Renée Lawless-Orsini (born November 30, 1960) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for starring as the bitter and distant matriarch, Katheryn Cryer, in the

Oprah Winfrey Network The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN, also known as the OWN Network) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel, which one month later merged with ...

prime time soap opera '' The Haves and the Have Nots''.

Life and career

Lawless was born in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

, and moved with her family to

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

in at age 19 and graduated from

Sandalwood High School Sandalwood High School is a comprehensive public high school in Jacksonville, Florida. The school is one of 47 high schools in the Duval County School District. Like all Duval County schools, it is accredited through the Southern Associatio ...

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of John B. Stetson. The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 ...

, and

University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a performing and media arts college of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. Initially established as the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1867, CCM is one of the ...

. She began singing in church and school plays and later in regional theater. As of the mid 1990s she appeared primarily in stage productions, like national touring of ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'', and ''

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...

'' for five years. In 2013, Lawless began starring as Katheryn Cryer in the

prime time soap opera '' The Haves and the Have Nots''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, Renee Living people 1960 births American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American soap opera actresses Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee Actresses from Knoxville, Tennessee Actresses from Atlanta Stetson University alumni University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music alumni 21st-century American women