Quick Facts
Biography
Christine Farrell is an American film and television actress, playwright, director, and educator, best known for portraying the character of Forensics Technician Arlene Shrier in the TV Series Law & Order. She is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York and a theater teacher at Sarah Lawrence College, New York.
Education
Christine Farrell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University, New York. She also studied for a year in Oxford, England.
Acting Career
On television, Farrell made her acting debut in 1987, portraying the character of "Brenda Reston" in the "Personal Demons" episode of the TV series Spenser: For Hire. In the same year, she was seen in the role of a teacher in director Adrian Lyne's Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer.
In 1991, Farrell landed the recurring role of Forensics Technician Arlene Shrier in the acclaimed TV series Law & Order. She was seen in 16 episodes of the series through 1999. She repeated the role in the years 2002-2005, in the next of the series Law & Order: Criminal Intent
On stage, Farrell has performed in Comedy of Errors, Uncle Vanya, Catholic School Girls, Division Street, and The Dining Room.
She has also co-authored the play Mama Drama, published by Samuel French, and written the one-act play The Once Attractive Woman, published by Faber and Faber.
In addition, Farrell teaches theater at Sarah Lawrence College, New York, as Artistic Director of the Theatre Program.
Achievements
Farrell was a recipient of an Affiliate Artist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Outstanding Achievement in Theater and Television Award in 2004, and a MacDowell Fellowship and an Alfred P. Sloan Grant in 2010.