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IMDbPro

Patricia Wettig(I)

  • Actress
  • Producer
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Patricia Wettig
The Langoliers
Play trailer1:51
The Langoliers (1995)
2 Videos
57 Photos
Three-time Emmy Award winner Patricia Wettig made a noticeable dramatic impact on late 1980s TV as wife and mom Nancy Weston on the award-winning series Thirtysomething (1987). Although her husband, actor Ken Olin, also co-starred on the series, they had different spouses on the show. Known for her searching blue eyes, touching sensitivity, obvious intelligence and controlled intensity, her post series' career didn't live up to what many expected for her; however, lately her fans have enjoyed her major resurgence again on TV as part of the talented ensemble of Brothers & Sisters (2006), with her husband serving as one of the producers.

Patricia was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 4, 1951, one of four daughters born to Tennessee college basketball coach Clifford Neal and his wife Florence. Raised in Grove City, Pennsylvania, she studied drama at Temple University in Philadelphia, then graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1974. She trained with the Neighborhood Playhouse in the early years and made ends meet at one time as a personal dresser to singer/dancer/actress Shirley MacLaine. She also performed with New York's Circle Repertory Company during the years 1980 and 1981, appearing in such off-Broadway productions as "Innocents, Thoughts, Harmless Intentions," "The Woolgatherer," "Childe Byron," "The Diviners" and "Threads". She met Olin when both were cast in a 1982 production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" wherein they DID play a married couple (she portrayed Stella, he played Stanley). They wed later that year and had two children together -- Clifford (born 1983) and Roxanne (born 1986).

The comely, wide-smiling, sharp-featured blonde soon began to appear on some of the higher-rated dramatic shows of the day including Hill Street Blues (1981) and L.A. Law (1986), and a recurring part on St. Elsewhere (1982). Her success on Thirtysomething (1987), for which she also won a Golden Globe Award, led to her title role as a victim of rape in Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story (1992) and as a school teacher passenger in Stephen King's The Langoliers (1995), not to mention a choice part in her debut movie Guilty by Suspicion (1991) starring Robert De Niro. She also bookended the hugely popular movie City Slickers (1991) series (as Billy Crystal's wife) with her appearance in the sequel.

Since then Patricia has been spotted in recurring roles on the series Breaking News (2002), Prison Break (2005) (as a female Vice President) and Alias (2001), the last-mentioned being executive produced by husband Ken. She also played the "other woman" in the Sally Field family drama series Brothers & Sisters (2006), also directed by and featuring Ken.

Perhaps inspired by her husband, who successfully rechanneled his energies and talents as a TV producer and director, Patricia has more or less downplayed her acting career in recent years while earning an M.F.A. in playwriting from Smith College in 2001. Since that time she has focused diligently on the pen, but was more recently seen as her character Nancy on a "thirtysomething revisited" TV movie Thirtysomething(else) (2020).
BornDecember 4, 1951
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BornDecember 4, 1951
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  • Won 3 Primetime Emmys

Photos57

Patricia Wettig in Brothers & Sisters (2006)
Rachel Griffiths and Patricia Wettig in Brothers & Sisters (2006)
Patricia Wettig in Brothers & Sisters (2006)
Patricia Wettig in Prison Break (2005)
Patricia Wettig in Alias (2001)
Timothy Busfield and Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)
Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig, and Jordana 'Bink' Shapiro in Thirtysomething (1987)
Mel Harris, Melanie Mayron, Ken Olin, and Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)
Mel Harris, Melanie Mayron, and Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)
Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)
Melanie Mayron and Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)
Mel Harris and Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)

Known for

Billy Crystal, Helen Slater, Bruno Kirby, and Daniel Stern in City Slickers (1991)
City Slickers
6.8
  • Barbara Robbins
  • 1991
Mel Harris, Peter Horton, Timothy Busfield, Polly Draper, Melanie Mayron, Ken Olin, and Patricia Wettig in Thirtysomething (1987)
Thirtysomething
7.5
TV Series
  • Nancy Krieger Weston
The Langoliers (1995)
The Langoliers
6.1
TV Mini Series
  • Laurel Stevenson
Jennifer Garner in Alias (2001)
Alias
7.6
TV Series
  • Dr. Judy Barnett

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Thirtysomething(else)
  • Dolly Parton in Dolly Parton's Heartstrings (2019)
    Dolly Parton's Heartstrings
  • Mary McDonnell, G.W. Bailey, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Tony Denison, Robert Gossett, Jon Tenney, Phillip P. Keene, and Kearran Giovanni in Major Crimes (2012)
    Major Crimes
  • Identity (2014)
    Identity
  • Sally Field, Tom Skerritt, Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty, Rachel Griffiths, Sarah Jane Morris, John Pyper-Ferguson, Matthew Rhys, Ron Rifkin, Patricia Wettig, and Dave Annable in Brothers & Sisters (2006)
    Brothers & Sisters
  • The 19th Wife (2010)
    The 19th Wife
  • Michael Rapaport, Muse Watson, Stacy Keach, Paul Adelstein, Barbara Eve Harris, Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Leon Russom, Wade Williams, Amaury Nolasco, and Marshall Allman in Prison Break (2005)
    Prison Break
    • ...
  • The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie (2005)
    The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie
  • Lackawanna Blues (2005)
    Lackawanna Blues
  • Jennifer Garner in Alias (2001)
    Alias
  • Boomtown (2002)
    Boomtown
  • Scott Bairstow, Clancy Brown, Tim Matheson, Paul Adelstein, Myndy Crist, Vincent Gale, Rowena King, Jeffrey D. Sams, and Lisa Ann Walter in Breaking News (2002)
    Breaking News
  • The Practice (1997)
    The Practice
  • Matt Craven, Sheryl Lee, and Rick Roberts in L.A. Doctors (1998)
    L.A. Doctors
  • Nightmare in Big Sky Country (1998)
    Nightmare in Big Sky Country

Producer

  • Kansas (1995)
    Kansas

Videos2

Guilty by Suspicion
Trailer 2:07
Guilty by Suspicion
The Langoliers
Trailer 1:51
The Langoliers

Personal details

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    • December 4, 1951
    • Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
    • Ken OlinMay 8, 1982 - present (2 children)
  • Other works
    Appeared in Inside 'thirtysomething' (2001) on Bravo (2001).
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Interviews
    • 1 Article
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Earned a master's degree in playwriting from Smith College in May 2001. Is now focusing more on writing than on acting.
  • Quotes
    I've always written. When I got my first acting job, I was paid $300 a week and thought that was a lot of money, so I went out and bought my first typewriter.

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