Margaret Colin Biography

Margaret Colin (born May 26, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Margo Montgomery Hughes on As the World Turns and for playing Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on Gossip Girl.

Early life

Margaret Colin was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised on Long Island. She is of Irish descent and was raised in a Roman Catholic family; her father was a New York City police officer. She graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1976.

Career

After graduating from Hofstra University, Colin began her acting career in the soap opera The Edge of Night, playing an heiress and former terrorist. In seven months on that show, her character survived seven murder attempts and ended up marrying her stepbrother. She followed that role with a longer stint on As the World Turns, originating the role of Margo Montgomery, a character that endured nearly 30 years.

She has appeared on a number of prime time television shows, starting with Foley Square, Leg Work, and several early episodes of Chicago Hope. She played Lisa Wiseman on the 1999 series Now and Again, with Eric Close and Dennis Haysbert. More recently, she has appeared on the Law & Order spinoffs. In 2003, she appeared in an episode of Law & order: Special victims (Season 4 Episode 16) "Tortured". Colin played a mother/bakery owner and later was arrested for murder

From 2007 to 2013, Colin played Eleanor Waldorf, mother of Blair Waldorf, on the television show Gossip Girl. In the pilot episode, Eleanor was played by OLTL actress Florencia Lozano.

Colin has also been in a number of movies, the most well-known of which are probably Something Wild (1986), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Independence Day (1996), Unfaithful (2002), and First Daughter (2004). She also appeared in the play Jackie: An American Life, in which she played Jacqueline Kennedy.

During her 2003 performance of the English play A Day in the Death of Joe Egg on Broadway, Colin smoked her way through the second half of the show and dedicated the performance to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in defiance of the state's smoking ban. After the play finished its run, she gave up smoking.

Personal life

Colin met actor Justin Deas when he played her love interest, Tom Hughes, on As the World Turns. They were married in January 1988. The couple have two sons, Sam and Joe, and Colin is stepmother of her husband's daughter from his first marriage. The family moved to Upper Montclair, New Jersey in the late 1990s.

She is a pro-life activist and is the honorary co-chair of Feminists for Life, an organization opposed to abortion.

Filmography

• 1979: The Edge of Night as Paige Madison (21 episodes)
• 1982-1983: As the World Turns as Margo Montgomery Hughes # 1(6 episodes)
• 1985: Foley Square as Asst. D.A. Alex Harrigan (14 episodes)
• 1986: Pretty in Pink as English Teacher
• 1986: Something Wild as Irene
• 1987: The Return of Sherlock Holmes as Jane Watson
• 1987: Warm Hearts, Cold Feet as Amy Webster
• 1987: Like Father Like Son as Ginnie Armbruster
• 1987: Leg Work as Claire McCarron (10 episodes)
• 1987: Three Men and a Baby as Rebecca
• 1988: Magnum, P.I. as Connie Northrop (1 episode)
• 1989: True Believer as Kitty Greer
• 1990: Goodnight Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston as Michelle Caruso
• 1990: Martians Go Home as Sara Brody
• 1991-1992: Sibs as Audie (22 episodes)
• 1991: The Butcher's Wife as Robyn Graves
• 1993: Amos & Andrew as Judy Gillman
• 1994: Related by Birth as Audie
• 1994: Terminal Velocity as Joline "Jo" (Uncredited)
• 1994: Chicago Hope as Dr. Karen Antonovich (5 episodes)
• 1995: In the Shadow of Evil as Dr. Molly Nostrand
• 1995: The Wright Verdicts as Sandy Hamor (7 episodes)
• 1996: Independence Day as Constance Spano
• 1997: Milk & Money as Lorraine
• 1997: The Devil's Own as Sheila O'Meara
• 1997: Time to Say Goodbye? as Kristen Hamstra
• 1998: The Adventures of Sebastian Cole as Joan Cole
• 1999: Hit and Run as Joanna Kendall
• 1999: Swing Vote as Linda Kirkland
• 1999-2000: Now and Again as Lisa Wiseman (14 episodes)
• 2000: Madigan Men as Vonda Madigan (1 episode)
• 2001: Private Lies as Ellen
• 2001: The Familiar Stranger as Elizabeth 'Peachy' Welsh
• 2001: The Wedding Dress as Madeline Carver
• 2002: Blue Car as Diane
• 2002: Unfaithful as Sally
• 2003: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Mrs. Krug (1 episode)
• 2003: Remembering Charlie as Lori Alken
• 2004: Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Dr. Eloise Barnes (1 episode)
• 2004: First Daughter as Melanie Mackenzie
• 2007: Happenstance as Beth
• 2007: A Broken Sole as Nan
• 2007-2012: Gossip Girl as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose
• 2008: iMurders as Carol Uberoth
• 2008: Deception as Ms. Pomerantz
• 2009: Royal Pains as Lucy Everett (1 episode)
• 2009: The Missing Person as Lana Cobb
• 2010: Law & Order as Mary Markson (1 episode)
• 2010: Medium as Kelly Shuler (1 episode)