Stacy Galina (born September 24, 1966) is an American jeweler and former actress. She is known for her roles as Kate Whittaker and Mary-Frances Sumner in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

prime time soap opera ''

Knots Landing ''Knots Landing'' is an American primetime television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of ''Dallas (TV series), Dallas'', it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially cente ...

''.

Early life

Galina was born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, and studied at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

and

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

in New York and danced for three years with the

Atlanta Ballet Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia. History Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1929 by Dorothy Alexander as ...

. She is an only child. Galina's original dream career was to be a professional dancer, but a childhood injury at age seven led to her temporarily using a wheelchair and forced her to abandon such prospects.

Career

Galina later began an acting career, making her screen debut in a small part in the 1989 comedy film ''

Big Man on Campus ''Big Man on Campus'' (also known as ''The Hunchback of UCLA'' and ''The Hunchback Hairball of L.A.'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1989 comedy film directed by Jeremy Kagan, and written by and starring Allan Katz. It is loosely based on the 1831 nov ...

''. She later appeared in the David Jacobs' series ''

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

'', before winning a role on his ''

''. She first appeared in the series in a guest role, playing Mary Frances Sumner in 1990, before joining the regular cast as Kate Whittaker for the final three seasons of the show. She reprised the role of Kate for '' Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac'' in 1997. Galina had regular roles in a number of short-lived sitcoms, such as '' Daddy's Girls'' (CBS, 1994), '' Lost on Earth'' (

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

, 1997), '' Alright Already'' (

The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...

, 1997–1998), and ''

Hidden Hills ''Hidden Hills'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2002, to January 21, 2003, during the 2002 fall line-up. Based on the book ''Surviving Suburbia'', the series was created by Peter Segal and Ric Sw ...

'' (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, 2002–2003). Galina also guest starred on ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...

'', ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'', ''

Will & Grace ''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a Gay men, gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra ...

'', ''

Boston Legal ''Boston Legal'' is an American legal comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, to Decem ...

'', and had a recurring role on '' Providence''. She also had the leading role in the 1998 direct-to-video horror film, '' Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror'' as the

final girl The final girl or survivor girl is a Trope (cinema), trope in horror films (particularly slasher films). It refers to the last girl(s) or woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been ob ...

Personal life

Galina retired from acting in 2011, citing a learning disability as her biggest reason, as she often had difficulty memorizing lines and keeping up with the cast. She instead pursued work as a full-time jeweler.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galina, Stacy 1966 births Living people American television actresses Actresses from Baltimore American soap opera actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses