Why Sharon From Fire Country Looks So Familiar
Sharon Leone is a fierce mother and formidable Cal Fire Division 1501 Chief in "Fire Country." After years as a firefighter, she's now in the position of an executive, trying to find funds and resources for the 400 Cal Fire stations she leads. She's married to firefighter and Edgewater Battalion Chief Vince (Billy Burke), and they are the parents of recently returned convict Bode (Max Thieriot), who disappeared after their daughter was killed in a car accident.
Sharon is in the dark about a lot of things when "Fire Country" begins, and she's furious when she learns the truth about why Bode changed his name and disappeared. We also learn that Sharon has Stage 5 kidney disease, and she's desperate to be with her family since she has no idea how much time she has left. While details around the death of Sharon and Vince's daughter, Riley (Jade Pettyjohn), haunt all of them, Sharon is an optimistic force of nature. In fact, she's even willing to tell fire captain Manny (Kevin Alejandro) about her illness to guilt him into keeping Bode in the Cal Fire program.
If the actress who plays Sharon looks familiar, it's because the multi-talented Diane Farr has appeared in more of your favorite shows than you probably realize.
Her first role was in the quirky series Unhappily Ever After
The television series "Unhappily Ever After" is best remembered as a trashy comedy in the vein of "Married... with Children," but with the unusual addition of a smoking, boozing, raunchy stuffed bunny called Mr. Floppy (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait). The series kickstarted the careers of Nikki Cox, Kevin Connolly, and Justin Berfield, who was nominated for three Young Artist Awards for his performance before moving on to play Malcolm's bullying older brother, Reese, in "Malcolm in the Middle." But the show also marked Diane Farr's television debut. In the small role of Michelle, she plays a Parisian in the future who is listening to Pierre read "Life in the Toy Bin," a book written by Mr. Floppy 30 years ago.
As the bored, wine-drinking Parisian, she tells Pierre about the rumor she heard that Floppy was an American. Her total time onscreen is about two minutes and it ends after she and Pierre think they've seen Mickey Rourke in the distance and quickly run off to follow him.
She played a cosplaying love interest on The Drew Carey Show
In Season 4 of "The Drew Carey Show," Farr took on the role of Tracy, a woman who captures the romantic interests of Drew, Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader), and Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles), with none of them realizing they're dating the same woman. Lewis (Stiles) meets Tracy first, at a science-fiction convention where they're both cosplaying as aliens, and he asks her out on a date for Friday night. The following day, Oswald (Bader) delivers Tracy a package and asks her out for Saturday. Later in the day, she ends up in Drew's office, and he asks her out for Sunday.
After the men realize they're all dating the same woman, Tracy agrees to keep dating them as long as they don't fight over her. Eventually, she chooses Lewis to go to her sister's wedding, signifying that they're now in a relationship. After three episodes, we never saw Tracy again.
She starred with Denis Leary on The Job and Rescue Me
From 2001 through 2002, Diane Farr played Detective Jan Fendrich in the Denis Leary and Peter Tolan-created police drama, "The Job." When that series was canceled, she got on board for the duo's next drama, "Rescue Me." As blunt and brassy firefighter Laura Miles, she struggles when she joins the firehouse, clashing with everyone, including Tommy (Denis Leary). After falling in love with another firefighter, Franco (Daniel Sunjata), she starts to question her presence there, constantly feeling like she's always passed over because she's a girl.
In the Season 2 finale, we find out exactly how frustrated Laura is with being the only woman in the firehouse. After the chief refuses to let her climb down to rescue a child in a burning building because "she's a girl," she transfers out and disappears, not telling anyone where she's gone. In reality, Farr left because she wanted to go back to L.A., and "The Job" and "Rescue Me" had kept her in New York for five years. Upon leaving, she referred to Denis Leary in an interview with Entertainment Weekly as her "closest girlfriend," saying, "You can discuss colors of curtains with him."
She was excited to play an FBI behaviorist on Numb3rs
Next up for Diane Farr was the character of FBI psychologist Megan Reeves on "Numb3rs," co-starring alongside Rob Morrow and David Krumholz. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she described her character as "a bit of a cowboy." "She has a master's degree, comes from money, and wears a fantastic suit, but still likes carrying a gun," Farr said. Her character served as a replacement beginning in the Season 2 premiere after profiler Terry Lake (Sabrina Lloyd) left in the Season 1 finale to move back to Washington, D.C. Farr starred as Megan for three seasons, helping the team with her profiles of their suspects.
During that time, Megan also started a relationship with Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol), which Farr admitted she spoke to the producers about. "When I came on the show, they [the producers and writers] had, I think, really a design to make me David Krumholtz's interest, and probably a triangle between Navi's [Rawat] character and David's and how that was going to play out," she told Bob Andelman. "I went in and asked for Peter MacNicol, because he's so terrific in that movie ["Sophie's Choice"] and pretty much everything else he's ever done, that I thought he would just make me a better actor."
She was offered a role on Californication as a love interest
In 2009, Diane Farr took the role of Jill Robinson on Season 3 of "Californication." Jill is a writer and a teaching assistant for Professor Richard Bates (Jason Beghe). When fans meet Jill, she is trying to earn her Ph.D. in English Literature, and upon meeting Hank Moody (David Duchovny) she warns him to stay away from her, telling him, "Unless you're a serious prospect, do not so much as smile at me." Of course, this just makes Hank all the more interested in her. While she tells him that he irritates her, it's only a matter of time before they start casually sleeping together.
When she joined the series, Farr had recently had three children born within two years of each other. Feeling nervous about showing her body on a show in which nudity occurs as often as talking, she had a stipulation. "When I was offered a role on 'Californication' as David Duchovny's new love interest, I accepted only if the producers would proffer me a body double," she told the Chicago Tribune.
After Becca's mom and Hank's on-and-off-again love interest, Karen (Natascha McElhone), returns from New York and suggests the three reunite and move to New York together, he begins attempting to break it off with all the women he's been seeing, including Jill. Jill tries to make the relationship last longer, telling Hank that she accepts him for who he is, but Hank is unmoved.
She starred with Jenna Fischer in Splitting Up Together
The 2010s saw Diane Farr appear in a lot of guest roles, including appearances on shows like "Private Practice," "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," and "Black-ish." In 2018, she starred as Maya in "Splitting Up Together," alongside Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson. The series is about a married couple, Lena (Fischer) and Martin (Hudson), who decide to get divorced, but still plan to live together, with the duo taking alternating turns living in the house and the garage. Maya plays Lena's outspoken sister who wants Lena to get back into enjoying the world of being single.
While critics panned the show, there was a lot of love for Farr and her character, with Paste Magazine suggesting more Maya as a fix to improve the series. By Season 2, Maya found out she was pregnant and decided she was going to be a single mother. Unfortunately, we'll never see how that went, as the show was canceled after two seasons.