Sarah Rafferty
Quick Facts
Biography
Sarah Gray Rafferty (born December 6, 1972) is an American actress, widely known for her role as Donna Paulsen on the USA Network legal drama Suits.
Early life and education
Rafferty grew up as the youngest of four daughters in the Riverside neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut. She credits her mother, Mary Lee Rafferty, the Chairwoman of the English Department at Convent of the Sacred Heart school, and her father, Michael Griffin Rafferty Jr., who enjoys two successful careers in finance and oil painting, for cultivating her passion for the arts. Her sisters are Maura, Ann, and Constance.
Rafferty studied at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1989. She majored in English and Theatre at Hamilton College, studied theatre abroad in the United Kingdom and at the University of Oxford during her junior year, and, after graduating magna cum laude from Hamilton in 1993, went on to study at the Yale School of Drama, receiving a Master of Fine Arts.
Personal life
Rafferty's husband is Aleksanteri Olli-Pekka Seppälä, an American of Finnish descent, who is an equity research analyst in the asset management unit of Lazard Frères & Company. They married on June 23, 2001, at the Roman Catholic church of St. Mary in Greenwich, Connecticut, and have two daughters, Oona Gray and Iris Friday.
She and her Suits co-star Gabriel Macht have been friends since 1993, when they met at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | Mambo Café | Amy | |
2002 | Speakeasy | Nurse | |
2004 | Soccer Dog: European Cup | Cora Stone | |
2006 | Falling for Grace | Sydney | |
2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | Liz | Deleted scene |
2009 | Four Single Fathers | Julia | |
2011 | Small, Beautifully Moving Parts | Emily |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Trinity | Sarah | Television film |
1999 | Law & Order | Jennifer Shaliga | Episode: "Ambitious" |
2001 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Laura Pope | Episode: "Desperate Measures" |
2002 | Third Watch | Kelly | Episode: "Crash and Burn" |
CSI: Miami | Melissa Starr | Episode: "Breathless" | |
The District | Sally | Episode: "Small Packages" | |
2003 | Without a Trace | Dr. Patty Morrison | Episode: "The Friendly Skies" |
Six Feet Under | Rachel Mortimer | Episode: "The Eye Inside" | |
The Practice | Judy Wilson | Episode: "Heroes and Villains" | |
Tremors | Dr. Casey Matthews | Episodes: "Flora or Fauna", "Graboid Rights", "Water Hazard" | |
Good Morning, Miami | Lila | Episode: "The Ex Games" | |
2004 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Terry Minden | Episode: "Eleven Angry Jurors" |
Charmed | Carol | Episode: "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell" | |
Second Time Around | Daphne Fitzgerald | Episodes: "Pilot", "Secrets" | |
8 Simple Rules | Danielle | Episode: "A Very C.J. Christmas" | |
2006 | Pepper Dennis | Callie | Episode: "Heiress Bridenapped: Film at Eleven" |
2007 | Football Wives | Kelly Cooper | Television film |
What If God Were the Sun? | Rachel | Television film | |
2008 | Samantha Who? | Kayla Kaminski | Episode: "So I Think I Can Dance" |
2009 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Sandra Dunbar / Sandra O'Bannon | Episode: "Passion" |
Numb3rs | Margo | Episode: "7 Men Out" | |
Bones | Katie Selnick | Episode: "The Foot in the Foreclosure" | |
2010 | Brothers & Sisters | Gloria Pierson-Davenport | Episode: "A Righteous Kiss" |
2011–2019 | Suits | Donna Paulsen | Main role, 132 episodes |
2016 | All Things Valentine | Avery Parker | Television film |
2020 | Grey's Anatomy | Suzanne | Recurring role |
2021–2022 | Chicago Med | Dr. Pamela Blake | Recurring role |
2023 | My Life with the Walter Boys | Dr. Katherine Walter |