Linda Emond

Linda Marie Emond (born May 22, 1959) is an American actress whose career spans stage, film, and television. Raised in Orange County, California after being born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, she attended Loara Elementary, Ball Junior High and Loara High School, where she was crowned homecoming queen. She earned a BA in Theatre Arts from California State University, Fullerton in 1982 and later an MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program, receiving her Equity card during a production of On the Verge in Seattle. Emond’s early professional work unfolded in Chicago, where she garnered five Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and won twice for her portrayals of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion and Paulina in The Winter’s Tale. Her Off‑Broadway debut came in 1996 with Nine Armenians at the Manhattan Theatre Club, earning a Drama Desk nomination, and she later gained critical acclaim for Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul, collecting a Lucille Lortel Award, an Obie, and another Drama Desk nod. On Broadway she has been featured in the musical 1776 (1997), Yasmina Reza’s Life x 3 (2003) — a Tony‑nominated turn — and received further Tony nominations for playing Linda Loman in the 2012 revival of Death of a Salesman and Fraulein Schneider in the 2014 revival of Cabaret. Beyond the boards, Emond has built a diverse screen résumé, portraying Simone Beck opposite Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia (2009), Georgia O’Keeffe in a Lifetime biopic, and Abigail Adams in PBS’s American Experience. Television credits feature recurring roles on The Good Wife, Law & Order: SVU, Gossip Girl, Elementary, The Knick and a starring turn as Connie Clark in AMC’s Lodge 49. She also appeared in the Philip Roth adaptation Indignation (2016) and guest‑starred as Clara Barton on HBO’s The Gilded Age (2022). A prolific voice‑over artist, Emond has narrated more than fifty episodes of Lifetime’s Intimate Portrait and earned four Audiofile Earphones Awards, being named among their Best Voices of the Year. Her dedication to craft, from high‑school debut as Jean Brodie in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to sustained excellence on Broadway and screen, makes her a respected figure in contemporary American theatre and entertainment.