Merritt Carmen Wever (born August 11, 1980) is an American actress. She had roles in the Showtime television series '' Nurse Jackie'' (2009–2015), ''The Walking Dead'' (2015–2016), '' Godless'' (2017), '' Welcome to Marwen'' (2018), '' Unbelievable'' (2019), and ''Severance'' (2025). Wever won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

for ''Nurse Jackie'' and the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outs ...

for ''Godless''. She was nominated for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film or Best Actress – Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television is a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Associat ...

for ''Unbelievable''. Wever starred in other television series, including ''

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' is an American comedy-drama television series created for NBC and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin. The series was about the production of a live comedy series similar to ''Saturday Night Live''. Produced by ...

'' (2006–2007), ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around quirky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zo ...

'' (2013), '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2016), and '' Severance'' (2025). She had supporting roles in films, such as ''

Michael Clayton ''Michael Clayton'' is a 2007 American legal thriller film by writer and director Tony Gilroy. It stars George Clooney as lawyer Michael Clayton, who discovers a coverup of criminal wrongdoing by one of his firm's clients. Tom Wilkinson, Tild ...

'' (2007), '' Birdman'' (2014), '' Welcome to Marwen'' (2018) and '' Marriage Story'' (2019).

Early life and education

Merritt Carmen Wever was born on August 11, 1980 in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was conceived using a sperm donor and raised by her mother, Georgia. Her mother is from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and is a feminist and political activist. Wever graduated from

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia or "LaG", is a public High school (North America), high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, near Lincoln ...

and

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

Career

Wever began her career starring in low budget, independent short and feature films. She has performed in theater productions, including Brooke Berman's play ''Smashing'' and '' Cavedweller'' with Deidre O'Connell, both

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

. Wever appeared in numerous films, including '' Into the Wild'', ''

'', '' Series 7: The Contenders'', '' Signs'', '' The Adventures of Sebastian Cole'', '' Bringing Rain'', '' Tiny Furniture'', and '' All I Wanna Do''. She has guest-starred on a number of television series, including ''

'', ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...

'', ''

Conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

'', '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' and ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

''. She also starred in

Ed Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and epic historical film genres and was awarded an Academy Award, as well as a BAFTA Award, for his work producing ''Shakespeare in Lov ...

's ill-fated pilot ''

Quarterlife ''Quarterlife'' (stylized as ''quarterlife'') is an American web series, also briefly an NBC television series in 2008, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of ''Thirtysomething'' and ''Once and Again'', and producers of ...

'', with

Rachel Blanchard Rachel Elise Blanchard (born 19 March 1976) is a Canadian actress.Rachel Blanchard's b ...

, Austin Nichols and

Shiri Appleby Shiri Appleby is an American actress and television director. She is best known for her leading roles as Liz Parker in the WB/ UPN science fiction drama series '' Roswell'' (1999–2002) and Rachel Goldberg in the Lifetime/Hulu drama series '' ...

. She also had a recurring role on ''

'' as Suzanne. Wever is perhaps best known for her role as Zoey Barkow in the television series '' Nurse Jackie'', which premiered on Showtime in June 2009. Zoey is described on the official ''Nurse Jackie'' website as "an irrepressibly bubbly trauma nurse, who serves as a comic foil to

Edie Falco Edith Falco (born July 5, 1963) is an American actress. A prominent figure in American television, she is known for her roles both on stage and screen and has received numerous accolades including four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe A ...

's hard-bitten (and prescription drug-addicted) titular character". Wever received widespread critical acclaim for her role on the show. Wever was nominated for a

in 2012 and 2013 for her role in ''Nurse Jackie'', winning the award in 2013 and delivering a memorable speech that consisted only of her stunned reaction: "Thanks so much. Thank you so much. I gotta go. Bye." In 2016, Wever had a recurring role on AMC's '' The Walking Dead'' as Denise Cloyd. Her character's death toward the end of the sixth season of the series was controversial and sparked outrage on social media with many fans, most notably members of the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community. Wever played a lead role in the miniseries '' Godless'' (2017) as Mary Agnes McNue, a tough leader of a female-dominated town. She said in interviews that she had been intimidated by the role: "I spent so much of this shoot thinking I would come off as a fool, that nobody would buy me as this and it wouldn't be believable." Many critics nonetheless noted her character as a highlight of the show. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' titled its review of ''Godless'' "Merritt Wever rides tall in Netflix's ''Godless''" and wrote that "no one is more electric than the always extraordinary Merritt Wever". In 2018, she won an Emmy for the role. In 2019, Wever starred in another Netflix miniseries, '' Unbelievable'', which was released on September 13, 2019. The series received critical acclaim, with Wever receiving her first

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. In 2020, Wever starred opposite

Domhnall Gleeson Domhnall Gleeson (; born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and screenwriter. The son of actor Brendan Gleeson, he studied media arts at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He began his career by directing and writing several short films, and garne ...

in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

comedy thriller series '' Run''. It was cancelled after one season.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wever, Merritt 1980 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American child actresses American film actresses American television actresses American stage actresses Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Living people Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners Sarah Lawrence College alumni Actresses from Manhattan