Biography
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Amy Morton fell in love with acting at the age of six after her mother enrolled her in a drama class. After attending Oak Park and River Forest High School, she studied at both Triton Community College in Illinois and Iowa's Clarke University, but left both without graduating. In 1982, she joined the Remains Theatre Ensemble, an acting company formed by William Petersen, Gary Cole and D.W. Moffett, among other local talents. Morton soon became an acclaimed figure on the Chicago theater scene, netting multiple Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and winning one for a 1986 production of "You Can't Take It With You" for the esteemed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. During this period, Morton also began appearing in features and on television series, many of which filmed in the Chicago area, like "Crime Story" (NBC, 1986-88) and "Rookie of the Year" (1993). But theater remained her favorite medium, and Morton joined the Steppenwolf company in 1997; there, she further cemented her status as one of Chicago's most gifted stage performers, and made her Broadway debut with Steppenwolf in a Tony Award-winning 2001 production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" with fellow company member Gary Sinise. In 2007, she starred in the Broadway run of Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County," for which she garnered a Tony nomination. Her role as George Clooney's sister in the comedy-drama "Up in the Air" (2009) raised her Hollywood profile, while recurring roles on the cable political drama "Boss" (Starz 2011-12) and crime drama "Blue Bloods (CBS 2010- ) made her a familiar figure on television. A supporting role in the Kevin James comedy "The Dilemma" (2011) was followed by a leading role in indie drama "Bluebird" (2013). The following year, she began a recurring role on procedural drama "Chicago Fire" (NBC 2012- ), which turned into a series regular role as police sergeant Trudy Platt on the spin-off "Chicago P.D." (NBC 2014- ). Throughout, Morton continued her stage work including a Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated performance as Martha in a 2013 revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
