Margaret Colin (born May 26, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Margo Hughes on ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

'' and as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

''.

Early life

Margaret Colin was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City, and was raised in Baldwin, New York, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. She is of

Irish descent The Irish ( ga, Muintir na hÉireann or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common history and culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been c ...

and was raised in a Catholic family; She graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1976, and after attended

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

Career

Colin began her acting career in 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 ...

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that networ ...

'', playing an heiress and former terrorist. In seven months on that show, her character survived seven murder attempts and ended up marrying her stepbrother. She followed that role with a longer stint on ''

'', originating the role of Margo Montgomery, a character that endured nearly 30 years. She has appeared on a number of primetime television shows, starting with ''

Foley Square Foley Square, also called Federal Plaza, is a street intersection in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, which contains a small triangular park named Thomas Paine Park. The space is bordered by Worth Street to th ...

'', ''

Leg Work ''Leg Work'' is an American police drama television series created by Frank Abatemarco that premiered on CBS on October 3, 1987. Ten episodes of the series were produced, of which six were aired prior to the show's cancellation. The final episode ...

'', and several early episodes of ''

Chicago Hope ''Chicago Hope'' is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charitable hospital in Chicago, Illinois. ...

''. She played Lisa Wiseman on the 1999 series ''

Now and Again ''Now and Again'' is an American science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Glenn Gordon Caron that aired from September 24, 1999 until May 5, 2000 on CBS. The story revolves around the United States government engineering the pe ...

'', with

Eric Close Eric Randolph Close (born May 24, 1967) is an American actor, best known for his roles in television series, particularly as FBI agent Martin Fitzgerald in the CBS mystery drama ''Without a Trace'' (2002–2009) and Teddy Conrad in the ABC ...

and

Dennis Haysbert Dennis Dexter Haysbert (born June 2, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the '' Major League'' film trilogy, Secret Service agent Tim Collin in the political thriller film '' Absolute Power'' ...

. In 2003, she appeared in an episode of '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' titled "Tortured", playing a mother/bakery owner who was later arrested for abetting a murder. From 2007 to 2012, Colin played the recurring role of Eleanor Waldorf, mother of

Blair Waldorf Blair Cornelia Waldorf (married name Bass) is one of the main characters of ''Gossip Girl'', introduced in the original series of novels and also appearing as the lead in the television adaptation; she also appears in the comic adaptation. Descri ...

, on the teen drama television series ''

''. In the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, Eleanor was played by ''One Life to Live'' actress

Florencia Lozano Florencia Lozano (born December 16, 1969) is an American actress. She starred as Téa Delgado on the daytime series ''One Life to Live''. Lozano has guest-starred in several primetime television shows, as well as films. Early life Florencia Lo ...

. Colin has also been in a number of films, some of the most well-known including '' Something Wild'' (1986), ''

Three Men and a Baby ''Three Men and a Baby'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy. It stars Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the love ...

'' (1987), ''

The Butcher's Wife ''The Butcher's Wife'' is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, directed by Terry Hughes and starring Demi Moore and Jeff Daniels. The film concerns a clairvoyant woman (Moore) thinks that she's met her future husband, whom she has seen in her ...

'' (1991), '' Independence Day'' (1996), ''

The Devil's Own ''The Devil's Own'' is a 1997 American action thriller film starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, with Rubén Blades, Natascha McElhone, Julia Stiles, Margaret Colin, and Treat Williams in supporting roles. It was the final film directed by ...

'' (1997), '' Unfaithful'' (2002), and '' First Daughter'' (2004). She also appeared in the play ''Jackie: An American Life'', in which she played

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...

. During her 2003 performance of the English play ''

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, Colin smoked her way through the second half of the show and dedicated the performance to Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

in defiance of the state's smoking ban. After the play finished its run, she gave up smoking. In 2017, Colin appeared as a recurring character throughout the sixth season of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

comedy series ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...

'', playing fictional CBS News anchor Jane McCabe. Along with her fellow cast members, Colin won the

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Comedy Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest ensemble acting achievements in comedy series. Winners and nominees 1990s 20 ...

. In 2019, she reprised her role as McCabe in the seventh season premiere of ''Veep'' and again in the series finale. Colin performed on Broadway as Mrs. Mullin in the 2018 revival of ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

''.

Personal life

Colin met actor

Justin Deas Justin Deas (born March 30, 1948, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania) is an American actor. He is known primarily for his work on daytime soap operas. Personal life Deas received his Bachelor of Arts from the College of William & Mary. Deas married ...

when he played her love interest, Tom Hughes, on ''

''. They were married in January 1988. The couple have two sons, Sam and Joe, and Colin is stepmother of her husband's daughter from his first marriage. The family moved to

Upper Montclair, New Jersey Upper Montclair is a census-designated place (CDP), unincorporated community and neighborhood within Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population for the CDP was 11,565.

in the late 1990s. She is an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

activist and was formerly the honorary co-chair of Feminists for Life, an organization opposed to abortion. Colin is an honorary board member of the group Feminists for Nonviolent Choices.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colin, Margaret 1958 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York City American film actresses American people of Irish descent American soap opera actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Hofstra University alumni People from Brooklyn People from Baldwin, Nassau County, New York People from Montclair, New Jersey Theatre World Award winners