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Before Julia Duffy Was on Night Court, She Acted with This Coach on The Voice
Don't miss Duffy's guest appearance as Season 3 kicks off. Watch Night Court on Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.
As we gear up for a sidesplitting new season of Night Court, a legion of hilarious guest stars are set to appear in Season 3, including the dynamite Julia Duffy.
Between the late hours and the chaotic cases, you never know which Night Court guest star you'll recognize next, and Duffy is making her way to the courtroom in an upcoming episode. Duffy is an accomplished stage, television, and film actress with a bursting portfolio of hits. Duffy's Night Court guest appearance is bound to be another grand slam as Duffy's Susan comes face to face with Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) again.
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Get the details about Julia Duffy's Night Court guest appearance — and relive some of her career highlights — below.
Who does Julia Duffy play on Night Court?
Duffy isn't new to the NBC sitcom; fans may remember Duffy as Susan, who was first introduced in the Season 2 finale ("The Best Dan"). After Judge Abby Stone and her boyfriend Jake (Ryan Hansen) got serious, Abby met his mother, Susan, the Season 2 finale. The season ended with a mighty cliffhanger after Susan revealed to Abby that Jake was born after a short-lived fling she had with a courthouse employee — who was heavily implied to be Dan Fielding (John Larroquette).
Could Abby be dating her colleague's long-lost son? Fans will need to tune in to Season 3 of Night Court to find out.
Julia Duffy's TV and Film Roles
Duffy has been entertaining audiences for decades, making her acting debut in a 1972 episode of the soap opera Love of Life. After establishing herself as a scene stealer with a string of television guest appearances in heavy hitters like Cheers and Simon & Simon, Duffy rose to notoriety as Stephanie Vanderkellen in the 80s sitcom Newhart. Duffy's iconic role in Newhart led her to score seven consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and she won three Viewers for Quality Television Awards for the series.
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Following her award-winning role in Newhart, Duffy continued to emerge as an entertainment trailblazer. Throughout the 90s, Duffy played Allison Sugarbaker in Designing Women and Barb Ballantine in The Mommies. At the turn of the century, Duffy guest starred in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and played Mrs. Hodge in four episodes of Reba, where she had audiences cackling alongside The Voice Coach. Duffy played the recurring role of Mrs. Hayfer in Drake & Josh, appearing in both the sitcom and the 2008 television film. Duffy also stole the show as the recurring character of Candace Lishman in Shameless.
As for the big screen, Duffy appeared in several television films throughout the 80s and 90s, later becoming the voice of Charlotte in 2003's Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure and Mrs. Matthews in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. That same year, Duffy teamed up with George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Geoffrey Rush in the Cohen brothers film Intolerable Cruelty. Recently, Duffy starred in 2022's Christmas with the Campbells, where she starred alongside Brittany Snow, Justin Long, and SNL alum Alex Moffat.
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Duffy's acting prowess has also made its way to the stage. She made her Broadway debut in 1978 as Susan Walker in the play Once in a Lifetime. Throughout the 2010s, Duffy appeared in several Pasadena Playhouse productions, including 2009's The Little Foxes, 2010's Boom, and 2012's The Heiress. In 2014, Duffy played Christina Drayton in Huntington Theatre's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner production in Boston. Duffy has stayed booked and busy for decades, and her Night Court guest appearances are a testament to her enduring appeal.
