because Thompson had just one year of journalism experience. Nude pictures and videoclips of Thompson taken from her 1980s-era movies also began circulating on the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, causing some embarrassment for CNN. Thompson left the network in March 2002. During an appearance in January 2003, she made a statement indicating she left CNN because she disagreed with the way the news was handled, "Basically... you just give the viewers enough to scare the hell out of them, and not any real valuable information. And we saw so much of that after Sept. 11 that I thought was, frankly, irresponsible." After leaving CNN, she went to work for
Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
, introducing episodes of'' NYPD Blue'' and ''
Forensic Files ''Forensic Files'', originally known as ''Medical Detectives'', is an American documentary television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was orig ...
'', as well as narrating the documentary series ''The System''. She began hosting ''
Psychic Detectives A psychic detective is a person who investigates crimes by using purported paranormal psychic abilities. Examples have included postcognition (the paranormal perception of the past), psychometry (information psychically gained from objects), ...
'' in 2003.


Return to acting

Thompson had a recurring guest role as Doctor Nicole Duncan on the third season of the television series '' 24'', first appearing on that show in November 2003.Adalian, Josef
"Thompson garners '24' gig"
''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' August 14, 2003
In 2007, she appeared in season two of ''
Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, a ...
'' in the episode "Spaceman in a Crater". In 2009, she played Field Agent Anne Hudson in "Outfoxed", a season five episode of the series ''
Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...
''.


Personal life

Thompson was married to David Guc from 1987 to 1990, and to ''Babylon 5'' costar
Jerry Doyle Jerry Doyle (July 16, 1956 – July 27, 2016) was an American talk radio host, right-libertarian political commentator, television actor and founder of the content platform EpicTimes. His nationally syndicated talk show, ''The Jerry Doyle Sho ...
from 1995 to 1997. In 1992 she gave birth to her son Alec.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Andrea 1960 births Living people American television actresses American television personalities American women television personalities Actresses from Dayton, Ohio 21st-century American women