Isabel Boyer Gillies (born February 9, 1970) is an American author and actress. She played Kathy Stabler, Elliot Stabler's wife in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her memoir Happens Every Day was a New York Times bestseller, and her most recent book is Cozy.
Isabel Gillies | |
|---|---|
| Born | Isabel Boyer Gillies February 9, 1970 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Author, actress |
| Years active | 1990–2011; 2021; 2023 (acting) |
| Spouses | DeSales Harrison
(m. 1999; div. 2005)Peter Lattman (m. 2007) |
| Children | 3 |
Early life and education
editGillies was born and raised in New York City. She attended the Brearley School before graduating from the Nightingale-Bamford School.[citation needed] As a student, Gillies struggled with severe dyslexia. She graduated from New York University with a BFA in film. Gillies is the daughter of Archibald and Linda Gillies.[1]
Career
editGillies landed her first movie role when Whit Stillman cast her as Cynthia McLean in his pioneering independent film, Metropolitan (1990).[2] Other film credits include Finley in Another Girl Another Planet (1992), Alison in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Moira Ingalls in On Line (2002),[3] Isabel in Happy Here and Now (2002), and Kathryn in New Orleans, Mon Amour (2008).
Prior to her role as Kathy Stabler on SVU, which she played from 1999 to 2011, Gillies appeared in "Bad Girl," an episode of the original Law & Order series, playing Monica Johnson, a young woman who murders an undercover police officer and then undergoes a religious conversion during her trial and is born again. In 2000, she played the role of Alison in the short-lived Fox series, The $treet. In 2021, she reprised her role as Kathy Stabler for one episode during season 22 of SVU; the cross-over episode that launched Law & Order: Organized Crime.[4] The handling of her character led Gillies to discuss how fandom had changed due to social media.[5]
Books
editIn addition to writing for a number of outlets, including the Los Angeles Times,[6] The New York Times,[7] Gillies has four books to her credit.
Her 2009 memoir, Happens Every Day, is about her leaving New York City to follow her first husband to Oberlin College.[8] Happens Every Day was a New York Times bestseller. It was featured by Starbucks as a nationwide selection for its book program. NPR's Fresh Air selected it as a Top Ten Book of 2009.[9][10] Her follow-up memoir, A Year and Six Seconds, was published in 2011.[11][12]
In 2014, Gillies tried her hand with fiction with Starry Night. This young-adult novel was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in September 2014.[13][14]
In 2019, she returned to non-fiction with Cozy.[15] This was published by Harper Wave. The New York Times Book Review said of it, “For Gillies, coziness is a state of mind, the environments we create in our homes to feel at ease. Think of her as a companion to Marie Kondo, filling up all those spaces once they’ve been decluttered.”
Personal life
editShe was married to DeSales Harrison, an English professor at Oberlin College, from 1999 to 2005.[16] Gillies married Peter Lattman, an editor at The New York Times, on October 13, 2007.[1] Gillies spends her summers in Islesboro, Maine.[17]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Metropolitan | Cynthia McLean | |
| 1992 | Another Girl Another Planet | Finley | |
| 1994 | Nadja | Waitress | |
| 1995 | Comfortably Numb | Ashely Van Dyne | |
| 1996 | I Shot Andy Warhol | Alison | |
| 1996 | One Way Out | Betsy | |
| 1997 | Wishful Thinking | Susan - Roommate | |
| 1998 | Chocolate for Breakfast | K.C. | |
| 2001 | The Girl Under the Waves | Isabel | |
| 2002 | On Line | Moira Ingalls | |
| 2002 | Happy Here and Now | Isabel | |
| 2008 | New Orleans, Mon Amour | Kathryn |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Law & Order | Monica Johnson | Episode: "Bad Girl" |
| 1998 | Sex and the City | Elaine | Episode: "Bay of Married Pigs" |
| 1999–2021 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Kathy Stabler | 32 episodes |
| 2000 | The Street | Alison | 3 episodes |
| 2021, 2023 | Law & Order: Organized Crime | Kathy Stabler | Episodes: "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of", “Pareto Principle” |
References
edit- ^ a b "Isabel Gillies, Peter Lattman". The New York Times. October 14, 2007. p. 18.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (23 March 1990). "Reviews/Film Festival; The Dance Is Over, but the Whirl Goes On". The New York Times. p. 18.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (27 June 2003). "FILM REVIEW; When Cybersex Addicts Try Real Life". The New York Times. p. 10.
- ^ "SVU's Isabel Gillies Broke Down in Tears Over Kathy Stabler Backlash". 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Tapp, Tom (2021-10-05). "'Law & Order: SVU' Actress Isabel Gillies On Fans' Reactions: "Something Has Seriously Changed"". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Gillies, Isabel (2019-04-26). "Reading Nook: Nourishing both the mind and the stomach". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Gillies, Isabel (2011-11-09). "Opinion, Mom to N.B.A.: Play Ball!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Isabel Gillies (2009). Happens every day: an all-too-true story. New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-1-4391-2662-2.
- ^ Maureen Corrigan (March 17, 2009). "'Happens Every Day': A Marriage's Abrupt Ending". NPR.
- ^ Deirdre Donahue (2009-04-13). "Isabel Gillies' memoir: An iced cup of revenge". USA TODAY.
- ^ Isabel Gillies (2011). A Year and Six Seconds: A Love Story. Voice. ISBN 978-1-4013-4162-6.
- ^ "A Year and Six Seconds: A Love Story". Kirkus Reviews. April 15, 2011.
- ^ "Rights Report: August 25". Publishers Weekly. Aug 25, 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ Doll, Jen (2014-10-03). "Y.A. Crossover". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Dunham, Lena (2019-03-14). "Call Me Cozy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ "WEDDINGS; Isabel Gillies, DeSales Harrison". The New York Times. December 19, 1999. p. 12.
- ^ Alan Huffman: Islesboro, Maine Retrieved 2017-04-27.