June 22, 2010–Actress – and now Breast Cancer survivor – Maura Tierney is ready to return to TV.  Tierney was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery in July 2009, stepping down from a role in NBC’s Parenthood.  Finished with treatment and ready to work again, the former ER doctor will take the role of an attorney with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in ABC’s courtroom drama The Whole Truth.

Tierney took time away from her screen roles for a very real journey inside the world of oncology as a patient.  She had a lumpectomy, and followed that with chemotherapy to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer.  Her brunette mane, a very recognizable part of her signature look, was lost during treatment, but has been replaced by gray and white chemo curls.

Now 45, Maura Tierney has already returned to acting – but her first comeback role was on stage.  She took a role with the New York theater troupe the Wooster Group in a production of “North Atlantic.”  Playing Cpl. Nurse Jane Babcock, a curious and flirty femme fatale aboard an aircraft carrier during near the end of the Cold War, Tierney felt freed of her previously stern and serious roles.  Using satire, with some musical numbers, and innovative staging, Tierney worked with Kate Valk and Frances McDormand under the direction of Elizabeth LeCompte.  I doubt we would recognize the Dr. Abby Lockhart that we watched her play in “ER” but Tierney was ready for something totally different.

Sadly, Tierney lost her father to cancer in December of 2009, while she was still in chemotherapy.  Joseph M. Tierney was a former Boston City Council President who also practiced law.  Perhaps as Maura Tierney portrays an attorney for the prosecution, she will draw on her father’s legacy as a public servant and skillful articulate politician.

Please click here to read the article we wrote about Maura last July when she found out about her breast cancer.