Kim Delaney

Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1961) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, perhaps best known for her role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama N.Y.P.D. Blue. Early in her career, she endeared herself to daytime television viewers as Jenny Gardner, a hugely popular character on the ABC daytime drama All My Children, and the role which first brought her fame. After All My Children, Delaney appeared in numerous television and film roles, including the sole female lead in the dramatic series Philly. She currently stars on the Lifetime television drama Army Wives.

Kim Delaney is an Irish American, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joan and Jack Delaney. Delaney's mother was a homemaker and her father a union official and former head of the United Auto Workers. She grew up in Roxborough and has four brothers: Ed, John, Keith, and Patrick. While she was attending J. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School, she worked as a model for the Elite agency. After her graduation, she went to New York and found employment there as a model. At the same time, she studied acting with William Esper.

Kim Delaney became a regular on the CBS television series Tour of Duty in 1988. When she left that show in 1989 to have a child, her war journalist character was killed in an explosion, just as her All My Children character had died five years earlier. In 1995, Delaney began portraying the role of Det. Diane Russell on NYPD Blue. The role, originally meant to be short-term, became a regular job when her character's relationship with Det. Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) became a hit with viewers. In this role, she won her first Emmy Award, as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, and was also nominated two other times. Once Smits left NYPD Blue, producer Steven Bochco chose Delaney for the lead in his new show Philly, co-created and produced by Alison Cross. Despite critical acclaim, the show lasted only one season.

After the show's cancellation, CBS courted Delaney to take on the female lead on its new fall drama CSI: Miami, a spin-off of sorts from the hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She was written off the series during the first season after just ten episodes; Entertainment Weekly suggested that it had been due to a lack of chemistry between Delaney and star David Caruso. Delaney starred in the 2004 NBC miniseries 10.5, and its 2006 sequel, 10.5: Apocalypse. The following year, she began a recurring role on The O.C. In 2006, Delaney starred with Steven Weber in an episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King entitled, "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band," about Rock and Roll Heaven. Delaney next appeared twice on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in early 2007, guest-starring on the episodes "Philadelphia" and "Florida." Delaney currently plays the Claudia Joy Holden on Lifetime TV's Army Wives.