About Me
Emily Procter was born on October 8th, 1968 in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Bill Procter, a physician, and Barbara Jones, a volunteer worker. Although the two divorced two years after Emily's birth, they were both active in raising their daughter.Growing up, Emily dreamed of becoming an actress. This was an odd choice for her since she was not allowed to watch television during her early years. Nevertheless, she performed well at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh.Upon her high school graduation, she enrolled in East Carolina University, Sandra Bullock's alma mater, where she studied journalism and dance. What she wanted most was to join the theater department, but it was full. The Alpha Delta Pi sorority provided solace.After she received her degrees in journalism and dance at East Carolina University, she was employed as a television weather anchor at WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina. Emily had originally intended to get into the theater department at her college in East Carolina, but the head of the theater department told her that he thought she did not have what it takes to become an actress and that it would not work for her. According to Emily's own words, this was a great inspiration to go out and do it anyway.After the move to Los Angeles, her father provided the costs for acting school for two years. Before even graduating, she had already landed a number of small roles in films such as Jerry Maguire (1996) and Breast Men (1997), where she appeared along with David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper. During the 1995–96 season (season 3) of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, she portrayed Lana Lang the first blond actress to ever do so. She also briefly appeared in the 1997 TV movie The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! as Mavis.Procter also had a recurring guest role as Associate White House Counsel Ainsley Hayes on NBC's The West Wing.She landed her breakthrough with the role of Calleigh Duquesne in the television series CSI: Miami, which has been running on American television since 2002.She has volunteered as an actress with the Young Storytellers Program.She is very interested and knowledgeable in interior decoration and antiques. She puts these interests to good practical use in the 1921 Spanish-style home that she owns.She is an avid poker player. She says she learned to play this game as a child when her father would play a game called "penny poker" with her. She has already participated in at least one celebrity poker tournament. She is also fascinated with jigsaw puzzles and tries to assemble them faster with each attempt.
