Audrie J. Neenan is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress. She is best known on screen for her role as the raucous, abrasive madam

Pimp

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...

Ray Parkins in the 1983 action film Sudden Impact

Sudden Impact

Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood...

and for playing judges in the TV series Law & Order

Law & Order

Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

as Lois Preston. Many of her roles have been portrayals of intimidating female figures such as judges, policewomen and mouthy waitresses.

Neenan appeared as a waitress in Funny Farm

Funny Farm (film)

Funny Farm is a 1988 film starring Chevy Chase and Madolyn Smith. The film was adapted from a 1985 comedic novel of the same name by Jay Cronley...

(1988) opposite Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase

Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...

 and as a policewoman in See No Evil, Hear No Evil

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

See No Evil, Hear No Evil is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and produced by Marvin Worth for TriStar Pictures. It stars Richard Pryor as a blind man and Gene Wilder as a deaf man who work together to thwart a band of murderous thieves.-Plot summary:A blind man named Wally...

(1989) opposite Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers...

. In 2006, Neenan had a small role as a bar waitress in Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

's The Departed

The Departed

The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...

.On television, Neenan contributed to series including Ally McBeal and Law & Order (in a number of guest appearances as different judges). In 2008, she appeared in the John Patrick Shanley

John Patrick Shanley

John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He also contributed articles on the performing arts to The New York Times among other publications.-Life and career:...

-directed sexual abuse drama Doubt, starring Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...

 and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...

.

The red-haired Neenan has appeared in numerous TV shows such as Friends

Friends

Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, Lois & Clark, Ally McBeal

Ally McBeal

Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...

, the Cosby Show, and the Johnny Carson Show. She is also a noted stage actress and made her Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 debut opposite Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...

 in William Alfred

William Alfred

William Alfred was a playwright and Professor of English literature at Harvard University.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Alfred served in the Army tank corps in World War II, received a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1948, and received an M.A. in English from Harvard in 1949. He earned his Ph.D...

's Curse of an Aching Heart, under the directorship of Gerald Guitterez, and has appeared at The Apollo and the Chicago Shakespeare Festival.

External links

• Biography