Murphy Brown

Background:

Gaining her first television roles in daytime soaps “One Life to Live” (1983) and “Another World” (1983-1984), American television and film actress Faith Ford moved to primetime with guest performances in such shows as “thirtysomething” (1987-1988) before finding huge success as Corky, the blond, on the CBS long-running sitcom “Murphy Brown” (1988-1998), from which she picked up five Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations. The attractive performer experienced another moderate sitcom hit with ABC’s “Hope & Faith” (2003-2006), starring opposite Kelly Ripa. On the big screen, Ford is known for playing roles in the Rob Reiner-directed North (1994) and the Vin Diesel starring vehicle The Pacifier (2005).

A former model, Ford was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” in 1991. She is good friends with her costar, Kelly Ripa, from “Hope & Faith” (2003), and has two dogs, Tess and Bosco. On a more personal note, Ford has been married twice. She married first husband Robert Nottingham from 1989 to 1996 and has married personal trainer Campion Murphy since 1998.


Cooking with Faith

Childhood and Family:

The daughter of a school teacher, Alexis Ford, who would later be famous as Faith Ford, was born on September 14, 1964, in Alexandria, Louisiana, and raised in nearby Pineville. She acted in several school plays while in high school, and in her senior year, she became a finalist in Teen Magazine’s annual model search, which led the 17-year-old Faith to move to New York for a brief modeling career. In 1984, she relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Faith is the sister of Devon O’Day, a country radio host.

At age 25, Faith married Robert Nottingham, but they divorced in 1996, after seven years of marriage. She married present husband Campion Murphy, a personal trainer and writer, on June 27, 1998. Faith Loves cooking. In 2004, she published her own cookbook named “Cooking with Faith,” and thanked her two grandmothers and aunt for teaching her how to cook.


Hope & Faith

Career:

Faith Ford began her career when she became a finalist in Teen Magazine’s model search in her senior year of high school. At age 17, she relocated to New York, where she found work on commercials and did some modeling. Soon, Ford made her television debut as Muffy Critchlow on the ABC daytime soap opera “One Life to Live” (1983) and had her first major role later that same year when she was cast as Julia Shearer, a role previously played by Kyra Sedgwick, on the NBC daytime drama “Another World.” She stayed with the show until 1984, and segued to primetime with guest spots on “Hardcastle and McCormick” (1985) and “Webster” (1986).

Having moved to Hollywood, the striking blonde performer made her debut as a series regular with the short-lived sitcom “The Popcorn Kid” (CBS, 1987), costarring as Lynn Holly Brickhouse, and played the recurring role of Janine, the fumbling secretary, on the primetime drama series “thirtysomething” (1987). 1987 also saw Ford make her feature debut in the forgettable low-budget movie You Talkin’ to Me?, directed and written by Charles Winkler. Also, she made her TV-film bow that year with If It’s Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium, opposite Claude Akins and Courteney Cox.

Ford’s big breakthrough arrived when she became the original cast member of the CBS long-running sitcom “Murphy Brown.” As Corky Sherwood, the sugary, wholesome, flighty Miss America-cum-newscaster, a character she played from 1988 to 1998, Ford received numerous nominations, including five Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and two Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.

While costarring on the show, Ford found occasional work on television films. She tried to distance herself from her Corky role with the thriller Night Visitors and Her Desperate Choice (both 1996). She also appeared in features For Goodness Sake (1993) and Rob Reiner’s North (1994). Within months of the demise of “Murphy Brown,” Ford returned to CBS to star in her own sitcom “Maggie Winters” (1998-1999), about a woman who returns to hometown following an unsuccessful marriage and a series of cul-de-sac jobs. Though short-lived, “Maggie Winters” gave her a chance to become executive producer.

Ford costarred in the horror film Sometimes They Come Back... for More (1999), was cast as a probation officer, Shelley Kilmartin, on the ABC sitcom “The Norm Show” (1999-2001) and starred as Pam Harris in the television film Moms on Strike (2002), opposite Florence Henderson. It was in 2003 that Ford eventually scored another modest sitcom hit when she landed a starring role opposite Kelly Ripa in ABC’s “Hope & Faith,” playing Hope Shanowski, a down-to-earth, happily married mom of three whose normal family life is disturbed when she absorbed her self-involved, out-of-work soap actress sister. The comedy series was pulled from the ABC schedule in May 2006 after a decline in ratings following a switch from Fridays to Tuesdays.

Meanwhile, in 2005, Ford revisited the wide screen by costarring as the mother of a family whose husband had died in the Disney film The Pacifier. Directed by Adam Shankma, the comedy starred Vin Diesel as mortified Navy SEAL Shane Wolf.


Awards:
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