Alicia Coppola
Alicia Coppola is an American actress, primarily known for television roles. In 1968, Coppola was born in the town of Huntington, New York, which is located on the north shore of Long Island. The town is a major bedroom community for nearby New York City.
Coppola attended the Kent School, a co-educational college preparatory school located in in Kent, Connecticut. She graduated in 1986, and later enrolled at New York University, a private research university. She graduated in 1990, at the age of 22.
Coppola started her television career with a one-shot role on the legal-themed comedy-drama series “Against the Law” (1990-1991). From 1991 to 1994, she played the role of public relations manager Lorna Devon in the soap opera “Another World” (1964-1999). In one of the story arcs of the series, Lorna found out that she was the illegitimate daughter of romance novelist Felicia Gallant (played by Linda Dano), one of the series’ main characters. In 1994, Coppola left the series and she was replaced in the role of Lorna by fellow actress Robin Christopher (1965-).
For much of the 1990s, Coppola mostly appeared in guest roles in various television series, such as “NYPD Blue”, “Touched By an Angel”, and “Chicago Hope”. Among her few notable roles was that of Lieutenant Stadi in the science fiction series “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995-2001). In the pilot episode “Caretaker”, Stadi is a Betazoid helmsman of the USS Voyager and the love interest of pilot Tom Paris (played by Robert Duncan McNeill). Stadi is killed during the accidental teleportation of the spaceship to the Delta Quadrant and Paris is chosen as her replacement. The character is alluded to in later episodes and appears more prominently in the spin-off video game “Star Trek: Starship Creator” (1998) and the alternate-reality-themed anthology series “Star Trek: Myriad Universes” (2008-2010).
Coppola played the recurring role of Patricia Damiana in the short-lived drama series “Trinity” (1998-1999). The series depicted the family life of an Irish-American police detective in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. The series lasted a single season, consisting of 10 episodes. Two of them remained unaired when the series was canceled.
In 1999, Coppola gained the main role of Karen Chandler in the comedy-drama series “Cold Feet” (1999), the American adaptation of the successful British series “Cold Feet” (1997-2003, 2016-). The British series depicted the relationship problems of three different British couples, such as mutual infidelities, cases of uncertain paternity of the couple’s children, and the consequences of not informing your romantic partner about your previous marriages. The American series only lasted a single season, and was canceled due to low ratings. Only 4 of the 8 episodes were ever aired.
In 2000, Coppola gained the main role of investment banker Marissa Rufo in the stock-market themed television series “Bull” (2000-2001). The series depicts an alliance of young, ambitious investment bankers who are trying to create a new company, while competing with the investment firms which previously employed them. And each of the main characters has secret agendas of their own. The series lasted a single season, and only 12 of the 20 episodes were ever aired. The series had been inspired by the “bull market” (period of generally rising prices in the financial market”) of the 1990s, but its release coincided with the “dot-com crash” (2000-2002), a financial crisis in the United States.
In the early 2000s, Coppola returned to mostly making guest star appearances in television. She appeared in a number of police procedural series, such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “Monk”, and “Bones”. From 2003 to 2005, Coppola played the recurring character of Liutenant Commander Faith Coleman in the military-themed legal drama series “JAG” (1995-2005) and its spin-off series “NCIS” (2003-). In both series, Coleman is depicted as an officer of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG Corps), a legal department within the United States military.
Coppola was next part of the main cast in the post-apocalyptic series “Jericho” (2006-2008), where she played Mimi Clark. In the series, Clark is an an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent from Washington D. C. , who was visiting Kansas on an audit mission when the United States’ major cities fell victim to nuclear attacks. With the country in ruins and her family and friends wiped out in the attacks, Clark is effectively stranded in Kansas. During the second season of the series, Clark develops a romantic relationship with local farmer Stanley Richmond (played by Brad Beyer). The two characters get married in the finale of the series, during the opening stages of a Second American Civil War.
In 2007, Coppola had a notable film role as FBI Agent Spellman in the adventure film “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”, which depicts a re-investigation of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1865) and the possible involvement of the historic secret society Knights of the Golden Circle (1854-1864). The film was a major box office hit of its era, earning about 457 million dollars at the worldwide box office. It was the 9th most financially successful film of 2007, outperformed by only 8 films: “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (1st), “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2nd), “Spider-Man 3” (3rd), “Shrek the Third” (4th), “Transformers” (5th), “Ratatouille” (6th), “I Am Legend” (7th), and “The Simpsons Movie” (8th). “National Treasure” outperformed a number of minor hits, such as the period film “300” (10th), the thriller film “The Bourne Ultimatum” (11th), and the thriller film “Live Free or Die Hard” (12th).
In the video game “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2” (2009), Coppola voiced the character of She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, one of Marvel Comics’ popular female characters. In the comics, Walters is depicted as a shy female lawyer who happens to be the first cousin of Hulk/Bruce Banner. After being seriously injured in an assassination attempt, Walters received a blood transfusion from her cousin Banner, who was the only available donor with a blood type matching her own. This resulted in her gaining super-powers similar to his own. She-Hulk typically retains Walters’ intellect and legal training, but displays a much more outgoing and flirtatious personality than Walters.
In 2010, Coppola started playing the recurring character of FBI agent Lisa Rand in the military-themed police procedural series “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2009-), a spin-off of the series “NCIS”. In the series, Rand is an expert on kidnapping cases and consults the main characters in a number of cases. Rand has appeared in several episodes from 2010 to 2018.
In 2011, Coppola gained the supporting cast role of Valentina in the supernatural television mini-series “The Nine Lives of Chloe King” (2011), an adaptation of the namesake novel series by British writer Elizabeth J. Braswell. The series depicts the Mai, a human-cat hybrid race who claim descend from the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet. Valentina is depicted as the leader of the Mai who live in San Francisco, and a veteran of its never-ending-war with an organization of assassins called “The Order”. Valentina devotes most of her time to her political and military duties, and apparently neglects her only daughter Jasmine (played by Alyssa Diaz), one of the series’ main characters.
In 2012, Coppola played the recurring character of forensic pathologist Jonelle in the police-themed comedy-drama series “Common Law” (2012). The series depicts a duo of homicide detectives of the Los Angeles Police Department, who have been assigned as partners by their superiors, despite their feelings of hatred for each other. Jonelle is depicted as the ex-girlfriend of one of the two main characters, Travis Marks (played by Michael Ealy). The series lasted a single season, consisting of 12 episodes.
In the early 2010s, Coppola continued to appear mostly as a guest star in television series such as “Teen Wolf”, “Criminal Minds”, and “Sons of Anarchy”. In 2016, she joined the cast of the soap opera “The Young and the Restless” (1973-), playing the recurring character of Dr. Meredith Gates. In the series, Gates is depicted as a doctor employed in a prison infirmary. She is the attending physician of one of the series’ main villains, businessman Victor “Darth Victor” Newman (played by Eric Braeden). Victor manipulates Gates into falling in love with him, in part relying on her sympathy for his betrayal by his own family, and on part on his apparent resemblance to Gates’ father and her obvious “daddy issues”. Coppola left the series after the completion of her character arc.
From 2016 to 2018, Coppola played the recurring role of ambulance driver Sue in the series “Shameless” (2011-). Sue is depicted as a work colleague for the main character Ian Clayton Gallagher (played by Cameron Monaghan), who works as an emergency medical technician (EMT) during seasons 7 and 8. Sue does not appear in Season 9, where Ian has lost his job and is serving prison time for past crimes.
In 2019, Coppola joined the cast of the musical television series “Empire” (2015-), in the recurring role of assistant district attorney Megan Conway. In the series, Conway uses ruthless tactics during an investigation on the criminal connections of the Lyons family, powerful executives of the music industry with shady pasts.
By 2019, Coppola was 51-years-old but she remained a rather popular character actress, with no signs of her career slowing down. .