Sela Ward facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sela Ward
Ward in 2010
Born	Sela Ann Ward (1956-07-11) July 11, 1956 (age 68) Meridian, Mississippi, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Alabama
Occupation	Actress author producer
Years active	1983–present
Known for	Sisters Once and Again CSI:NY
Spouse(s)	Howard Sherman (m. 1992)
Children	2

Sela Ann Ward (born July 11, 1956) is an American actress. She is well-known for her roles in popular TV shows and movies. Her big break on TV was playing Teddy Reed in the NBC drama series Sisters (1991–1996). For this role, she won her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994.

She later won another Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her main role as Lily Manning in the ABC drama series Once and Again (1999–2002). Ward also had important roles as Stacy Warner in the Fox medical drama House, Jo Danville in the CBS police show CSI: NY (2010–2013), and Dana Mosier in the CBS police series FBI (2018–2019).

Sela Ward has also appeared in many films. Some of her supporting roles include The Fugitive (1993), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Guardian (2006), Gone Girl (2014), and Independence Day: Resurgence (2016).

Early Life and Education

Annie Kate Boswell in 1942

Sela Ward was born in Meridian, Mississippi. Her mother, Annie Kate, was a housewife, and her father, Granberry Holland Ward Jr., was an electrical engineer. Sela is the oldest of four children. She has a sister named Jenna and two brothers, Joseph Brock and Granberry Holland Ward III.

She went to Lamar School in Meridian. After high school, Ward attended the University of Alabama. There, she was chosen as Homecoming Queen and was a cheerleader for the Crimson Tide sports teams. She studied both fine art and advertising and graduated in 1977.

Acting Career Highlights

Ward in 1994

After college, Sela Ward moved to New York City. She started as an artist who drew pictures for multimedia presentations. To earn extra money, she began modeling. Soon, she was working with the Wilhelmina agency and appeared in TV commercials for Maybelline makeup.

Ward later moved to California to become an actress. Her first movie role was in 1983 in The Man Who Loved Women. That same year, she got her first regular TV role in the CBS series Emerald Point N.A.S.. Throughout the 1980s, she continued to get guest roles in TV shows and movies. A notable role was with Tom Hanks in the 1986 film Nothing in Common. She also played Helen Kimble, the wife of Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), in the popular 1993 movie The Fugitive.

In 1995, Ward won a special TV award called a CableACE Award. This was for her role as TV journalist Jessica Savitch in the TV movie Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story. This movie became Lifetime's most-watched TV film at the time.

Around 1995, Ward was considered for a role in a James Bond movie. However, she was told she was "too old" even though the main actor, Pierce Brosnan, was 42. In response, she created a documentary called The Changing Face of Beauty. This film explored how American society focuses too much on youth and how that affects women.

From 1999 to 2002, Ward was the voice for Sprint phone service commercials. She also appeared on the TV show Frasier. When she tried out for the role of Lily Brooks Manning in the series Once and Again, the creators initially thought she was "too beautiful" for the role of an average single mother. However, she got the part and went on to win her second Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for it.

In 2004, she played a private investigator in the TV movie Suburban Madness. That same year, she was in the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal. In 2005, she began a recurring role in the Fox series House. She played Stacy Warner, a lawyer and the former partner of the main character, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie). Her character left the show in 2006, but she made a final guest appearance in the series finale in 2012.

Ward was offered lead roles in CSI: Miami and Desperate Housewives but turned them down. She was hesitant to commit to another long TV series because it would take too much time away from her family.

Even though she took a break from TV, she continued to act in movies. She starred with Kevin Costner in The Guardian in 2006 and in the thriller The Stepfather in 2009. In 2010, Ward joined the cast of the police drama CSI: NY as Jo Danville. She stayed on the show until it ended in 2013.

Ward played newswoman Sharon Schieber in Gone Girl (2014). In 2016, she co-starred in Independence Day: Resurgence, where she played the President of the United States, President Lanford. She also had a main role with Nick Nolte in the comedy series Graves. More recently, she was a lead alongside Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, and Jeremy Sisto in the crime series FBI.

Personal Life and Philanthropy

On May 23, 1992, Sela Ward married Howard Elliott Sherman, who is an entrepreneur. They have two children, Austin and Anabella.

In 1997, during a trip to her hometown in Mississippi, Ward met two children in foster care. This experience inspired her to help more children who had been abused or neglected. She started and helped fund a special home and emergency shelter called Hope Village for Children. This village also includes transition houses to help children move forward.

Hope Village for Children opened in Meridian, Mississippi, in January 2002. It is built on a 30-acre property that used to be an orphanage. Hope Village can house 44 children and helps about 300 children each year. Ward hopes it can be a model for similar shelters across the country.

In 2002, Ward wrote her autobiography, Homesick: A Memoir. In 2014, her artwork was part of a group exhibition at KM Fine Arts.

Filmography

Film

Television

Legacy

A part of 22nd Avenue in Meridian, Mississippi, has been named the "Sela Ward Parkway" in her honor. This stretch of road is about 0.9 miles long.

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Sela Ward para niños