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Where You Know Law & Order Guest Star Emily Meade From
Emily Meade played a murder suspect that Olivia Benson sympathized with on Law & Order, but you may recognize this actress from some of her other well-known projects.
In an emotional Law & Order Season 24 crossover episode, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) proved there's nothing she won’t do to advocate for the rape victims she tries to get justice for.
Benson, who's normally seen on the spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, found herself embroiled in a controversial murder case after a rape victim she once tried to help was accused of gunning down an unarmed man in Central Park, who’d been stalking her.
RELATED: What Happened to Camryn Manheim’s Kate Dixon on Law & Order?
Who did Emily Meade play on Law & Order Season 24, Episode 2?
The woman accused of the complex killing, Laura Kingsbury, was played by Emily Meade, who has a long list of impressive acting credits to her name.
As Kingsbury, Meade played a traumatized rape victim so wary of others that she took matters into her own hands after a misguided suitor started sending her lavish gifts and more than 100 letters, and stalked her throughout New York City, despite her attempts to dissuade him and seek help from the police.
It was the first time viewers of the Law & Order franchise met Kingbury onscreen, despite Benson telling Det. Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) and Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) that she’d helped Kingsbury “navigate an extraordinarily difficult time” in her life after she’d been violently raped more than a year earlier in a separate case.
Benson continued to advocate for Kingsbury throughout the episode, even taking the stand for the defense to testify about how past trauma could cause victims to have a heightened sense of danger. However, prosecutors argued that the man had been unarmed and had never threatened to harm Kingsbury, giving her no right to shoot him despite his obsessive behavior.
Ultimately Benson’s efforts weren’t enough to sway a jury and Kingsbury was convicted of second-degree murder in the powerful episode.
RELATED: Olivia Benson Clashes with Maura Tierney’s New Law & Order Lieutenant in Crossover Episode
It wasn’t the first time Meade has taken on a complex character. In fact, she relishes in the challenge.
“I don’t care if people like my character and maybe that’s part of what helps me,” Meade shared last year on the Back to One podcast. “I like playing flawed characters.”
What other TV shows and films has Emily Meade appeared in?
Meade has also appeared in shows including Broad City and Boardwalk Empire, and she had a 10-episode arc as Aimee in the supernatural drama The Leftovers. But there’s perhaps no better example of Meade's desire to play "flawed characters" than her portrayal of doomed sex worker and porn star Lori Madison on The Deuce.
As Madison, Meade played a multi-dimensional character who often found herself the victim of violence while driven by her own desire for fame.
“To me, Lori had a lot of opportunities to set herself free and she didn’t,” Meade said on the Back to One podcast of the character’s complex storyline and ultimate demise.
While on The Deuce, Meade became an advocate in the industry for having intimacy coordinators on set. As a result of her efforts, that show not only hired an intimacy coordinator, but it has since become an industry standard.
“You’re still putting yourself out there, but to have the process of it feel protected, like it’s something you are in control of, has been very transformative and I think also allows for more colors to exist within the performances of sexual abuse,” Meade told amNewYork Metro of the impact of having an intimacy coordinator on hand for difficult scenes.
Many may also remember Meade from the psychological limited series Dead Ringers, in which she played the creepy wife of a wealthy billionaire involved in creating a birth center like no other.
“For me, it was a very rare sort of no-brainer where it hit every single thing you could want,” Meade told Screen Rant of why she took on the project. “It’s a very interesting and important subject. It was an incredibly well-written pilot that I read. And the part was something that not only did I love the character and find her so bizarre and funny, but it was something that I had never gotten to play.”
Has Emily Meade appeared on earlier seasons of Law & Order or SVU?
Besides her guest-starring role as Laura Kingsbury on Season 24 of Law & Order, Meade also appeared on both that show and Law & Order: SVU in past seasons — but as other characters. She had a role on Law & Order in 2010 and had two different parts on Law & Order: SVU in 2008 and 2011.
Meade shared on the Back to One podcast that she often gravitates toward roles in which she can either connect to the character herself or has known someone that she can relate the character to.
“My initial desire to act came mostly from really being fascinated by people, absorbing them,” she said.
To find out what other difficult cases Law & Order will tackle this season, watch the show Thursday nights at 8/7c p.m. on NBC or stream episodes on Peacock the next day.
