Tracy Nelson

American actress
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican actress
A.K.A.Tracy Kristin Nelson
A.K.A.Tracy Kristin Nelson
PlacesUnited States of America
isActor Television actor Film actor Stage actor
Work fieldFilm, TV, Stage & Radio
Gender
Female
Birth25 October 1963, Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California, USA
Age61 years
Star signScorpio
Family
Mother:Kristin Nelson
Father:Ricky Nelson
Siblings:Matthew Nelson Gunnar Nelson
Spouse:William R. Moses (1987-1997)
Education
Harvard-Westlake School
Bard College
The Buckley School
The details

Biography

Tracy Kristine Nelson (born October 25, 1963) is an American actress, dancer and writer. From a long line of entertainers, she is the daughter of musician Ricky Nelson and actress and painter Kristin Nelson.

Early life

Nelson was born in Santa Monica, California. She is a fourth-generation performer. Her great-grandparents were vaudeville performers Hazel Dell (née McNutt) and Roy Hilliard Snyder. Their daughter was her paternal grandmother Harriet Nelson, the star of the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Her parents were musician Ricky Nelson and actress/artist Kristin Nelson (née Harmon). She has three younger siblings: Matthew Nelson and Gunnar Nelson of the 1990s rock group Nelson, and Sam Nelson. Her paternal grandparents were Ozzie and Harriet Hilliard Nelson. Nelson's maternal grandparents were football star Tom Harmon, a Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Michigan, and actress Elyse Knox. She is also the niece of actors David Nelson, and her mother's siblings Mark Harmon and Kelly Harmon.

She went to The Buckley School and graduated in 1981 from the Westlake School for Girls (now Harvard-Westlake School) in Los Angeles. She attended Bard College in upstate New York, studying Dance and European History.

Career

Nelson started her career early; her first role was as herself at age three months on her grandparents' television show.

At age four she played one of Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball's daughters in Yours, Mine and Ours (1968). Her future co-star Tom Bosley also appeared in that movie.

Nelson is a professional dancer, having studied ballet for 17 years with Tania Lachine and toured throughout California in a dance company while still in grammar school. Nelson studied theater with Kim Stanley and Nina Foch and briefly in the United Kingdom, performing in The Edinburgh Fringe Festival after graduation from high school. In 1982, she played "valley girl" Jennifer DeNuccio on the television series Square Pegs, and in 1986 she landed the role of the anorexic daughter in Paul Mazursky's film Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

Nelson is perhaps best known as "Sister Stephanie" from the television series The Father Dowling Mysteries. She was also a series regular on Aaron Spelling's Glitter, A League of Their Own, and the Australian television series The Man From Snowy River. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Nelson made guest appearances on television series including Family Ties, St. Elsewhere, Murphy Brown, The Nanny, 7th Heaven, Melrose Place, Will and Grace, Matlock, Diagnosis Murder, and Seinfeld. She was in the touring company and on Broadway as "Rizzo" in Grease in 1995. Nelson has appeared in several theatrical releases and over 20 television movies, including The Perfect Nanny in 2000, The Perfect Husband, Kate's Secret, The Fight for Jesse, and The Rival in 2006.

She has written a book about her personal experience and a movie script about her family "The Nelsons."

Personal life

She married actor William R. Moses in 1987. They divorced in 1997 and share a daughter, actress Remington Elizabeth Moses, born in 1992. Nelson had a son, Elijah Nelson Clark, with Chris Clark in 2001.

Nelson has survived three kinds of cancer. She was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma a month after her 1987 marriage to Moses, and one year after her father was killed in an aircraft crash on New Year's Eve in DeKalb, Texas. Nelson went into remission after surgery, chemotherapy (ABVD) and radiation at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California.

Having suffered trauma from radiation, Nelson was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2005 and breast cancer in 2010. She is currently fully recovered from a bilateral mastectomy and complete reconstruction.

Nelson is active in cancer research advocacy and was the spokesperson for The Lymphoma Research Foundation of America. She received the "Lifesaver Award" from that organization and the "Jill Ireland Award" from the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children.

Filmography

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1968Yours, Mine and OursGermaine BeardsleyDirected by Melville Shavelson
1984Maria's LoversJoanieDirected by Andrei Konchalovsky
1986Down and Out in Beverly HillsJenny WhitemanDirected by Paul Mazursky
1998The Night CallerBeth NeedhamDirected by Robert Malenfant
2000The Perfect TenantRachelDirected by Doug Campbell
2000The Perfect NannyAndrea McBride/Nikki HarcourtDirected by Robert Malenfant
2000Home – The Horror StoryLinda ParkinsonDirected by Temístocles López
2001Dumb LuckKelly JordanDirected by Craig Clyde
2002FangsAlly ParksDirected by Kelly Sandefur
2005Miracle at Sage CreekAdrianneDirected by James Intveld
2009The Telemarketers: 36 HrsTaylorDirected by Lonny Stevens • direct-to-video
2013My Stepbrother is a Vampire!?!DeniseDirected by David DeCoteau
2016Emma's ChancePrincipal MathesonDirected by Anna Elizabeth James
2016Arlo: The Burping PigMrs. PritchettDirected by Tom DeNucci
2016The Last NoteSisDirected by Robert Zameroski
2018As Long as I'm FamousTheda BaraDirected by Bruce Reisman
Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
1982–83Square PegsJennifer DiNuccioMain role • Season 1 (20 episodes)
1983HotelIsabel DarbyGuest role • Season 1, episode 1: "Blackout"
1984St. ElsewhereJennifer MilbourneGuest role • Season 2, episode 19: "The Woman"
1984–85Family TiesDeena MarxRecurring role • Seasons 2, episode 15 "Ladies Man" / Season 3, episode 14: "Oh Donna"
1985The Love BoatSandyGuest role • Season 8, episode 17: "Ace Takes the Test / The Counterfeit Couple / The Odd Triple"
1984–85GlitterAngela TiminiMain role • Season 1 (14 episodes)
1986Comedy FactoryMichelleGuest role • Season 2, episode 2: "Hearts of Steel"
1986CBS Schoolbreak SpecialLoriGuest role • Season 4, episode 1: "The Drug Knot
1989–91Father Dowling MysteriesSister Stephanie "Steve" OskowskiMain role • Season 1–3 (42 episodes)
1993A League of Their OwnEvelyn GardnerMain role • Season 1 (6 episodes)
1994MatlockJessie MorganGuest role • Season 8, episode 19: "The P.I."
1994Burke's LawEve BakerGuest role • Season 1, episode 11: "Who Killed the Romance"
1994–95Melrose PlaceMeredith ParkerRecurring role • Season 2–3 (4 episodes)
1995The NannyMary RuthGuest role • Season 2, episode 25: "The Chatterbox"
1995Snowy River: The McGregor SagaRuth WhitneyRecurring role • Season 2 (5 episodes)
1996Touched by an AngelLisa MagdalenoGuest role •Season 2, episode 12: "The One That Got Away"
1996Diagnosis: MurderKristie LoftonGuest role • Season 3, episode 15: "Mind Over Murder"
1998SeinfeldJanetGuest role • Season 9, episode 13 "The Cartoon"
1998Murphy BrownLisaRecurring role • Season 10, episode 13: "Turpis Capillus Annus" / Season 10, episode 18: "Second Time Around"
20007th HeavenPaulineGuest role • Season 5, episode 8: "Gossip"
2002Will & GraceAlisonGuest role • Season 4, episode 22: "Wedding Balls"
2003Still StandingElise LarkinGuest role • Season 2, episode 3: "Still the Bad Parents"
Television film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1986PleasuresAnnie BentonABC movie
1986Kate's SecretPatch ReedNBC movie
1987HomeSusan CostiganCBS movie
1987Tonight's the NightJamie DaviesABC movie
1987If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be BelgiumRandi WainwrightNBC movie
1987Fatal ConfessionSister Stephanie "Steve" OskowskiPre-series movie to Father Dowling Mysteries
1992Highway HeartbreakerAnnieCBS movie
1992Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless RomeoCharley AdamsNBC movie
1993No Child of MineTammyCBS movie
1994Ray Alexander: A Taste for JusticeDonna CollaNBC movie
1995Ray Alexander: A Menu for MurderDonna CollaNBC Movie
1996For HopeAnnie AltmanABC movie
1997Touched By EvilClara DevlinABC movie
1999The PromiseLisa MilesNBC movie
2000Perfect GameDiane CrosbyDisney Channel movie
2002Killer Bees!Audrey HarrisPax TV movie
2004Her Perfect SpouseLisa Dorian
2005A Killer UpstairsSandra Nowlin
2006The RivalAlice Miller
2007A Grandpa for ChristmasMarie O'RileyHallmark Channel movie
2008Polar OppositesJenna
2015A Fatal ObsessionChristie RyanLifetime Movie Network
2016The Wrong ChildJoyceLifetime Movie Network
Short
YearTitleRoleNotes
1995The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Sea World AdventureVideo short
1995The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Mystery CruiseMary-Kate and Ashley's momVideo short
2000The Bus Stop
2016The EleventhCynthiaminiseries short (5 episodes)
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 29 Dec 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.