Paula Newsome

After years spent going from one guest starring role to another, actress Paula Newsome finally came into her own with a co-leading role on the female-powered procedural, "Women's Murder Club" (ABC, 2007-08). Prior to her landing the role of Claire Washburn, a medical examiner who joins forces with a journalist (Aubrey Dollar), detective (Angie Harmon) and assistant district attorney (Laura Harris) to hunt down serial killers in San Francisco, Newsome remained an unknown quantity toiling away on television. Originally from Chicago, IL, Newsome cut her teeth on the theater scene, making it to Broadway in 1994 with a role in the Tony-winning revival of "Carousel." Before she was on Broadway, however, Newsome made her feature film debut with a small part in the Dolly Parton vehicle, "Straight Talk" (1992). After a brief appearance as a receptionist in the made-for-cable thriller "Keeper of the City" (Showtime, 1992), Newsome began what ultimately became a decade-and-a-half long struggle as a random television guest star.