Maura Tierney

Biography: Maura Lynn Tierney, the oldest of three children, was born to a prosperous politician father, Joseph Tierney, and a real estate agent mother, Pat Tierney. She grew up in the exclusive Hyde Park district of Boston and attended Notre Dame Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Hingham, Massachusetts. In 1983 she moved to New York to study drama at NYU, where she performed in quite a few university plays, including Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Baby With the Bathwater; Danny and the Deep Blue Sea; Talking With; and Food. After receiving a BFA degree in Theater Studies, Maura honed her skills at the Circle in the Square Theater School, but did not complete her studies there. Opting instead to pursue her acting career in Tinseltown, she moved to Los Angeles in 1987.

Like countless other Hollywood hopefuls, Maura struggled to get noticed and land a breakthrough role. Her first jobs were in made-for-TV movies: she played a mean cheerleader in Disney
's 1987 movie for ABC titled Student Exchange, and had a forgettable role in the 1988 movie Crossing the Mob. That same year she was cast in The Van Dyke Show, a short lived series on CBS. This was followed by guest appearances on various television series like Family Ties, Booker, and Law & Order.

Maura's feature film debut was in 1991's Dead Women in Lingerie, though her formal resume lists her first movie credit as 1991's The Linguini Incident.
Expand

Maura Tierney's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average career score: 50
Highest Metascore:
Metascore: 70
Lowest Metascore:
Metascore: 30
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 12
  2. Negative: 2 out of 12
12 movie reviews
Title: Year: Credit: User score:
Metascore: 30
Nature Calls
Nov 9, 2012 Janine / Janine 1.0
Metascore: 51
Finding Amanda
Jun 30, 2008 Lorraine Mendon 6.0
Metascore: 55
Baby Mama
Apr 25, 2008 Caroline 6.4
Metascore: 47
Semi-Pro
Feb 29, 2008 Lynn 5.7
Metascore: 66
Diggers
Apr 27, 2007 Gina 6.3
Metascore: 33
Welcome to Mooseport
Feb 20, 2004 Sally Mannis 2.6
Metascore: 49
Scotland, Pa.
Feb 8, 2002 Producer / Pat McBeth 8.1
Metascore: 43
Instinct
Jun 4, 1999 Lynn Powell 7.2
Metascore: 46
Forces of Nature
Mar 19, 1999 Bridget Cahill 5.5
Metascore: 70
Primary Colors
Mar 20, 1998 Daisy Green 7.7
Metascore: 68
Liar Liar
Mar 21, 1997 Audrey Reede 7.5
Metascore: 47
Primal Fear
Apr 3, 1996 Naomi Chance 7.7