Maggie Lawson

Biography

Maggie Lawson is an American actress. Maggie is well known for her role in the Detective comedy series Psych as Juliet O'Hara. Her roles in- Lethal Weapon (as Nathalie Flynn) Inside Schwartz(as Eve), It's All Relative(as Liz Stoddard Banks), Crumbs(Andrea Malone), Back in the Game(as Terry Gannon), Angel from Hell(as Allison) are popular as well.

Family- Childhood

Margaret Cassidy Lawson is an American actress born on 12th August 1980 in Louisville, Kentucky, United States to Mike Lawson(Father) & Judy Lawson(Mother).

[ Maggie Lawson childhood ]

Parents

Maggie's father Mike Lawson is a Hotel manager. Her mother Judy- a homemaker.

Siblings

Maggie has two brothers:

• Nick Lawson
• Chris Lawson

[ Maggie Lawson with brothers- Nick Lawson, Chris Lawson ]

Education

• Stephen Martyr School: She attended the Catholic grade school for her middle schooling
• Assumption High School: She attended the all-girls Catholic high school in Louisville, Kentucky until her sophomore year. She finished her senior year of the High School through correspondence course, she was busy with acting career by then.

Marriage - Boyfriend - Relationships

Maggie Lawson & Ben Koldyke- Marriage & Divorce

Maggie and her 'Back In The Game' co-star Ben Koldyke got engaged on November 14, 2014. They had been dating for a few months before that.

Image: Maggie Lawson with Ex-husband Ben Koldyke

Wedding

The couple got married on 8th August 2015 at his family ranch in New Mexico. The wedding features men wearing white cowboy hats, newlyweds playing Table Tennis in the open, Horse and dogs among other Farm things.

[ Maggie Lawson and Ben Koldyke wedding]

Divorce: She filed for divorce in 2017.

Maggie Lawson & James Roday

Maggie Lawson & James Roday dated for about 7 years from 2006 and 2013. The two played Lead roles (love interest of each other) in the TV Series as well. Maggie and James had been appearing in Plays at theaters together. The two came together in 2017 for Psych: The movie, they appear in the Psych movie sequel of 2020 (Psych 2: Lassie Come Home). 

[ Maggie Lawson with James Roday ]

Maggie Lawson & Eric Christian Olsen

Maggie dated American actor and producer Eric Christian Olsen from April 2003 to May 2005. They have attended Hollywood events together. Eric is known for playing Detective Marty Deeks on NCIS: Los Angeles.

[ Maggie Lawson & Eric Christian Olsen ]

Interesting Facts & Trivia

• Animal Lover: She loves pets and has had dogs named Tristen & Frank.
• Ancestry: Maggie is of Irish descent.
• Ballet Dance: She trained as a ballet dancer in Louisville.
• When she six year old, she hit her mouth on the table at pizzahut and lost her front teeth 
• Loving Aunt: She is close to her niece and nephew.
• Played Sports in youth: She played Softball during her school days. Her brothers played baseball. [2]
• LGBT Supporter: She supports LGBTQ & has attended pride parades at times. 
• Double Role: She played two roles in the movie- The Wonderful World of Disney: Model Behavior (2000). One as a model & another as a nerdy student
• She shares her date of birth withSctress and producer Dominique Swain.
• Edible Pet names: Her pets are often named after foods, her first pet was named popcorn, She has had a pet named Peanut, 
• She was once a co-pilot on the flight to New York. The pilot Dave was generous to let her sit in the cockpit.
• Singing National anthem for the President: Shen she was 12 year old, she sang the national anthem for George Bush Sr. and his wife Barbara Bush when they visited Louisville. She was nervous and her voice was shaking, the guest comforted her with hugs and assured her that she did a good job. She received an appreciation letter from the president, and the white house photographer sent her the pics from the day. 
• National Voter Registration Day: Every year she urges her followers to become a registered voter, and exercise their right/ duty.
• SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023: She supported the fight of Screen sctors Guild for better payment.
• Her mother is a big fan of James Roday

Philanthropy 

• The Tiger Frances Foundation: she is the co-founder of TTFF (with Jude McVay), a non-profit organization which works towards animal rescue and fighting abuse against animals. It was founded in 2014. Maggie rescued popcorn (a pup) in 1990. She found popcorn in a dumpster at a fast food restaurant in Kentucky on Christmas Eve. Maggie has been providing safe space for "unadoptable" animals ever since. She often has 3/4 animals at her home.
• Love On Paws: she is involved with the TIFF program which aims to develop kindness in children towards animals
• Animal rescue: Maggie rescued her first animal in 1990 near a restaurant in Louisville, she named him Popcorn. 
• DOGTV's The Adoption Show!: She was on the show that encourages people to adopt pets.

Maggie Lawson Look alike

Maggie Lawson has been compared to actress Alicia Silverstone, they share similar looks. Their smiles, hair, eyes, cheeks, lips are cloest copies of each other. They have different looking noses and different but adorable voices. 

Questions & Answers

• Did Maggie Lawson & Paul Greene ever date?
  • No, Maggie Lawson & Paul Greene played each other's love interest in the movie- "My Favorite Wedding"
• Are Maggie Lawson & James Roday back together?
  • They have been working together on projects after Maggie's divorce. There are speculations about couple dating again. They have maintained a friendly relationship despite breakup, they have been working together, greeting and congratulating each other on social media.
• Does Maggie Lawson have any children?
  • She doesn't have any children.

Career

Her acting career started at the age of 8 when started at the local community theater. At the age of 10 she had an on-air commercial for a Louisville TV station. She soon became a news reporter in a program that had children of her age as viewers. It went on for another six years before she moved on.  [2]

Journalist: she worked as a youth journalist for a while before moving to Los Angeles to seek a career in acting. She was 15 when she made the move to Los Angeles.

Host: Maggie Lawson co-hosted the Fox 41 show- Kid's Club in her hometown Louisville.

1990-2000

She made her acting debut through the TV series Hang Time (1996), she appears in the episode "Green-Eyed Julie". 

In the comedy series Unhappily Ever After, she appears as Madelyn in 4 episodes of season 3.

In the comedy series Step by Step, she appeared as Alana Mills in an episode. In the comedy series Cybill, she appeared as Jennifer.

In the funny alien series "Meego", she appeared as Brooke in the episode "Fatal Attraction" (S1E5). In the series Boy Meets World, she played Debbie. In the TV Series Home Improvement, she played Samantha Hayes. 

In the 1998 horror TV movie "I've Been Waiting for You", she played Debbie Murdock.  In Kelly Kelly, she played Ally. 

In the 1998 comedy fantasy movie Pleasantville, she played Lisa Anne. In the 1999 romantic comedy Nice Guys Sleep Alone by Stu Pollard, she played Meghan.

In the comedy series Working, she played the titular role Julie, in the episode Romeo and Julie. In the series Felicity, she played Rebecca in the episode Todd Mulchay. 

Family Rules

In the 1999 UPN sitcom Family Rules, she played Hope Harrison, the daughter of Nate Harrison, a widowered basketball coach in Baltimore.

Shawna Waldron, Andi Eystad, Brooke Garrett played her sisters Ann, C.J, Lucy respectively. The show ran for 1 season and had 6 episodes.

In the medical romance drama ER, she played Shannon Mitchell in the episode "Responsible Parties".

In the family drama series Party of Five, She played Alexa in 7 episodes in season 6.

2000-2010

In the 2001 TV drama movie The Third Degree, she played Jolie.

In the superhero series Smallville, She plays the role Chrissy Parker in the episode 6 of season 2.

In the 2002 comedy movie Cheats written and directed by Andrew Gurland, she played Julie Merkel, a smart and upstanding student who tutors the main character Sammy Green. 

In the TV movie Heart of a Stranger, she plays Amanda Maddox, daughter of Jill Maddox (played by Jane Seymour), a gifted violinist.

In the comedy series Inside Schwartz, she plays Eve in the 5 episodes of season 1.

In the 2003 comedy movie Winter Break, she played Michelle Casper.

In the romantic TV movie Love Rules! she played Kelly, the bride of Michael, she desires a small off-beat wedding, but her mother and friends turn it into a big wedding. It was written by Alan Marc Levy and directed by Steven Robman.

In the 2004 TV movie Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, she played Rachel.

In the 2004 fantasy movie Spellbound, she plays a woman that falls in love with a witch

It's All Relative (2003-2004)

In the ABC sitcom created by Anne Flett-Giordano and Chuck Ranberg, she played Liz Stoddard-Banks, the adopted daughter of Philip(John Benjamin Hickey) and Simon(Christopher Sieber) and fiancee of Bobby O'Neill (Reid Scott)

Liz and Bobby are in love and are engaged, Bobby's parents do not like that Liz's parents are a same-sex couple, and Liz's parents don't like that they don't like it. Bobby and Liz move into Simon and Philip's guest house, it forces the families to come together. The series lasted for 22 episodes.

In the series Tru Calling, she played Megan Roberts in the episode "The last good day" in season 2

In the comedy series Crumbs, she played Andrea Malone, a series regular. She appears in all 13 episodes of the series.

In the series Rules of Engagement, she played Jesse in the episode Jeffy's Wooby.

In the 2007 thriller movie Cleaner, she played Cherie. The movie had a star studded cast of Samuel Jackson, Ed Harris, Eva Mendes, Luis Guzman and others, it was directed by Renny Harlin.

In the series "Fear Itself", she played Samantha the bride, in the episode In Sickness and in Health.

In the 2009 comedy movie Still Waiting... She played Allison.

In the 2009 TV movie Killer Hair, based on Ellen Byerrum's book, Maggie plays Lacey Smithsonian, a fashion journalist turned investigator, who is investigating the discovery of a dead body inside the hair salon. Hostile Makeover is the sequel to Killer Hair, Maggie continues her role as Lacey Smithsonian.

In the 2009 sci-fi thriller Gamer, she played the role of a female news host

2010-2020

In the short movie "A Date with Diana" directed by Matthew Cole Weiss, featuring Maggie in the lead role of Diana, a wonder woman, whose boyfriend has troubles dating the wonder woman.

She played Layla in an episdoe of the series Justified

Back in the Game (2013)

In the ABS comedy drama Back in the Game, she played a recently divorced single mother Terry Gannon, Jr. She moves in with her estranged father Terry Cannon Sr. (played by James Caan), a farmer baseball player, she unwillingly decides to coach her son's ((Danny Gannon played by Griffin Gluck) school baseball team. The story revolves around the family. Maggie's future husband Ben Koldyke appears in the series as Dick Slingbaugh.

Podcasts

"The Psychologists Are In" Podcast: Maggie and her Psych co-star Timothy Omundson run a 'Psych Rewatch podcast' together, with fellow actors, series directors joining in, talking about incidents and back stories. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts. The podcast has a 4.8/5 rating on the Apple Podcasts, has about 120 episodes. 

Me Time with Maggie Lawson: A lifestyle podcast about the art of self-discovery, recharging, and embracing the joy of alone time, with Maggie Lawson, Available on Apple podcasts and youtube as well.

American Girl Podcast: She narrated the story "The Light in the Cellar: A Molly Mystery" in the "10 minute mysteries" series for the American Girl Podcast Network.

Filmography

Movies List

TV Series List

Short Movies

Stage/ Theater

Quotes

• Mondays feel like a blank canvas [source]

Sources

1. Maggie Lawson Wiki
2. Imdb Bio
3.