The Three Best-Known Mary McCormack TV Roles

April 2024 · 4 minute read

Mary McCormack speaking on In Plain Sight

Mary McCormack has been working in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years.  The 45 year-old New Jersey native made her first on-screen appearance in both TV and film in 1994.  The following year, McCormack landed a starring role in the TV series, Murder One.  In 2008 her work in the Broadway production of Boeing-Boeing earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Artist in a Play. Throughout her career, McCormack has built an impressive resume that includes film, television, and stage credits.  However, even with dozens of acting credits to her name, McCormack’s most popular TV roles have all been in police/legal dramas which have depicted her as strong, smart, and ambitious.  Here are the three best-known TV roles featuring Mary McCormack.

3. Murder One

In the ABC series, Murder One, McCormack starred as an attorney named Justine Appleton. The show was a legal drama focused on Theodore Hoffman, a defense attorney who was hired to defend a young actor who had been charged with murder. McCormack, who originally auditioned for another role in the series, earned her spot after calling the show’s created, Steven Bochco, a “fathead.” Although Murder One lasted for just two seasons, it received critical acclaim and also earned numerous awards including the 1996 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Dramatic Series. TV Guide included the show on its list featuring shows that were “Cancelled Too Soon.”  The DVD Times also praised the series and stated: “Murder One is television for connoisseurs, a remarkable and revolutionary series which broke every rule of American TV, written and otherwise, and paid the price of, first, emasculation and, finally, cancellation. But the first series is a 23 episode work of art; a complex, finely honed portrait of a world where every legal and moral certainty is turned on its head. Characters develop and change with the natural ease of real life, moral issues are examined without excessive sermonising and the legal processes of a country are weighed in the balance and found wanting.”

2. The West Wing

During its final two seasons, Kate McCormack joined the cast of The West Wing as Commander Kate Harper, a Deputy National Security Advisor.  The show was centered around the lives of politicians and other presidential personal who were working in the West Wing of the White House. Mary McCormack was pregnant when she joined the show’s cast; however, a pregnancy was never written into her character’s story line.  McCormack says she got lucky because “we had huge desks and computers and I wore big suits.” The show, which lasted for a total of seven seasons, earned three Golden Globe Awards and 26 Emmy Awards.  The show was also well-received from critics, many of whom appreciated the show’s realistic and relevant depictions of White House politics.  In 2013, TV Guide named The West Wing one of the 60 greatest dramas of all-time. The cast of The West Wing reunited briefly in 2012 to shoot an ad for supreme court candidate and Mary McCormack’s sister, Bridget Mary McCormack.

1. In Plain Sight

United States Marshall Mary Shannon on USA’s In Plain Sight is Mary McCormack’s best known TV character.  The show followed Shannon as she worked to help people transition into the witness protection program while trying to deal with the struggles of her every day life. Shannon’s character was displayed as complex, and she struggled from trust issues which often caused her personal relationships to suffer. McCormack also appeared on In Plain Sight while pregnant; however, this time the pregnancy was written into Mary Shannon’s story line.  During the fourth and fifth season, Shannon is depicted as pregnant with the child of her ex-husband, although the father is not immediately revealed. In Plain Sight won the 2011 WICT Award for Scripted Drama/Comedy Series or Special, and also earned McCormack a Prism Award nomination for Performance in a Drama Episode. The show’s first season earned positive reviews with David Hinckley of New York Daily News stating: “The show has sex and cursing, neither terribly explicit, and solid allusions to pop culture history like “Columbo” and “Showgirls.” But “In Plain Sight” rises and falls on Mary, not on its familiar bad guys or law enforcement dilemmas and resolutions…Mary doesn’t win ’em all, but “In Plain Sight” is a W for USA.”  The show went on to last for five seasons with the series finale airing in 2012. Although many fans were sad to see the show go, McCormack felt like In Plain Sight had run its course and she was ready to move on and focus on raising her children. She stated: “I think shows can go too long. I think it’s a nice, organic ending. It feels right…For me personally, it feels like the right time to end, even though I love this character.  I don’t think I’ve played a part better than this and maybe never will…”

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

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