Born on June 24, 1967 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sherry Lea Stringfield is an actress best known for her Emmy Award-winning role on the long-running medical drama ER. She is one of the show’s original cast, but quit the show during its third season. Reprising her role in 2001, she quit again in 2005. Stringfield has come to be called The Goodbye Girl in Hollywood as she had been known to leave major roles on popular television programs during their peak.
Growing up, Stringfield’s family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and eventually settled in Spring, Texas, nearby to where Stringfield grew up. She discovered her knack for acting while attending high school at Klein High School. She then attended the Acting Conservatory of SUNY at Purchase, subsequently appearing on off-Broadway productions and later graduating with a degree in fine arts.
Stringfield’s breakthrough performance on television was in 1989 on the soap opera Guiding Light, where she played Christina Thorpe. After a three year hiatus in Europe, Stringfield returned to television on the ABC drama, NYPD Blue, where she played Laura Kelly. Shortly after her appearance on NYPD Blue, she became part of the original cast of ER, during which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for lead actress during each of her first three seasons. Toward the show’s fourth season however, she reportedly desired for a “normal life” and had it with the show’s grueling schedule. Her contract tied her to appear in at least five seasons of the show. The news was so shocking that her last episode lured in 37 millino viewers, the biggest night of the season for NBC. She rejoined the cast in 2001 during the show’s eighth season saying “she changed her mind.” In 2007, Stringfield was cast for HBO's Tell Me You Love Me, where she plays Sally.