Biography
Valerie Mahaffey (June 16, 1953 – May 30, 2025) was an American actress and producer. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera The Doctors (1979–81), for which she received a nomination for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. In 1992, Mahaffey won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the CBS drama series Northern Exposure. She later won fame through her portrayal of extroverted and friendly but ultimately insane women on the television shows Wings, Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids and Big Sky. Mahaffey also appeared in a number of movies, including Senior Trip (1995), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), Jack and Jill (2011), Sully (2016), and most notably French Exit (2020), for which she received critical acclaim and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Description above from the Wikipedia article Valerie Mahaffey, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Awards & recognition
- Primetime Emmy Award — Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series · 1992
Filmography50+ titles
The West Wing
Seinfeld
Grey's Anatomy
Young Sheldon
Quantum Leap
Boston Legal
Desperate Housewives
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Northern Exposure
ER
Frasier
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Cheers
The 8th Day
The Man in the High Castle
Private Practice
Raines
Workaholics
Raising Hope
Out of Practice
Dead to Me
Hart of Dixie
Franklin & Bash
Without a Trace
Big Sky
Sully
Hannah Montana
Monday Mornings
Devious Maids
Seabiscuit
Night Visions
L.A. Law
Impastor
United States of Tara
Dream On
Women of Valor
Glee
Wings
Tales of the Unexpected
Women of the House
If I Were You
The Exes
Better with You
Ally McBeal
The Mindy Project
The Witch Files
Her Secret Life
French Exit
Dinner at Fred's
National Lampoon's Senior Trip