Emily Mallory Procter (born October 8, 1968) is an American actress and activist. She played Ainsley Hayes in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

political drama A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events. Dramatists who have written political dramas in ...

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

'' (2000–2002; 2006) and Det.

Calleigh Duquesne Detective Calleigh Duquesne is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama '' CSI: Miami'', portrayed by Emily Procter. Background Calleigh is a ballistics and tool mark specialist originally from Louisiana. She is fluent in Spanish and ha ...

in the

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 ...

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

drama ''

CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...

'' (2002–2012).

Early life

Procter was born on October 8, 1968. She was adopted as an infant by William Procter, a general practitioner, and Barbara Jones, a volunteer worker, and raised in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. She was three years old when her parents divorced. She has an older brother, Whit, who is also adopted. Procter attended Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. While at

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

, she became a member of

Alpha Delta Pi Alpha Delta Pi (), commonly known as ADPi (pronounced "ay-dee-pye"), is an International Panhellenic sorority founded on May 15, 1851, at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. It is the oldest secret society for women. Alpha Delta Pi is a mem ...

sorority and worked as a television weather anchor at

WNCT-TV WNCT-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Greenville, North Carolina, United States, serving Eastern North Carolina as an affiliate of CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on South ...

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, Pitt County, North Carolina, United States; the principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area, Greenville metropolitan area; and th ...

, eventually graduating with degrees in journalism and dance.

Career

After Procter moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, her father paid for her to attend acting school for two years. Before even graduating, she had already landed a number of small film roles, including

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, for wh ...

's sports romantic comedy-drama ''

Jerry Maguire ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was inspi ...

'' (

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

), and as a co-star with

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Prime ...

and

Chris Cooper Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. He has appeared in several major Hollywood films, including '' American Beauty'' (1999), ''October Sky'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), ''Seabiscuit'' (2003), '' Cap ...

in the TV movie ''

Breast Men ''Breast Men'' is a 1997 American, semibiographical, dark drama film; it was written by John Stockwell and directed by Lawrence O'Neil for HBO. Plot Dr. Kevin Saunders (played by David Schwimmer) and Dr. William Larson (played by Chris Cooper ...

'' (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

). In 1996, Procter guest-starred as

Lana Lang Lana Lang is a fictional supporting character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She has appeared in other media adaptations of Superman, typically as a teenager. These portrayals include the '' Adventures of Superboy'' t ...

in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

superhero drama '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. She briefly appeared in the TV movie '' The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!'' (1997) as Mavis and the drama '' Body Shots'' (

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

) as Whitney Bryant. In 1995, Procter played Annabel, a brief love interest of

Joey Tribbiani Joseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani Jr. is a fictional character, serving as one of the primary characters of the NBC sitcom ''Friends'' and the protagonist of its spin-off ''Joey''. He is portrayed by Matt LeBlanc in both series. He is an Italian-A ...

(

Matt LeBlanc Matthew Steven LeBlanc (; born July 25, 1967) is an American actor. He garnered global recognition with his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom ''Friends'' and in its spin-off series, ''Joey''. For his work on ''Friends'', LeBlanc re ...

), in the second episode of season two of the

sitcom ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'', titled "The One with the Breast Milk." From 2000 to 2002 and again in 2006, Procter played the recurring role of Associate White House Counsel Ainsley Hayes in the NBC political drama ''

.'' Procter is friends with actress

Jorja Fox Jorja-An Fox ( ) is an American actress and producer. She first came to prominence with a recurring role in the NBC medical drama '' ER'' as Dr. Maggie Doyle from 1996 to 1999. This was followed by another critical success in the recurring ro ...

, who starred as

Sara Sidle Sara Sidle is a fictional character portrayed by actress Jorja Fox on the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' and its sequel, '' CSI: Vegas''. Sidle is a forensic scientist and one of the core characters of the show, which revolves ...

in the

police drama ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'' from 2000 to 2015. Fox persuaded Procter to audition for the starring role of

in the CSI spin-off ''

'', which she ended up winning. The show ran on CBS for 10 seasons, from September 23, 2002, to April 8, 2012. Procter participated in 2007's

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the beli ...

event by reading aloud, along with a number of other actresses, an essay that Michelle Gardner-Quinn wrote while she was a student at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

. In February 2013, Procter had a recurring role in the final two episodes of season four of the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

crime drama '' White Collar''. She played Amanda Callaway, an agent from Atlanta who is promoted to head of the FBI's white collar crimes division in New York City.

Activism

In 2019, Procter founded a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

called Ground Breakers that supports change, community and equitable infrastructure. Her nonprofit The Ground offers social and emotional language awareness to combat negative personal narratives and promote peaceful

conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information abou ...

. The Ground teams up Defy Ventures, a nonprofit that addresses social problems such as

mass incarceration Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

and

recidivism Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of th ...

, to offer programs at

Kern Valley State Prison Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) is a male-only state prison in Delano, California. Kern Valley is a Level IV Maximum Security institution, opened in June 2005 with a design capacity of 2,448 inmates. The facility is adjacent to North Kern Stat ...

and Nightingale school in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

Personal life

Procter has been in a relationship with musician Paul Bryan since 2008. On December 8, 2010, she gave birth to their daughter Philippa Frances (called "Pippa"). Because her pregnancy was not written into the ninth season of ''

'', her appearances were limited. Procter has taken part in various

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

s and

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s. She is an avid

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player and has participated in at least one celebrity poker tournament. Procter also sings in a 1980s cover band originally called White Lightning but since renamed Motion. Procter has volunteered with the Young Storytellers Program and at homeless shelters. Procter has an interest in

interior decoration Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...

and

antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

that she put to practical use when decorating the 1921

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

-style home that she owns in

. During the 2007–08 Writers Guild strike, she designed a home for a friend in

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands Saint John ( da, Sankt Jan) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Saint John () is the smallest of the thre ...

and, according to ''People'' magazine's Country Special of March 2009, decorated

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Coun ...

's home in Malibu. She was also a guest judge on the

Home & Garden Television HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

show ''Summer Showdown''. Procter was keynote speaker at the Spring 2019 commencement at her alma mater, East Carolina University.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Procter, Emily 1968 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from North Carolina American film actresses American television actresses East Carolina University alumni Ravenscroft School alumni Living people Actors from Raleigh, North Carolina American adoptees