Mel Harris

Acting

Mel Harris

Born 1956-07-12 · Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Mel Harris is an American actress, writer and director, best known for her portrayal of Hope Steadman on the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series Thirtysomething (1987), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as best Actress in a Drama Series. She starred in the NBC comedy Something So Right (1996) and the My Network drama series Saints and Sinners (2014). Her most recent role has been as Nadine Davies on Hulu's new series Shut Eye (2016) Mary Ellen Harris was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and raised in New Jersey. Her mother was a high school science teacher and her father a football coach at Princeton University. She spent 12 years in the modeling world living in New York and Europe before stumbling into the acting business. She starred in numerous miniseries and telefilms including Cross Fire (1989), The Burden of Proof (1992) and Grass Roots (1992), as well as appearances on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), and as Senator Rafferty on The West Wing (1999). Among her feature film credits are Brian De Palma's Raising Cain (1992) , K-9 (1989) (opposite Jim Belushi), Suture (1993), The Pagemaster (1994), and Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986). She made her New York stage debut at the Circle Repertory Company in the world premiere of John Bishop's Empty Hearts, for which she received a 1992 Theater World Award. In addition to her acting, in the last few years, she has focused on writing with her partner and husband, Emmy Award winning writer/producer, Bob Brush, under their shingle Topanga Moon Productions. - IMDb mini biography by: mel harris

Acting credits

The Pagemaster poster
6.4

Rich knows a lot about accidents. So much so, he is scared to do anything that might endanger him, like riding his bike, or climbing into his treehouse. While in an old library, he is mystically transported into the unknown world of books, and he has to try and get home again.

The Pagemaster

1994

Grass Roots poster
8.0

This sequel to the 1983 miniseries, "Chiefs," continues the saga of the Lee family with Will Lee, an ambitious Georgia lawyer running for the U.S. Senate at the same time he is forced by a local judge to defend a young man in a murder trial. On top of this, he becomes the target of an assassin hired by a white-supremacist organization.

Grass Roots

1992

K-9 poster
6.2

The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a dog named Jerry Lee (Officer Lewis), who has been trained to smell drugs. With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind the bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to. On the other hand, the dog is quite good at destroying Dooley's car, house and sex-life...

K-9

1989

Imagine That poster
6.0

A financial executive who can't stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.

Imagine That

2009

Raising Cain poster
6.0

Child psychologist Carter Nix is a loving and caring family man, but under this appearance lies a dark and troubled past. Grappling with the consequences of this past on his own psyche and the influence of his returning father and violent brother Cain, Carter becomes involved in a series of murders and kidnappings. Meanwhile, his wife Jenny rekindles an old love affair, placing herself in the crosshairs of her increasingly unstable husband.

Raising Cain

1992

Wanted: Dead or Alive poster
6.0

Nick Randall is a Los Angeles-based bounty hunter and an ex-CIA operative who is asked by a former co-worker to help track down terrorist Malak Al Rahim. However, Malak Al Rahim is also looking for Randall, forcing a showdown on the waterfront.

Wanted: Dead or Alive

1987

Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest poster
7.0

Jessica Fletcher searches for a woman who witnessed the murder of a man trying to expose a serious flaw in a top-secret government satellite code.

Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest

1997

The Lodger poster
5.7

Follows a seasoned detective on the trail of a ruthless killer intent on slaughtering prostitutes along West Hollywood's Sunset Strip. It appears that the murderer's grisly methods are identical to that of London's infamous 19th century psychopath Jack the Ripper – a relentless serial killer who was never caught by police. To make matters worse, the detective soon notices the parallels between the crimes committed by the West Hollywood stalker and those of a serial murderer incarcerated years ago. Could the wrong man be behind bars?

The Lodger

2009

Suture poster
6.5

A man named Clay flies into Phoenix for a reunion with his long-lost half-brother Vincent.

Suture

1993

Firetrap poster
5.1

Master burglar Max Hopper is released early after three years and soon gets an exceptional job: stealing an advanced computer-chip from the IQ Industries headquarters. His first attempt fails; when he enters in cop uniform during an emergency board meeting, a fire quickly spreads- he considers it a godsend opportunity and stays, but soon has his hands too full saving other lives and just surviving to concentrate on the chip; only the owner, his wife who just filed for divorce and a few employees remain, but it soon turns out one of them stole company secrets but the arsonist and/or another chip-thieves are among them.

Firetrap

2001

Arthur's Whisky poster
5.7

When Joan’s husband dies, she is shocked to discover he had invented an elixir which makes the drinker look young again. Sharing it with her two friends, the three women paint the town red but soon discover that they are no longer equipped to be young in the modern world.

Arthur's Whisky

2024

Sonic Impact poster
5.8

A dangerous criminal hijacks a plane with his fellow prisoners and threatens to crash it into a populated area. The agent who captured him sets out to stop him.

Sonic Impact

2000

Cameron's Closet poster
4.7

A father who experiments with his son's psychokinetic powers is unaware that these experiments have released a demon from hell which lives in his son's closet, preparing to take over the young boy's soul.

Cameron's Closet

1988

Hangman's Curse poster
5.2

Bullying students are becoming deathly ill after screaming the name of a legendary ghost. What's to blame? An exotic illness? An illicit drug? Or is it the supernatural? The clues are few and time is running out for the students of Rogers High School. The only hope is the Veritas Project, a highly trained investigative team working undercover to expose the truth. Lives hang in the balance as they scramble to unravel the mystery and protect the student body from their own hatred and fear.

Hangman's Curse

2003

Out of Time poster
5.4

A man awakwens after sleeping for 20 years to find that his small local town has changed for the worse.

Out of Time

2000

The Secretary poster
5.8

After being passed over for a promotion, secretary Deidre turns to murder and blackmail.

The Secretary

1995

Ultimate Betrayal poster
5.8

Based on a true story about two sisters who sue their father for incest and child abuse. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that the father severely abused all six children, and committed incest with all four of his daughters.

Ultimate Betrayal

1994

Child of Rage poster
5.8

A priest and his wife adopt a brother and sister, but the girl has terrible outbursts of rage. They get her in treatment and try to find out the reason for this.

Child of Rage

1992

The Retrievers poster
5.2

The Lowrys are starting a new life, moving to the quiet Northern California town of Placerville. But when they are "adopted" by a clever yet lovable stray Golden Retriever, their lives change in ways they never imagined. It'’s not long before the Lowrys discover that Pilot is pregnant. But when it comes time to find new homes for the puppies, the Lowrys learn how hard it can be to say goodbye… and how a determined Golden Retriever can show them a thing or two about the bonds of family. Pilot wants her puppies back! Can the Lowrys retrieve the Retrievers from the wacky cast of characters that adopted them? The Retrievers is a heartwarming story about how a stray Golden Retriever, along with her litter of pups, teaches the Lowrys some big lessons about life, love, family, and what'’s truly important.

The Retrievers

2001

Dynamite poster
3.9

A woman's life is turned upside down when three armed robbers invade her home.

Dynamite

2004

The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie poster
5.0

After making it to the top of the charts, members of the Silver Boulders, a popular tween rock band, find themselves undermined by internal squabbling as the bandmates seek different creative directions.

The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie

2005

King of Knives poster
4.3

A New York family implodes over three days as they careen through mid-life and quarter-life crises.

King of Knives

2020

Out of the Woods poster
5.7

Matt, a self-absorbed young attorney, goes to visit his grandfather - an eccentric recluse who lives in the backwoods without gas, electricity, or phone - to convince him not to give away his estate as he plans to do. But in the end, it is Matt who is convinced to make some life changes. Jason London and Ed Asner star. When a woman needs someone to look after her aging father (Ed Asner), her irresponsible son isn't her first choice. Matt (Jason London) can't get his career, love life, or wallet in order, so how can he be expected to check in on his grandfather? But desperation leads Matt to visit his grandfather at his home in the middle of nowhere. For Matt, this barebones life takes some adjustment, but then he meets a single mother who helps him learn about the simple life.

Out of the Woods

2005

Sharon's Secret poster
5.7

A sixteen-year-old girl is accused of killing her parents.

Sharon's Secret

1995