Talia Balsam
Highest Rated: 100% South Mountain (2019)
Lowest Rated: 12% All the King's Men (2006)
Birthday: Mar 5, 1959
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Actress Talia Balsam graduated from youthful supporting roles to more mature and complex character turns over the course of a career that included such popular film and television projects as "thirtysomething" (ABC, 1987-1991), "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007-2015) and "The Good Wife" (CBS, 2009-2016). Born March 5, 1959 in New York City, she was the daughter of Oscar-winning character actor Martin Balsam and his second wife, actress Joyce Van Patten. The couple split in 1962, and their daughter was educated at the Treehaven School in Arizona from 1971 to 1974. She made her acting debut in 1977 on a notorious multi-part episode of "Happy Days" in Henry Winkler's "Fonzie" jumped over a shark in a water tank, and from there, worked steadily on episodic television for much of the 1970s and 1980s. She made her feature film debut in 1979's "Sunnyside," a vehicle intended to launch the career of John Travolta's brother Joey, and would appear in a handful of pictures throughout the decade - most notably "Mass Appeal" (1984) with Jack Lemmon and the thriller "Crawlspace" (1986) opposite Klaus Kinski - but television was her primary showcase during the period. Among her more notable small screen appearances was as Judd Hirsch's estranged daughter on two episodes of "Taxi" (ABC/NBC, 1978-1982), a guest role as the daughter of her father's character, Murray Klein, on "Archie Bunker's Place" (CBS, 1979-1983) and the made-for-TV movies "OHMS" (1980) with Ralph Waite, and "Kent State" (1981). In 1989, Balsam married actor George Clooney, then a decade before his rise to stardom; the couple remained together until 1993. She remained busy during and after the marriage, now working in more adult roles on series like "thirtysomething" and "Without a Trace" (CBS, 2002-09), and eventually married again, wedding actor John Slattery in 1998. With the new millennium also came more substantive feature projects, including the independent dramas "Little Manhattan" (2005) and as the long-suffering wife of political bully Sean Penn in Steve Zaillian's remake of "All the King's Men" (2006). Balsam also enjoyed one of her most high-profile projects when she was cast as Mona Sterling, the tart-tongued but infinitely patient ex-spouse of hard-drinking ad executive Roger Sterling (played by her husband) on "Mad Men." When that celebrated series ran its course, Balsam continued her busy schedule as an in-demand character player, logging repeat appearances on "The Good Wife", "Homeland" (Showtime, 2012- ) and enjoying cast member status on "Divorce" (HBO, 2016- ) as a close friend of Sarah Jessica Parker's newly separated lead.
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Talia Balsam
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
82% |
|
Late Bloomers | Dorothy (Character) | - | 2023 |
75% |
|
Master | Diandra (Character) | - | 2022 |
No Score Yet |
|
With/In | Unknown (Character) | - | 2021 |
72% |
|
The Many Saints of Newark | Mrs. Jarecki (Character) | $8.2M | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Everything I Ever Wanted to Tell My Daughter About Men | Director | - | 2021 |
81% |
|
Worth | Unknown (Character) | - | 2020 |
90% |
|
The Climb | Suzi (Character) | $234.4K | 2019 |
100% |
|
South Mountain | Lila (Character) | - | 2019 |
97% |
|
Little Men | Audrey (Character) | $702.2K | 2016 |
57% |
|
Don't Worry Baby | Miriam Lang (Character) | - | 2015 |
93% |
|
The Girl in the Book | Mom (Character) | $5.2K | 2015 |
83% |
|
Return | Julie (Character) | - | 2011 |
40% |
|
Choose | Clarissa (Character) | - | 2010 |
71% |
|
The Wackness | Luke's Mother (Character) | $2.1M | 2008 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Wackness | Mrs. Shapiro (Character) | - | 2008 |
64% |
|
The Cake Eaters | Violet (Character) | - | 2007 |
12% |
|
All the King's Men | Lucy Stark (Character) | $7.2M | 2006 |
No Score Yet |
|
Emmett's Mark | Suzanne (Character) | - | 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Camp Stories | Mary (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Shame II: The Secret | Unknown (Character) | - | 1995 |
No Score Yet |
|
Coldblooded | Jean Alexander (Character) | $8.4K | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Killer Instinct | Emma (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sins of the Mother | Liz Trent (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Trust Me | Catherine Walker (Character) | - | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | P.I. Private Investigations | Jenny Fox (Character) | $21.3K | 1987 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Supernaturals | Pvt. Angela Lejune (Character) | - | 1987 |
67% |
|
In the Mood | Judy Cusimano (Character) | $709.1K | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Ladies | Linda (Character) | - | 1987 |
17% |
|
Crawlspace | Lori Bancroft (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet |
|
Consenting Adult | Margie (Character) | - | 1985 |
No Score Yet |
|
Calamity Jane | Jean Irene O'Neill (Character) | - | 1984 |
100% |
|
Mass Appeal | Liz Dolson (Character) | - | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kent State | Sandy Scheuer (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Crazy Times | Eve (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | OHMS | Noranne Wing (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sunnyside | Ann Rosario (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Survival of Dana | Rona (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Initiation of Sarah | Allison (Character) | - | 1978 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
66% | 61% | Wilderness | Bonnie (Character) | 2023 |
78% | 71% | Divorce | Dallas (Character) | 2016 2018-2019 |
No Score Yet | 91% | The Newsroom | Toni Dodd (Guest Star) | 2014 |
94% | 96% | Mad Men | Mona Sterling (Guest Star) | 2007-2009 2012-2014 |
95% | 89% | Elementary | Cheryl Gregson (Guest Star) | 2013 |
93% | 91% | The Good Wife | Anne Stevens (Guest Star) | 2013 |
85% | 86% | Homeland | Cynthia Walden (Guest Star) | 2012 |
81% | 88% | Nurse Jackie | Grace's Therapist (Guest Star) | 2011 |
97% | 87% | Treme | Carla Hall (Guest Star) | 2010 |
80% | 78% | FlashForward | Surgeon General Anita Ralston (Guest Star) | 2009 |
No Score Yet | 72% | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2006 |
82% | No Score Yet | Commander in Chief | Ruth (Guest Star) | 2005 |
No Score Yet | 72% | Without a Trace | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003-2004 |
No Score Yet | 72% | Third Watch | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | L.A. Doctors | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1998-1999 |
61% | 76% | Ally McBeal | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1999 |
14% | No Score Yet | Love Boat: The Next Wave | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1998 |
71% | No Score Yet | Nothing Sacred | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Early Edition | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Law & Order | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1992 1996 |
86% | No Score Yet | Almost Perfect | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Touched by an Angel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Diagnosis Murder | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mad About You | Debbie (Guest Star) | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jake and the Fatman | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1991 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Murder, She Wrote | Debbie Delancey (Guest Star) | 1985 1990 |
83% | No Score Yet | thirtysomething | Paige (Guest Star) | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tour of Duty | Vickie Adams (Guest Star) | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Punky Brewster | Miranda 'Randi' Mitchell (Guest Star) | 1984 |
No Score Yet | 95% | Magnum, P.I. | Emily Jackson (Guest Star) | 1984 |
No Score Yet | 88% | Family Ties | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chicago Story | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1982 |
97% | 82% | Hill Street Blues | Sally (Guest Star) | 1982 |
No Score Yet | 62% | Taxi | Cathy Consuelos (Guest Star) | 1978 1980 |
66% | No Score Yet | Archie Bunker's Place | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dallas | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Happy Days | Nancy Croft (Guest Star) | 1977 |