Alison La Placa (born December 16, 1959) is an American actress best known for the role of acid-tongued yuppie Linda Phillips in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s '' Duet'' and its spin-off '' Open House'', both of which aired in the late 1980s.

Biography

Early life and career

La Placa is a graduate of Stevenson High School in

Lincolnshire, Illinois Lincolnshire is a village in Vernon Township, Lake County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The village is a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 7,940. Lincolnshire was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the un ...

, a suburb of

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. She attended

Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...

, where she majored in drama. She performed in a circus show, Circus Fantastic, at Marriott's Great America, now

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The amusement park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built by the ...

. Before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

La Placa worked as a cocktail waitress at Chicago's Palmer House on Michigan Ave. Shortly after moving to Hollywood, La Placa landed the part of Elyse in television sitcom version of Barry Levinson's film '' Diner''. That pilot did not get picked up, and soon thereafter La Placa got a part in the made-for-TV movie ''Listen to Your Heart'' (1983).

Later career

The following year La Placa earned a regular spot on '' Suzanne Pleshette Is Maggie Briggs'' (1984). She had a small part in '' Fletch'' (1985) and she subsequently played Linda Phillips on the series '' Duet'' (from 1987 to 1989) and '' Open House'' (from 1989 to 1990). LaPlaca also played opposite Kirstie Alley in the 1990 movie '' Madhouse'', with co-star

John Larroquette John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom '' Night Court'' (1984–1992; for which he rec ...

. La Placa has guest-starred on series including '' ER'', '' Cheers'', ''

Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...

'', '' Desperate Housewives'', and '' Friends'' (as

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

's boss,

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). She was a regular on ''

Stat STAT, Stat. , or stat may refer to: * Stat (system call), a Unix system call that returns file attributes of an inode * ''Stat'' (TV series), an American sitcom that aired in 1991 * Stat (website), a health-oriented news website * STAT protein, a ...

'' (1991), ''

The Jackie Thomas Show ''The Jackie Thomas Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on the ABC network from December 1992 to March 1993. The series received widespread attention due to its creators Roseanne Arnold, then starring in the fifth season of her comedy '' Ros ...

'' (1992), '' Tom'' (1994), and the

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 ...

sitcom ''

The John Larroquette Show ''The John Larroquette Show'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 2, 1993, until October 30, 1996. Created by Don Reo, the show was a star vehicle for John Larroquette following his run as Dan Fielding on '' ...

'' (from 1994 to 1996). La Placa has also guest-starred on animated series such as ''

Johnny Bravo ''Johnny Bravo'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, which aired fr ...

''. She has been married to TV actor/director

Philip Charles MacKenzie Philip Charles MacKenzie (born Philip Charles Harris on May 7, 1946) is an American actor and television director. He is best known for his role as Donald Maltby on ''Brothers'', and as Ted Nichols on '' Open House'', which he worked on with hi ...

(her costar on ''Open House'') since 1992. She also played the character of Andrea in the TV series '' Boston Legal'' in two episodes in

season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album) * '' 2econd Season'' See also * ...

("Glow in the Dark" and "Rescue Me"). She also appeared in '' Malcolm in the Middle'' as Barbara in the episode "Convention" and in a recurring role on '' ’Til Death'' as Beth, Joy's coworker.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Placa, Alison Living people American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses American voice actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Illinois Wesleyan University alumni 1959 births