After laying low for nearly a year, Janine Turner is set to make her comeback into the limelight.  Marking her return is an upcoming episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit where she just landed a guest spot as an activist in a story about stolen embryos.

Currently in its ninth season, Law & Order: SVU is a police procedural series that chronicles the life of the elite Special Victims Unit of the New York Police Department as they explore hard-hitting crimes.  It stars Christopher Meloni as Det. Elliot Stabler, Mariska Hargitay as Det. Olivia Benson, Richard Belzer as Det. Sgt. John Munch, Ice T as Det. Fin Tutuola, and Adam Beach as Det. Chester Lake, among others.

According to TV Guide, the episode featuring Turner is filming this week and won't be affected by the controversial writers' strike.

Turner was popularly known for playing Maggie O'Connell on Northern Exposure, a comedy drama series that starred Rob Morrow and ran from 1990 to 1995.  After her stint on the show, she moved on to do a couple of films and television movies like The Curse of Inferno, Stolen Women, Captured Hearts, Leave it to Beaver, and A Secret Affair.

In 2000, she became part of the cast of Strong Medicine, a medical drama with a focus on feminist politics, health issues and class conflict.  She played Dr. Dana Stowe, an ambitious doctor and scientist seeking a cure for breast cancer, and remained with the series for 50 episodes.  After her departure on Strong Medicine, she made appearances on Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire and Trip in a Summer Dress.

Since then, she's been living in a Texas ranch raising her daughter and writing a book about single motherhood. Aside from her upcoming episode on Law & Order: SVU, Turner has a new film called Primal Doubt, which is expected to hit the theaters on December 5.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV Guide
(Image courtesy of TV Guide)