Paula Cale
Paula had given herself five years to prove her worth as an actress. After starring in the comedy series "Buddies" and "Local Heroes," and recurring as McGovern, an MTV-ish reporter in "Murphy Brown," her five-year plan is looking pretty successful. Nonetheless, she first hesitated when asked to audition for the drama "Providence."

"I came from a comedy background," says Cale. "But after I read the pilot script, I realized that the roles I played on Broadway (including Gilda Radner in 'Bunny, Bunny') had a mix of humor and drama that were very similar to my character of Joanie."

Cale was born and raised in Great Falls, Virginia, 10 miles outside of Washington, D.C. Her father, now a top Capitol Hill lobbyist, worked as a congressional liaison during the Nixon and Ford presidential administrations, and her mother was a homemaker and chairwoman of the Fairfax County school board. The youngest of three children, Cale put aside her interest in theater to study teaching at Vanderbilt University.

After one year Cale transferred to Chicago's prestigious Goodman School of Theatre (now known as The Theatre School), where she won a scholarship to study drama. "Coming from a conservative Republican household, my parents had hoped I would become a teacher," she says. "But they've become very supportive of me." It was then that Cale vowed to succeed in five years, but she didn't have to wait long. She originated the role of Suzanne in the Steppenwolf Theatre production of Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" and came to Los Angeles with the production in 1995. While performing, Candice Bergen spotted her and later offered Cale the recurring role of McGovern.

Soon after, Cale was starring in two different comedies on two different networks simultaneously. She played a sassy waitress in "Local Heroes" and portrayed the neurotic wife of comedian Dave Chappelle in "Buddies." She then went to New York to appear in "Night of the Iguana" on Broadway and followed that with her favorite role as Gilda Radner in "Bunny, Bunny." When she returned to Los Angeles, she guest-starred in two episodes each of NBC's "The Naked Truth" (as Tea Leoni's sister) and "Cybill."

Cale weaves both comedic and dramatic elements in her character of an unwed mother in "Providence." "As I told the producers, Joanie is a lot like me," she says. "She's full of emotion, shoots from the hip and is very straightforward. She doesn't use her mind as much as her heart, and that sometimes gets her into trouble."

Off the set, Cale performs volunteer work for her church and also enjoys puttering in her flower garden, watching sports and taking as many as three bubble baths a day. She also vows to return to teaching elementary school sometime in the future. She and her husband, a financial planner and musician, live in Los Angeles.

Her birthday is June 2, 1970.

Filmography

Seth Peterson
Much like his newest alter ego, Seth Peterson confesses to a streak of mischief in his youth that faded when he channeled his bad-boy energies into acting, which served him well during the audition for the "Providence" role.

"Both Robbie and I are wily rascals, but we have good hearts," says Peterson, who might be best known to moviegoers as the trigger-happy helicopter pilot who was swallowed by the title character in last summer's "Godzilla." "I think they cast me because I'm a bit of a rascal, it comes through. But I've mended my ways since I was in my teens; I got into acting as an art form and it made me look at my life and the guys I was hanging around with."

Peterson, an only child, was born in the Bronx and bounced back-and-forth between Brooklyn and Los Angeles in his early years. His father was a high school mathematics teacher and his mother is a former actress who became a paralegal (he now has a half-sister). His mother performed at the Colony Theater in Echo Park, California, and he enjoyed his days there so much that he returned after he left high school in Hollywood.

Peterson studied, appeared in local equity waiver theater and worked as a part-time office temp, followed by a stint in a bank's human resources department. "I just kept plugging away," he recalls. "I was into playing the intense, brooding kind of guy. But after I took a 'cold-reading' class (designed to help actors who have no time to prepare but must instantly read for auditions), I experienced a change in attitude. It gave me more accessibility and practical knowledge than you'd ever get from a Method acting class. I learned that acting is a business like anything else; you just don't show up with good hair."

The approach resulted in more guest-starring roles for Peterson over the last few years in such series as "Arsenio," "Clueless," "Relativity," "Beverly Hills, 90210" and NBC's "Profiler" (in different roles over two seasons). In addition to "Godzilla," his feature film credits are "Can't Hardly Wait" and the upcoming independent "Dumped." However, he considers his favorite role to date to be Billy Bibbett in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" at the Garden Pavilion in Los Angeles.

In his leisure time, Peterson prefers to play basketball and chess, swim, play his guitar and is a loyal Los Angeles Lakers basketball fan. He resides in the west San Fernando Valley.

His birthday is August 16, 1970.

Filmography

Concetta Tomei
After teaching in a Milwaukee suburb for four years, Concetta Tomei decided that it was "now or never" and reluctantly told her adoring students that it was time for her to pursue her childhood interest in acting -- a bold career choice which she credits to the support of her father, a retired policeman and accomplished artist, and her mother, an avid reader.

Tomei, an only child, was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She hails from a long line of educators and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in education. She gained entrance to the prestigious Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where she received a bachelor of fine arts in theater arts three years later.

Tomei served an apprenticeship at the Alley Theatre in Houston and appeared elsewhere in Chicago and Canada in such regional and repertory theater classics as "A Streetcar Named Desire" (as Blanche DuBois), "Candida" and "Blithe Spirit." She moved to New York where she received critical acclaim on Broadway in "The Elephant Man" (as Mrs. Kendal, a role she reprised while touring with David Bowie), "Noises Off" and "Goodbye Fidel." She also starred off-Broadway in Tommy Tune's "Cloud Nine" and in Joseph Papp's Public Theatre productions of "Fen," "A Private View," "The Normal Heart" (creating the role of Dr. Bruckner opposite Brad Davis) and "Richard III" (with Kevin Kline), for which she won the St. Clair Baysfield Shakespeare Award for her performance as Queen Elizabeth.

After relocating to Los Angeles, Tomei began a prolific television career which included her favorite role as Major Lila Garreau in "China Beach," as well as regular roles in other series such as "Madman of the People" and "Max Headroom." She also had recurring roles in "Murphy Brown" (as Jim Dial's wife), "Picket Fences," "Lush Life," NBC's "L.A. Law" and "Wings," and guest-starred in "Touched By an Angel," "Star Trek Voyager," "Ellen" and NBC's "Sisters," to name a few. Among her movies are "In Love and War," "The Betty Ford Story" and "Murder in Three Acts."

Tomei's feature film credits include "Deep Impact," "Out to Sea," "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" and "Twenty Bucks." She can be seen this fall in "The Muse," directed by and starring Albert Brooks.

Now, as a chain-smoking matriarch (Tomei, a non-smoker, is quick to note that she uses herbal cigarettes in the series) who converses with her daughter from somewhere in the afterlife, Tomei finds that her alter ego is indeed larger-than-life. "She's a lioness who is loving and passionately protective of her family -- even though she's a control freak."

Away from the set, Tomei enjoys reading, walking, yoga and traveling. She and her husband, an attorney and businessman, reside in Los Angeles.

Her birthday is December 30, 1945.

Filmography

Biographies courtesy National Broadcasting Company and People Weekly.