Lisa Darr

Dark-haired Lisa Darr spent the better part of a decade laboring on failed pilots and short-lived series before two lesbian characters brought her far more attention than all her prior work. She made her feature debut in a small part in "Defenseless" (1991) and had regular roles on four short-lived series: "Flesh 'n' Blood" (NBC, 1991); "Crime & Punishment" (NBC, 1993); "The Office" (CBS, 1995) and "Profit" (Fox, 1996). Darr worked frequently as a guest star, beginning with "Murphy Brown" in 1991, and went on to appear in series like "Murder She Wrote," "Quantum Leap" and "Wings," but had no luck establishing herself as a household name. That was before "NYPD Blue" (ABC) cast her as Kathy, the lover of Officer Abby Sullivan (Paige Turco), in 1995 although the notice she received for that storyline paled compared to the high profile she would achieve the following year as Ellen DeGeneres' new love interest on "Ellen" (ABC). Ironically, the sitcom's producers did not see Darr's "NYPD" performance before casting her, making her back-to back lesbian roles a mere coincidence.