Maura Therese Tierney is an American film and television actress, who is best known for her roles as Lisa Miller on NewsRadio and Abby Lockhart on the television medical drama ER. Tierney, the eldest of three children, was born and raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Pat, is a real estate broker and her late father, Joseph, was a prominent Boston politician who served on the Boston City Council for 15 years. Tierney is of Irish descent. She attended Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, Massachusetts, where her studies included drama and led to her appearance... at the Boston Globe Drama Festival. After graduation, she attended New York University where she majored first in dance, and later in drama. After appearing in several plays, she moved to Los Angeles, California, and in 1987 got her first break in a role in Disney's made-for-TV film Student Exchange. Tierney's first starring role in a film was in a low-budget, independently-produced film called Dead Women in Lingerie, shot in 24 days. The film never received a theatrical release, although it was released on DVD in 2005.
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