Alicia Coppola
Alicia Coppola is an actor, born 1968.
Daytime television built Alicia Coppola. Born in Huntington, New York in 1968, she became known as Lorna Devon on the soap opera Another World from 1991 to 1994, which is not among the credits listed here, and came out of it with the specific skill soap work teaches: hitting a mark, landing a scene in one take, and doing it every day.
What followed is one of the most recognisable career shapes in American television, the reliable guest star. She has been Sheila Redatti on Lie to Me, Ana Castillo on Blood & Treasure, Sheila Mosconi on Why Women Kill, Valentina on The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Marissa Rufo on Bull, Debbie Diament on Blind Justice, Georgia Wilson on Miracles and Nancy on American Dreams, with earlier work on The Sentinel and Sports Night. In film she is FBI Agent Spellman in National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Mrs. Romero in We Are Your Friends.
Jericho is the closest thing here to a lead. As Mimi Clark she is an outsider stranded in a small Kansas town after a national catastrophe, and the part gave her something the guest spots rarely do: consecutive weeks in which to change.
A note on the record itself. One source describes her as an actress and author, another as an actress and producer, and since they disagree it is safer to let the acting credits speak.
Movies (5)
TV (12)
Where to start with Alicia Coppola
Jericho first. It is the only show on this list that gives her a full arc, and Mimi Clark starts as an irritant and becomes the most quietly capable person in town, which is a shape she plays well.
Blood & Treasure is the fun one, an unashamed globe-trotting adventure series where she gets to be the dangerous party rather than the professional in a suit.
For the guest-star craft, Why Women Kill is the sharpest-written thing she turns up in, Lie to Me the most typical, and Sports Night the earliest that still holds up.
In film, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is the one people have actually seen, though the role is exactly as large as its name suggests. The Nine Lives of Chloe King is the deep cut for anyone who follows short-lived teen fantasy series.