Laurie Metcalf's Real Name: Laurie Metcalf

Quick answer: Laurie Metcalf's professional and public name is Laurie Metcalf. She was born on June 16, 1955, in Carbondale, Illinois. Longer forms of the name appear in some profiles, but they do not agree, so this page uses the public name. She is an original member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, won Emmys as Jackie Harris on Roseanne, and later earned an Academy Award nomination for Lady Bird (Biography.com).

Real name and early life

Biography.com says Lauren Elizabeth Metcalf was born on June 16, 1955, in Carbondale and grew up in nearby Edwardsville. Other databases give a different expansion of Laurie, so the longer form is noted here as a conflict rather than used in the title. The Library of Congress files her as "Metcalf, Laurie, 1955-."

A shy child, she began performing at Edwardsville High School. She entered Illinois State University intending to study German and then anthropology, supporting herself as a secretary, before turning more fully to theater. Biography.com says she earned a B.A. in theater in 1976; a Library of Congress name-authority note gives the year as 1977. She then became an original ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, co-founded by classmate Terry Kinney and later associated with actors including Gary Sinise and John Malkovich.

Career highlights

After years of small Steppenwolf productions, she won an Obie Award for a long monologue as Darlene in a revival of Balm in Gilead that moved to New York in 1984. Early film and television work included an uncredited part in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978) and a single Saturday Night Live appearance in 1981.

In 1988 she was cast as Jackie Harris, the younger sister of Roseanne Barr's title character, on Roseanne. The sitcom became a major hit, and Metcalf's performance drew particular praise. During those years she also appeared in Uncle Buck (1989), JFK (1991), and Leaving Las Vegas (1995), and began voicing Andy's mother in Pixar's Toy Story (1995) and its sequels.

After Roseanne ended in 1997 she continued in film and television, including Scream 2 (1997) and guest roles that brought Emmy nominations. She received Tony nominations for November (2008), The Other Place (2013), and Misery (2016). In 2017 her work as Marion McPherson in Lady Bird brought her first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

Name notes for searchers

Laurie Metcalf is the name used in credits and publicity. Biography.com gives Lauren Elizabeth Metcalf as a longer form; other listings use a different first name. Because those sources conflict, searchers should treat Laurie Metcalf as the documented public name.