FILM, TV + STAGE ACTOR
DIRECTOR • WRITER • COACH • LGBTQIA+ ADVOCATE
Meet Deirdre Lovejoy
Deirdre Lovejoy is an actor, advocate and artist with over 4 decades successfully working in film, television and theatre. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of States Attorney Rhonda Pearlman for five seasons on HBO’s critically acclaimed THE WIRE. The show is often cited as one of the most influential and realistic television dramas of all time and continues to thrill fans on HBO On Demand. Deirdre is also known for NBC’s The Blacklist where she played recurring character Cynthia Panabaker, pictured here.
For a complete filmography/more info visit her IMDB page or keep scrolling to read more!
TV & FILM
She is also a popular character on Netfix’s Raising Dion, Charlotte the mysterious mentor to the series’ lead character Dion. On the Blacklist Dede is known for her long stint as wise cracking White House Counsel turned senator Cynthia Panabaker. Her star turn as the brilliant/evil lawyer/serial killer, Heather Taffett, aka “The Gravedigger”on the medical procedural Bones is still a fan favorite.
Dede has played murderers, mothers, detectives, doctors, lawyers, social workers, and weeping versions of all of the above. She’s been lobotomized, arrested, jailed, killed by cars and peanut oil, witnessed successful face transplants and had her head exploded off of her body by sniper fire (one of Bones’ most popular GIFS to date).She recently made waves with her searing portrayal of real life kidnapping psychopath Wanda Barzee in the critically lauded “I am Elizabeth Smart”. For a complete acting resume please click the “Resume” tab in the drop down menu above.
Feature film work includes acting under the direction of award winning artists like Ang Lee, Sydney Pollack, Stanley Donan, Anthony Minghella, Jake Kasdan, Anthony Hemingway, Timothy Van Patten, Mark Platt, Mark Tinker, Nelson McCormick, Andrew Bergman, Anne Fletcher, Larry David and John Singleton.
THEATRE
Deirdre received her BFA from the University of Evansville, and her MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
In addition to many world premieres, and regional theater roles, Deirdre appeared has been on Broadway 4 times including the sold out run of Nora Ephron’s Tony Award winning “Lucky Guy”, starring Tom Hanks, directed by George C. Wolfe, (Broadhurst Theatre). Her other Broadway credits include John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation (at Lincoln Center Theatre, as well as on tour in the First National Touring Company), Getting and Spending, (Helen Hayes Theatre) and The Gathering, (The Cort Theatre). Off-Broadway and Regionally she has worked at: Berkeley Rep, Indiana Rep, The Vineyard Theater, Playwright’s Horizons, Primary Stages, Mark Taper Forum, The Annenberg Center Philadelphia, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage and The Public Theater and Shakespeare in the Park.
Deirdre spent five seasons at New York Stage and Film developing new plays and musicals with Tony, Emmy, and Oscar Award winning actors, playwrights and directors and designers, as well as five seasons with The New Harmony Project, and a season at the Ojai Playwrights Conference. She has developed work with new playwrights at The Lark, Playwrights Horizons, New Dramatists, Primary Stages, The Vineyard Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, The Geffen Playhouse and The Public Theatre, to name a few.
As a writer, Deirdre is developing her solo piece Bird Elephant China, which premiered at the Chautauqua Theatre Company’s Solo Festival Readings Series.
Deirdre Lovejoy was born in Abilene, Texas, and grew up in Elkhart, Indiana – the birthplace of Alka Seltzer, most of America’s R.V.s, Band Instruments and the famous “River City” sung about in classic Broadway musical “The Music Man”. As a kid, Deirdre tagged along with her mother Marcia aka. “The Theater Matriarch of Michiana”, to the Elkhart Civic Theatre, and fell in love with acting from the moment she stepped on stage as a fifth grader in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof .