A passionate small-screen player who often collaborates with her husband, actor-director-producer Ken Olin, Wettig appeared in a number of '80s series before landing her signature role as a cancer-stricken wife and mother on the seminal yuppie drama
thirtysomething. During the show's four-year run, Wettig won a Golden Globe and three Emmys, acted alongside her husband (although they didn't play on-screen spouses) and made her film debut as an unstable movie star in
Guilty by Suspicion. As Olin transitioned from actor to TV writer-director, he helped his wife snag recurring roles in a number of series (
L.A. Doctors,
Breaking News,
Alias) but she enjoyed her highest-profile part in years on a show he had nothing to do with:
Prison Break, as the manipulative vice president of the United States. Taking a cue from Olin, she also pursued other artistic avenues besides acting, getting an MFA in playwriting and earning kudos for penning
My Andy. In 2006, she took a hiatus from
Prison Break in order to appear in the dramedy
Brothers & Sisters, which was produced by Olin.
Patricia Wettig Fast Facts:
- Early in career, she worked as a personal dresser for Shirley MacLaine.
- Met Ken Olin on a train to New England, where the two were slated to appear in a Portsmouth, NH, production of A Streetcar Named Desire; they were married a few months later.
- Subsequently worked with Olin on a number of projects. They acted opposite each other on an episode of Hill Street Blues, the series thirtysomething and L.A. Doctors (playing lovers); the TV-movies Police Story: Cop Killer (playing spouses) and Nothing But the Truth (playing lovers); and he directed her in thirtysomething, L.A. Doctors, Alias and Brothers & Sisters.
- Son Clifford went to preschool with producer Marshall Herskovitz's daughter Lizzie; Wettig and Olin were later cast in Herskovitz and Edward Zwick's hit thirtysomething.
- A 2005 finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, honoring outstanding work by female playwrights, for her play My Andy.
- Patricia Wettig Relationships:
- Cliff Olin - Son
- Ken Olin - Husband
- Roxy Olin - Daughter
- Patricia Wettig Awards:
- 1991 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama - Winner
- 1990 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - Winner
- 1991 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - Winner
- 1988 Emmy: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - Winner
- College:
- Attended Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH (1974); Smith College, Northampton, MA (MFA in Playwriting, 2001)
