Raised in Southern California

Film debut, "Ben"

Starred in CBS sitcom "Bridget Loves Bernie", then married leading man David Birney

TV-movie debut in the ABC thriller "The Cat Creature"

Cast as a young adoptee seeking her birth mother in the ABC drama "The Stranger Who Looks Like Me"; real-life mother Whitney Blake cast as her on screen birth mother

Played troubled, self-centered eldest daughter Nancy Lawrence in the ABC drama series "Family"; began taking billing as Meredith Baxter-Birney; garnered two Emmy Award nominations

Co-starred as Meg March in the NBC miniseries adaptation of "Little Women"; because of commitment to ABC and "Family", was replaced by Susan Walden when the network ordered a weekly series version in 1979

Played one of the three Texas cheerleaders who periodically reunite in the HBO adaptation of the popular stage play "Vanities"

Starred as matriarch Elyse Keaton in the long-running NBC sitcom "Family Ties"

Breakthrough dramatic TV role, portraying a bulimic housewife in "Kate's Secret" (NBC)

Debut as a co-executive producer, the CBS movie "The Long Journey Home"; also starred opposite then-husband David Birney

Played an institutionalized woman classified as mentally handicapped who possess a remarkable writing ability in the true story "Winnie" (NBC); also served as associate producer

Starred as a reporter and recovering alcoholic struggling to rescue her son from a pedophile in the CBS movie "Bump in the Night"

Earned an Emmy nomination for her turn as a troubled woman who murdered her ex-husband and his new wife in the based-on-fact "A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story" (CBS)

Reprised role of Betty Broderick in the CBS sequel "Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick The Last Chapter", which detailed the murder trial

Cast as a lesbian co-parent of a teenager in "Other Mothers", a "CBS Schoolbreak Special"

Portrayed an unmarried woman in her forties coping with cancer in the affecting CBS drama "My Breast"; also co-executive produced

Returned to series TV in the short-lived ABC sitcom "The Faculty"; also served as executive producer

Again played Michael J Fox's mother in a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom "Spin City"

Starred as a wife and mother struggling to win back her family after another woman enters their lives in "Down Will Come Baby" (CBS)

Had lead role as a mother fighting for justice in the death of her son who was killed by a drunk driver in "A Mother's Fight for Justice" (Lifetime)