BeforeKatherine LaNasawas whipping the ER into shape as Nurse Dana onThe Pitt, the actress made a memorable impression onSeinfeldviewers.
The fan-favorite season 6 episode "The Beard" sees LaNasa play a no-nonsense NYPD sergeant who goes from flirting withJerry Seinfeldto putting him through a lie detector test after he unconvincingly claims he's never seenMelrose Place. Ironically, LaNasa herself wasn't a big TV viewer at the time.
"I had never seenSeinfeld, nor had I seenMelrose Place, which is hilarious," LaNasa admitted in a recentinterview with ETalk. "Yes, I was living under a rock."
LaNasa, who was early in her acting career at the time, explained that she was too busy taking care of her young son to keep up with popular TV shows.
"I was a single mom, my son's dad was an older guy, and we didn't watchMelrose Place," she explained, referencing her marriage to late Hollywood iconDennis Hopper. "I just didn't watch a lot of TV. I know it sounds crazy, I was just starting out in television."
As fate would have it, LaNasa is now married to Grant Show, one of the stars ofMelrose Place. They wed in 2012 and welcomed a daughter two years later.
Despite going intoSeinfeldblind, LaNasa fit right in on the iconic sitcom. After deciding to put Jerry through the polygraph test, she pushes him into a complete — and hilarious — meltdown. Looking back on it now, thePittactress says she still "remembers how creative they were" while shooting the episode.
"There was a whole scene in that where Jason Alexander is talking with the rest of them about this girl that he's dating and how when she took off her wig or her wig came off and she was bald," LaNasa recalled. "He was like, 'She's bald, treeless!' This and that, and he just kept riffing and it was so funny and so magical just to see them rehearse and ad-lib."
Though she wasn't familiar withSeinfeld, LaNasa said it was immediately clear that the cast was "unbelievably talented." She added, "It was just a big bucket full of talent and I was pinching myself. I couldn't believe I was a part of it or witnessing it."
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Seinfeld, which also starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards, was quite the phenomenon throughout the '90s and ultimately ran for 10 seasons. LaNasa continued to find success on the small screen, appearing on such hit shows as3rd Rock From the Sun,Touched by an Angel,ER, andGrey's Anatomy.
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Her role inThe Pitthas marked a high point in her career, with LaNasa taking home an Emmy at last year's ceremony for her work in the show's debut season.
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