Nancy Travis Biography

Nancy Ann Travis (born September 21, 1961) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), Air America (1990), Internal Affairs (1990), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Greedy (1994), and Fluke (1995). She currently stars as Vanessa Baxter in the ABC comedy series Last Man Standing.

Early life

Travis was born in New York City, the daughter of Theresa, a social worker, and Gordon Travis, a sales executive. Travis was raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and Baltimore, Maryland.

Career

Travis' first job after graduating from high school was in a play, It's Hard to be a Jew, at The American Jewish Theatre in NYC. After that, Travis appeared in a stage version of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and was a founding member of the Off-Broadway theater company Naked Angels. She appeared in their Frank Pugliese play Aven U-Boys, as well as in King of Connecticut. She made her Broadway debut in I'm Not Rappaport. She starred in Athol Fugard's My Children, My Africa.

Travis has had leading lady roles in many films, including Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady, plus Air America and Internal Affairs (as the wife of Andy García), So I Married an Axe Murderer as the bride of Mike Myers, thriller The Vanishing with Kiefer Sutherland, Greedy with Michael J. Fox, and in the action-comedy Destiny Turns on the Radio with Dylan McDermott. Others notable films include the 1995 box office bomb Fluke, 1996 Whoopi Goldberg's comedy Bogus, political comedy/drama Running Mates with Three Men and a Baby co-star Tom Selleck, 2001 drama film Auggie Rose, 2005 comedy The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and 2007 ensemble cast romantic drama The Jane Austen Book Club adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler. She was featured in Chaplin opposite Robert Downey, Jr., portraying Joan Barry, the woman who filed a paternity suit against Chaplin.

Travis starred with Peter Gallagher and Isabella Rossellini in the Tom Cruise-directed episode of the Showtime series Fallen Angels in 1993. From 1995-1997, Travis played a leading role in the CBS sitcom Almost Perfect. The show was canceled after two seasons. In 1999 she starred in the short-lived TV series Work with Me, Travis was also a producer. Due to low ratings, the show was cancelled after four episodes.

Travis had the leading role of psychology professor Dr. Joyce Reardon in 2002's four-hour television adaptation of Stephen King's Rose Red. In 2002, Travis joined the cast of the CBS comedy series Becker as Chris Connor. She starred in the show for its final two seasons, replacing the series' original female lead, Terry Farrell. From 2007 to 2009 Travis appeared in the television sitcom The Bill Engvall Show as Bill's wife Susan. In 2009 she starred on the Hallmark Channel film Safe Harbor, about a happily married couple, Doug (Treat Williams) and Robbie Smith (Travis) about to retire and spend their days cruising the world on their sailboat. In 2010, she starred in TV films The Pregnancy Pact, In My Shoes and was a guest star in two episodes of Desperate Housewives. In 2011, she guest starred in the television series Grey's Anatomy and How I Met Your Mother.

In 2011, Travis was cast in the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing opposite Tim Allen. Travis also appeared in The CW medical drama series Hart of Dixie as Emmeline 'Mrs. H' Hattenbarger. On May 20, 2011, it was announced that Travis would not continue with the series due to her commitment with Last Man Standing. She was written out after the first two episodes.

Personal life

In 1994, Travis married Robert N. Fried, former president and CEO of Savoy Pictures and currently Founder & CEO of SpiritClips.com. They have two sons: Benjamin, born in 1998, and Jeremy, born in 2001. She starred in the 2007 short film Sally, featuring her son, Benjamin, and written by her husband.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Malice in Wonderland	Ann
1986	Harem	Jessica Gray
1987	Three Men and a Baby	Sylvia Bennington
1988	Married to the Mob	Karen Lutnick
	Eight Men Out	Lyra Williams
	I'll Be Home for Christmas	Leah Bundy
1990	Loose Cannons	Riva
	Internal Affairs	Kathleen "Kathy" Avilla
	Air America	Corinne Landreaux
	Three Men and a Little Lady	Sylvia Bennington
1992	Passed Away	Cassie Slocombe
	Chaplin	Joan Barry
1993	The Vanishing	Rita Baker
	So I Married an Axe Murderer	Harriet Michaels
1994	Greedy	Robin
1995	Fluke	Carol Johnson
	Lieberman in Love	Kate
	Destiny Turns on the Radio	Lucille
	Body Language	Atty. Theresa Janice 'T.J.' Harlow
1996	Bogus	Lorraine Franklin
1999	My Last Love	Susan Morton	also producer
2000	Running Mates	Jennifer 'Jenny' Pryce
	Beyond Suspicion	Carol
2005	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	Lydia Rodman
2007	The Jane Austen Book Club	Cat Harris
	The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker	April Brenner
	Sally	Sally
2009	Safe Harbor	Robbie
2010	The Pregnancy Pact	Lorraine Dougan
	A Walk In My Shoes	Cindy/Trish
2013	Squatters

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Maggie Ellis	Season 2, Episode 10: The Hopes and Fears
1993	Fallen Angels	Bette Allison	Season 1, Episode 4: The Frightening Frammis
1994 – 1997	Duckman	Bernice / Beverly / Beatrice	67 episodes, voice
1995 – 1997	Almost Perfect	Kim Cooper	34 episodes
1996	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Spencer	voice
1998	Superman: The Animated Series	Darci Mason	1 episode, voice
1999	Work with Me	Julie Better	9 episodes, also producer
2002	Stephen King's Rose Red	Prof. Joyce Reardon	TV mini-series
2002 – 2004	Becker	Chris Connor	39 episodes
2007 – 2009	The Bill Engvall Show	Susan Pearson	24 episodes
2008	Medium	Laura Swenson	Season 4, Episode 4, Do You Hear What I Hear?
2010	Desperate Housewives	Dr. Mary Wagner	2 episodes
2011	Grey's Anatomy	Alison	Season 7, Episode 16, Not Responsible
	How I Met Your Mother	Cheryl	Season 6, Episode 19, Legendaddy
	Hart of Dixie	Emmeline 'Mrs. H' Hattenbarger	2 episodes
2011"Present	Last Man Standing	Vanessa Baxter	Main Role