Emily Procter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Emily Procter
Procter presenting at Fashion Rocks in 2008
Born	(1968-10-08) October 8, 1968 (age 56)
Alma mater	East Carolina University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1988–present
Partner(s)	Paul Bryan (2008–present)
Children	1

Emily Procter (born October 8, 1968) is an American actress and activist. She is best known for her role as Ainsley Hayes in the TV show The West Wing and as Detective Calleigh Duquesne in the crime drama CSI: Miami.

Early Life and Education

Emily Procter was born on October 8, 1968. As a baby, she was adopted by William Procter, a doctor, and Barbara Jones, a volunteer worker. She grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. She also has an older brother named Whit, who was also adopted.

Procter went to Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. Later, she studied at East Carolina University, where she earned degrees in journalism and dance. While in college, she was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. She also worked as a television weather anchor for a local TV station in Greenville, North Carolina.

Acting Career

First Roles

After college, Procter moved to Los Angeles to become an actress. Her father helped pay for her to attend acting school for two years. She started getting small parts in movies and TV shows. One of her early roles was in the sports movie Jerry Maguire (1996).

In 1995, she made a guest appearance on the popular sitcom Friends. She played Annabel, who briefly dated the character Joey Tribbiani. A year later, she played Lana Lang in an episode of the superhero show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Major TV Shows

From 2000 to 2002, Procter had a memorable role in the political drama The West Wing. A political drama is a type of show that tells stories about the government and politicians. She played Ainsley Hayes, a smart lawyer working at the White House. She returned for a guest appearance on the show in 2006.

Her most famous role came in 2002 when she was cast as Calleigh Duquesne in CSI: Miami. This show was a spin-off of the popular series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. CSI: Miami is a police procedural, which is a show that follows detectives as they solve crimes. Procter played a detective who specialized in ballistics (the study of firearms). The show was very successful and ran for 10 seasons until it ended in 2012.

In 2013, Procter had a role in the crime show White Collar. She played Amanda Callaway, an FBI agent in charge of the white-collar crimes division in New York City.

Activism and Charity Work

Besides acting, Emily Procter is also an activist who works to help others. In 2019, she started a nonprofit group called Ground Breakers. A nonprofit is an organization that works to help a cause, not to make money.

Ground Breakers helps people learn to solve problems peacefully and build stronger communities. The group works with other organizations to offer programs in places like Kern Valley State Prison. These programs help people who have been in prison to build better lives.

Procter has also volunteered for the Young Storytellers Program, which helps kids write their own stories. She has also helped out at shelters for people without homes.

Personal Life

Since 2008, Procter has been in a relationship with musician Paul Bryan. They have a daughter, who was born on December 8, 2010. When Procter was pregnant, her pregnancy was not part of the story for CSI: Miami. Because of this, she appeared in fewer episodes during the show's ninth season.

Procter is very active and enjoys participating in triathlons and marathons. She is also a good poker player and has played in celebrity poker tournaments. In her free time, she sings in a band that plays popular songs from the 1980s.

She also has a passion for interior decoration. She has decorated her own home in Los Angeles and has even helped friends design their homes. She was a guest judge on the TV show Summer Showdown, which is about home design. In the spring of 2019, she gave a special speech at the graduation ceremony for her old university, East Carolina University.

In January 2025, Procter's home was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfires in Southern California.

Filmography

Film

Television