Catherine Dent

As the tough-skinned, street-savvy cop Danny Sofer on the cop drama "The Shield" (FX, 2002-08), actress Catherine Dent displayed considerable acting chops in one of her first major roles. Prior to the gritty world of "The Shield," Dent first rose to prominence as Janice Talbert on the daytime soap opera "One Life to Live" (ABC, 1968-2012), while adding guest starring roles on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999- ), "The Sopranos" (HBO, 1999-2007) and "The X-Files" (Fox, 1993-2002) to her rapidly growing résumé. But it was on "The Shield" that Dent decisively showed that a woman could hang with the boys in the rough world of cops and crime. Meanwhile, she broke through on the feature side with roles in "Replicant" (2001), "The Majestic" and the Oscar-nominated "21 Grams" (2003), though she found more consistence on the small screen. After "The Shield" ended its celebrated run in 2008, Dent moved on to recurring roles on "NCIS" (CBS, 2003- ), "Touch" (Fox, 2012-13) and "The Mentalist" (CBS, 2008-15), where she continued to surprise audiences with her diverse talents.