Mel Harris

A dark, striking leading lady of TV, Mel Harris is a former model who, after a few false starts in feature films ("Wanted: Dead or Alive" 1986, "Cameron's Closet" 1988) and TV ("Harry's Hong Kong" 1987), lent an understated sincerity and authority to the role of Hope, a woman attempting to juggle marriage, children and a career, in ABC's acclaimed, not-for-yuppies-only serial "thirtysomething."

Harris tried a change of pace with her next series, the sitcom "Something So Right" (NBC, 1996-97; ABC, 1997-1998), in which she played a thrice-married woman coping with her new husband and their respective children.