Tracy Nelson (actress)

2025-11-03T01:00:53Z

2600:8800:178D:8E00:B81E:E6F4:56BD:1879: /* Early life, family and education */

{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tracy Nelson
| image = TracyNelson1981.jpg
| caption = Nelson in 1981
| birth_name = Tracy Kristine Nelson
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|10|25}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/p52226 |title=Tracy Nelson |publisher=allmovie.com |first=Hal |last=Erickson |access-date=February 12, 2022}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Santa Monica, California]], U.S.
| death_date =
| alma_mater = [[Bard College]]
| occupation = Actress, dancer, writer
| years_active = 1968–present
| father = [[Ricky Nelson]]
| mother = [[Kristin Nelson]]
| relatives = {{bulleted list|
|[[Gunnar Nelson (musician)|Gunnar Nelson]] (brother)
|[[Matthew Nelson (musician)|Matthew Nelson]] (brother)
|[[Tom Harmon]] (maternal grandfather)
|[[Elyse Knox]] (maternal grandmother)
|[[Kelly Harmon]] (aunt)
|[[Mark Harmon]] (uncle)
|[[Pam Dawber]] (aunt)
|[[Harriet Nelson|Harriet Hilliard Nelson]] (paternal grandmother)
|[[Ozzie Nelson]] (paternal grandfather)
|[[David Nelson (actor)|David Nelson]] (uncle)
}}
| spouse = {{marriage|[[William R. Moses]]|1987|1997|end=divorced}}
| partner = Chris Clark (2001–2002)
| children = 2
}}

'''Tracy Kristine Nelson''' (born October 25, 1963)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.biography.com/actor/tracy-nelson |title=Tracy Nelson |publisher=biography.com |date=April 2, 2014 |accessdate=February 12, 2022}}</ref> is an American actress. From a long line of entertainers, she is the daughter of musician [[Ricky Nelson]] and actress and painter [[Kristin Nelson]].

== Early life, family and education ==
Tracy Nelson was born in [[Santa Monica, California]], to musician and film actor [[Ricky Nelson]] and actress/artist [[Kristin Nelson]] (née Harmon).<ref>{{cite news|last=Hewitt|first=Michael|title=Giving birth to the family comedy|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ozzie-640681-harriet-family.html|access-date=4 April 2017|work=Orange County Register|date=3 November 2015}}</ref> Tracy has three younger siblings: [[Matthew Nelson (musician)|Matthew Nelson]] and [[Gunnar Nelson (musician)|Gunnar Nelson]] of the 1990s rock group [[Nelson (band)|Nelson]], and Sam Nelson.

Tracy is a fourth-generation performer. Her great-grandparents were [[vaudeville]] performers Hazel Dell (née McNutt) and Roy Hilliard Snyder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/harriet-nelson/d0/i0000002.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124140000/http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/harriet-nelson/d0/i0000002.htm|archive-date=November 24, 2010|website=genealogy.com|title=Second Generation |year=2010}}</ref> Their daughter was her paternal grandmother [[Harriet Nelson]],<ref name="NY Times">{{cite web |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/person/32378/Harriet-Hilliard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508015828/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/32378/Harriet-Hilliard |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-05-08 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2008 |title=Harriet Hilliard |access-date=2011-05-02 }}</ref> the star of the ABC-TV [[Situation comedy|sitcom]] ''[[The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet]]'' from 1952 to 1966. Her paternal grandparents were [[Ozzie Nelson|Ozzie]] and [[Harriet Hilliard Nelson]]. Nelson's maternal grandparents were football star [[Tom Harmon]], a [[Heisman Trophy]] winner from the [[Michigan Wolverines football|University of Michigan]], and actress [[Elyse Knox]]. She is also the niece of actors [[David Nelson (actor)|David Nelson]], and her mother's siblings [[Mark Harmon]] and [[Kelly Harmon]].

Nelson studied ballet for 17 years with Tania Lachine. She studied theater with [[Kim Stanley]] and [[Nina Foch]] and briefly in the UK.

She attended [[Buckley School (California)|The Buckley School]] and graduated in 1981 from the Westlake School for Girls (now [[Harvard-Westlake School]]) in [[Los Angeles]]. She studied Dance and [[History of Europe|European History]] at [[Bard College]] in [[upstate New York]].{{Citation needed |date=October 2023}}

== Career ==
At age four, Nelson played one of [[Henry Fonda]]’s and [[Lucille Ball]]'s daughters in ''[[Yours, Mine and Ours (1968 film)|Yours, Mine and Ours]]'' (1968). Her future co-star [[Tom Bosley]] also appeared in that film.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://decoy.tvpassport.com/q_a/q-who-played-sister-steve-father-dowling-mysteries-i-used-love-show-also-it-available-dvd?subid=national-00001|title=TV Q&A|last=Thomlison|first=Adam| work= tvpassport.com| publisher=TV Media}}</ref>

She has been a professional dancer and toured throughout [[California]] in a dance company while still in grammar school. She performed in The [[Edinburgh Fringe Festival]] after graduation from high school. In 1982, she played "[[valley girl]]" Jennifer DeNuccio on the television series ''[[Square Pegs]]'',{{r|etvs|page1=1007}} and in 1986 she landed the role of the [[Anorexia nervosa|anorexic]] daughter in [[Paul Mazursky]]'s film ''[[Down and Out in Beverly Hills]]''.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Nelson made guest appearances on television series including ''[[Family Ties]]'', ''[[St. Elsewhere]]'', ''[[Murphy Brown]]'', ''[[The Nanny]]'', ''[[7th Heaven (TV series)|7th Heaven]]'', ''[[Melrose Place]]'', ''[[Will & Grace]]'', ''[[Matlock (1986 TV series)|Matlock]]'', ''[[Diagnosis Murder]]'', and ''[[Seinfeld]]''. Nelson co-starred in the television series ''[[The Father Dowling Mysteries]]'' as Sister Stephanie for its three seasons.<ref name="etvs">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Terrace|first=Vincent|title= The Father Dowling Mysteries | encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher= McFarland & Company|location= Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn= 978-0-7864-6477-7|page=335|edition=2nd}}</ref> She was also a series regular on [[Aaron Spelling]]'s ''[[Glitter (American TV series)|Glitter]]'', ''[[A League of Their Own (1993 TV series)|A League of Their Own]]'',{{r|etvs|page1=590}} and the Australian television series ''[[The Man from Snowy River (TV series)|The Man from Snowy River]]''.{{r|etvs|page1=986}}
She was in the touring company and on Broadway as Rizzo in ''[[Grease (musical)|Grease]]'' in 1995. Nelson has appeared in several theatrical releases and over 20 television movies, including ''The Perfect Nanny'' in 2000, ''The Perfect Husband'', ''Kate's Secret'', ''The Fight for Jesse'', and ''The Rival'' in 2006.

She has written a book about her personal experience and a movie script about her family, ''The Nelsons''.{{Citation needed |date=October 2023}}

== Personal life ==
Nelson has survived three kinds of [[cancer]]. She was diagnosed with [[Cancer staging|stage 2]] [[Hodgkin's lymphoma]]<ref name="sbcs">{{cite news|title=Busy Tracy Nelson ready for a normal pregnancy routine|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11350047/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=March 19, 1992|location=California, San Bernardino|page=67|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = May 29, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> a month after her 1987 marriage to Moses, and one year after her father was killed in an aircraft crash on New Year's Eve 1985 in a field in [[DeKalb, Texas]]. Nelson went into remission after surgery, [[chemotherapy]] ([[ABVD]]) and radiation at [[Cedars-Sinai Medical Center|Cedars-Sinai Hospital]] in Los Angeles.{{Citation needed |date=October 2023}}

Having suffered trauma from radiation, Nelson was diagnosed with [[thyroid cancer]] in 2005 and [[breast cancer]] in 2010. She fully recovered from a bilateral [[mastectomy]] and complete reconstruction.{{Citation needed |date=October 2023}}

Nelson is active in cancer research advocacy and was the spokesperson for The Lymphoma Research Foundation of America. She received the "Lifesaver Award" from that organization and the "[[Jill Ireland]] Award" from the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children.{{Citation needed |date=October 2023}}

== Filmography ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! colspan="4"|Film
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1968
| ''[[Yours, Mine and Ours (1968 film)|Yours, Mine and Ours]]''
| Germaine Beardsley
| Directed by [[Melville Shavelson]]
|-
| 1984
| ''[[Maria's Lovers]]''
| Joanie
| Directed by [[Andrei Konchalovsky]]
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Down and Out in Beverly Hills]]''
| Jenny Whiteman
| Directed by [[Paul Mazursky]]
|-
| 1998
| ''[[The Night Caller (1998 film)|The Night Caller]]''
| Beth Needham
| Directed by Robert Malenfant
|-
| 2000
| ''The Perfect Tenant''
| Rachel
| Directed by Doug Campbell
|-
| 2000
| ''[[The Perfect Nanny (film)|The Perfect Nanny]]''
| Andrea McBride/Nikki Harcourt
| Directed by Robert Malenfant
|-
| 2000
| ''Home – The Horror Story''
| Linda Parkinson
| Directed by Temístocles López
|-
| 2001
| ''Dumb Luck''
| Kelly Jordan
| Directed by [[Craig Clyde]]
|-
| 2002
| ''Fangs''
| Ally Parks
| Directed by Kelly Sandefur
|-‘’Killer Bees ‘’

| 2005
| ''Miracle at Sage Creek''
| Adrianne
| Directed by [[James Intveld]]
|-
| 2009
| ''The Telemarketers: 36 Hrs''
| Taylor
| Directed by Lonny Stevens • direct-to-video
|-
| 2013
| ''My Stepbrother is a Vampire!?!''
| Denise
| Directed by [[David DeCoteau]]
|-
| 2016
| ''Emma's Chance''
| Principal Matheson
| Directed by Anna Elizabeth James
|-
| 2016
| ''Arlo: The Burping Pig''
| Mrs. Pritchett
| Directed by Tom DeNucci
|-
| 2016
| ''The Last Note''
| Sis
| Directed by Robert Zameroski
|-
| 2018
| ''As Long as I'm Famous''
| Theda Bara
| Directed by Bruce Reisman
|-
! colspan="4"|Television
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1982–83
| ''[[Square Pegs]]''
| Jennifer DiNuccio
| Main role • Season 1 (20 episodes)
|-
| 1983
| ''[[Hotel (American TV series)|Hotel]]''
| Isabel Darby
| Guest role • Season 1, episode 1: "Blackout"
|-
| 1984
| ''[[St. Elsewhere]]''
| Jennifer Milbourne
| Guest role • Season 2, episode 19: "The Woman"
|-
| 1984–85
| ''[[Family Ties]]''
| Deena Marx
| Recurring role • Seasons 2, episode 15 "Ladies Man" / Season 3, episode 14: "Oh Donna"
|-
| 1985
| ''[[The Love Boat]]''
| Sandy
| Guest role • Season 8, episode 17: "Ace Takes the Test / The Counterfeit Couple / The Odd Triple"
|-
| 1984–85
| ''[[Glitter (American TV series)|Glitter]]''
| Angela Timini
| Main role • Season 1 (14 episodes)
|-
| 1986
| ''Comedy Factory''
| Michelle
| Guest role • Season 2, episode 2: "Hearts of Steel"
|-
| 1986
| ''[[CBS Schoolbreak Special]]''
| Lori
| Guest role • Season 4, episode 1: "[[The Drug Knot]]
|-
| 1989–91
| ''[[Father Dowling Mysteries]]''
| Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski
| Main role • Season 1–3 (42 episodes)
|-
| 1993
| ''[[A League of Their Own (1993 TV series)|A League of Their Own]]''
| Evelyn Gardner
| Main role • Season 1 (6 episodes)
|-
| 1994
| ''[[Matlock (1986 TV series)|Matlock]]''
| Jessie Morgan
| Guest role • Season 8, episode 19: "The P.I."
|-
| 1994
| ''[[Burke's Law (1994 TV series)|Burke's Law]]''
| Eve Baker
| Guest role • Season 1, episode 11: "Who Killed the Romance"
|-
| 1994–95
| ''[[Melrose Place]]''
| Meredith Parker
| Recurring role • Season 2–3 (4 episodes)
|-
| 1995
| ''[[The Nanny]]''
| Mary Ruth
| Guest role • Season 2, episode 25: "The Chatterbox"
|-
| 1995
| ''[[The Man from Snowy River (TV series)|Snowy River: The McGregor Saga]]''
| Ruth Whitney
| Recurring role • Season 2 (5 episodes)
|-
| 1996
| ''[[Touched by an Angel]]''
| Lisa Magdaleno
| Guest role •Season 2, episode 12: "The One That Got Away"
|-
| 1996
| ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]]''
| Kristie Lofton
| Guest role • Season 3, episode 15: "Mind Over Murder"
|-
| 1998
| ''[[Seinfeld]]''
| Janet
| Guest role • Season 9, episode 13 "[[The Cartoon]]"
|-
| 1998
| ''[[Murphy Brown]]''
| Lisa
| Recurring role • Season 10, episode 13: "Turpis Capillus Annus" / Season 10, episode 18: "Second Time Around"
|-
| 2000
| ''[[7th Heaven (TV series)|7th Heaven]]''
| Pauline
| Guest role • Season 5, episode 8: "Gossip"
|-
| 2002
| ''[[Will & Grace]]''
| Alison
| Guest role • Season 4, episode 22: "Wedding Balls"
|-
| 2003
| ''[[Still Standing (American TV series)|Still Standing]]''
| Elise Larkin
| Guest role • Season 2, episode 3: "Still the Bad Parents"
|-
! colspan="4"|Television film
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Pleasures]]''
| Annie Benton
| [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] movie
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Kate's Secret]]''
| Patch Reed
| [[NBC]] movie
|-
| 1987
| ''Home''
| Susan Costigan
| [[CBS]] movie
|-
| 1987
| ''Tonight's the Night''
| Jamie Davies
| ABC movie
|-
| 1987
| ''[[If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium#Remake|If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium]]''
| Randi Wainwright
| NBC movie
|-
| 1987
| ''[[The Father Dowling Mysteries|Fatal Confession]]''
| Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski
| Pre-series movie to ''[[Father Dowling Mysteries]]''
|-
| 1992
| ''[[Highway Heartbreaker]]''
| Annie
| CBS movie
|-
| 1992
| ''[[Perry Mason (TV movies)|Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo]]''
| Charley Adams
| NBC movie
|-
| 1993
| ''No Child of Mine''
| Tammy
| CBS movie
|-
| 1994
| ''Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice''
| Donna Colla
| NBC movie
|-
| 1995
| ''Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder''
| Donna Colla
| NBC Movie
|-
| 1996
| ''[[For Hope]]''
| Annie Altman
| ABC movie
|-
| 1997
| ''[[Touched By Evil]]''
| Clara Devlin
| ABC movie
|-
| 1999
| ''The Promise''
| Lisa Miles
| NBC movie
|-
| 2000
| ''[[Perfect Game (2000 film)|Perfect Game]]''
| Diane Crosby
| [[Disney Channel]] movie
|-
| 2002
| ''Killer Bees!''
| Audrey Harris
| [[Ion Television|Pax TV]] movie
|-
| 2004
| ''Her Perfect Spouse''
| Lisa Dorian
|
|-
| 2005
| ''A Killer Upstairs''
| Sandra Nowlin
|
|-
| 2006
| ''The Rival''
| Alice Miller
|
|-
| 2007
| ''[[A Grandpa for Christmas]]''
| Marie O'Riley
| [[Hallmark Channel]] movie
|-
| 2008
| ''Polar Opposites''
| Jenna
|
|-
| 2015
| ''[[A Fatal Obsession]]''
| Christie Ryan
| [[Lifetime Movie Network]]
|-
| 2016
| ''The Wrong Child''
| Joyce
| Lifetime Movie Network
|-
! colspan="4"|Short
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1995
| ''The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Sea World Adventure''
|
| Video short
|-
| 1995
| ''The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley: The Case of the Mystery Cruise''
| Mary-Kate and Ashley's mom
| Video short
|-
| 2000
| ''The Bus Stop''
|
|
|-
| 2016
| ''The Eleventh''
| Cynthia
| miniseries short (5 episodes)
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Tracy Nelson (actress)}}
* {{IMDb name|625796|Tracy Nelson}}
* [http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/Tracy-Nelson.html Tracy Nelson Biography] at Film Reference
* [http://www.biography.com/people/tracy-nelson-585040 Tracy Nelson] at [[Biography Channel]]

{{Ricky Nelson}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Tracy}}
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century American actresses]]
[[Category:American child actresses]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American television actresses]]
[[Category:Harmon–Nelson family|Tracy Nelson]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Actresses from Santa Monica, California]]
[[Category:Harvard-Westlake School alumni]]
[[Category:Bard College alumni]]

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Tracy Nelson (actress)