# Alberta Watson

Faith Susan Alberta Watson (March 6, 1955 – March 21, 2015), better known as Alberta Watson, was a Canadian film and television actress.

## Early life

Watson was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1955. She grew up in Toronto with her mother Grace, a factory worker, and her brother. She began performing with a local Toronto theatre group, T.H.O.G. (Theatre House of God), of the Bathurst Street United Church, at age 15.
Watson took a workshop for the Hair musical. While at the workshop she acted in Hamlet, which was directed by René Bonnière, who later directed her in La Femme Nikita.

## Acting career

Watson got her first role at age 19 in a CBC movie called Honor Thy Father. Early in her career she portrayed the role of Mitzi in George Kaczender's In Praise of Older Women (1978), for which she received a Genie nomination. A year later she received the Best Actress award at the Yorkton Film Festival for "Exposure". She moved to Los Angeles, California, and later to New York City.
Watson lived in New Jersey for eight years with her husband until they divorced. She then returned to Toronto and focused on finding roles in independent films. She worked with director Colleen Murphy on the film Shoemaker (1996), for which she received a second Genie nomination for Best Actress.
Among her well-known film roles are the bed-ridden mother Susan Aibelli in the 1994 American independent film Spanking the Monkey, Lauren Murphy (the mother of Jonny Lee Miller's character Dade, also called "Crash Override"/"Zero Cool") in the 1995 cult film Hackers, and Risa in the 1997 Academy Award-nominated Canadian film The Sweet Hereafter, directed by Atom Egoyan.
In Spanking the Monkey, Watson plays her favourite character, a mother who has an incestuous relationship with her son. The role was turned down by several actresses such as Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange and others. Watson said:
   I took it because it was a heck of a challenge. And I'm not a name with an image to protect. The subject was incest. It didn't scare me at all. I seized the character and made her something. She was a deeply disturbed woman with a roller coaster of emotions. Her son visits for the summer and she's laid up in a cast with a broken leg and things get out of hand.
She played the role of Madeline in La Femme Nikita for four seasons from 1997 to 2001 (with guest appearances in the short fifth season). During the show's second season (in 1998), Watson was diagnosed with lymphoma, for which she had to undergo chemotherapy treatment which caused her to lose her hair. Producers at La Femme Nikita worked around her treatment and limited her appearances. Watson wore wigs in the show when she lost her hair. When her hair started to regrow, she sported the short haircut in her role as Madeline in the show's third season.
Watson's first name inspired the character Alberta Green in the first season of 24. In 2005, Watson joined the cast of 24, playing CTU Director Erin Driscoll for 12 episodes of the show's fourth season.
During 2007 and 2008, Watson played a supporting role in the Canadian television series The Border as the Minister of Public Safety.
In 2010, Watson guest-starred in Heartland, a series on CBC Television, and she won a 2011 Gemini Award for her portrayal of Sarah Craven.
In a nod to her La Femme Nikita role, Alberta played a recurring character Madeline Pierce in Nikita, the CW's 2010–2013 reboot of the film and TV series.

## Death

Watson died on March 21, 2015, due to complications from cancer at Kensington Hospice in Toronto fifteen days after her 60th birthday.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1978 | Power Play | Donna | |
| 1978 | In Praise of Older Women | Mitzi | |
| 1979 | Exposure | Barbara | Short film |
| 1979 | Stone Cold Dead | Olivia Page | |
| 1980 | Virus | Litha | AKA, Day of Resurrection |
| 1981 | Dirty Tricks | Tony | |
| 1981 | Black Mirror | Tina | |
| 1982 | The Soldier | Susan Goodman | |
| 1983 | The Keep | Eva Cuza | |
| 1984 | Best Revenge | Dinah | |
| 1987 | White of the Eye | Ann Mason | |
| 1989 | Destiny to Order | Thalia / Marla / Nicole | |
| 1991 | The Hitman | Christine De Vera | |
| 1992 | Zebrahead | Phyliss | |
| 1994 | Spanking the Monkey | Susan Aibelli | |
| 1995 | What's His Face | Woman | Short film |
| 1995 | Hackers | Lauren Murphy | |
| 1996 | Shoemaker | Anna | |
| 1996 | Sweet Angel Mine | Megan | |
| 1997 | The Sweet Hereafter | Risa | |
| 1998 | Seeds of Doubt | Jennifer Kingsley | |
| 1999 | The Life Before This | Nita | |
| 2000 | Desire | Simone | |
| 2000 | Deeply | Fiona | |
| 2001 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Hansel's Mom | |
| 2001 | Chasing Cain | Denise McGoogan | |
| 2001 | Tart | Lily Storm | |
| 2001 | The Art of Woo | Caterin | |
| 2002 | The Wild Dogs | Natalie | |
| 2004 | The Prince and Me | Amy Morgan | |
| 2004 | My Brother's Keeper | Helen Woods | |
| 2004 | Vendetta: No Conscience, No Mercy | Anne Phelan | |
| 2004 | Some Things That Stay | Liz Anderson | |
| 2006 | Citizen Duane | Bonnie Balfour | |
| 2006 | Away from Her | Dr. Fischer | |
| 2006 | A Lobster Tale | Martha Brewer | |
| 2007 | The Lookout | Barbara Pratt | |
| 2008 | Growing Op | Marilla | |
| 2009 | Helen | Dr. Sherman | |
| 2009 | The Spine | Mary Rutherford | Short film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1980 | King of Kensington | Mitzi | Episode: "War and Peace" |
| 1980 | War Brides | Norma | TV film |
| 1983 | I Am a Hotel | Suzanne | TV short |
| 1984 | Hill Street Blues | Prostitute | Episode: "Fuched Again" |
| 1984 | Deadly Nightmares | Jill Friedlander | Episode: "Remembering Melody" |
| 1985 | Murder in Space | Dominica Mastrelli | TV film |
| 1985 | The Equalizer | Carla Holden | Episode: "The Distant Fire" |
| 1985 | Kane & Abel | Zofia Rosnovski | TV miniseries |
| 1986 | Fortune Dane | Amy Steiner | TV series |
| 1986 | Women of Valor | Lt. Helen Prescott | TV film |
| 1987 | Street Legal | Mercedes Puentes | Episode: "Tango Bellarosa" |
| 1987–1988 | Buck James | Dr. Rebecca Meyer | Main role (19 episodes) |
| 1989 | The Equalizer | Taffy Gould | Episode: "The Caper" |
| 1989 | Shannon's Deal | Terry Lomax | TV film |
| 1989 | Street Legal | Maria Lopez | Episode: "Partners and Other Strangers" |
| 1990 | Island Son | Nina Delaney | Episode: "Separations" |
| 1990 | Grand | Andrea | Episode: "The Return of Yale Pinhaus" |
| 1991 | Law & Order | Miss Hanley | Episode: "His Hour Upon the Stage" |
| 1992 | Law & Order | Angela Brandt | Episode: "Skin Deep" |
| 1993 | Relentless: Mind of a Killer | Ellen Giancola | TV film |
| 1993 | Matrix | Marie Sands | Episode: "Conviction of His Courage" |
| 1994 | Jonathan Stone: Threat of Innocence | Deborah Walsh Bradford | TV film |
| 1995 | The Outer Limits | Lynda Tillman | Episode: "If These Walls Could Talk" |
| 1995 | A Child Is Missing | Agent Lynette Graham | TV film |
| 1996 | Giant Mine | Peggy Witte | TV film |
| 1996 | Gotti | Victoria Gotti | TV film |
| 1997–2001 | La Femme Nikita | Madeline | Main role (89 episodes) Nominated - Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series |
| 1998 | The Girl Next Door | Mary Bradley | TV film |
| 2000 | Soul Food | Judge Olivia Delaney | Episode: "The More Things Stay the Same" |
| 2001 | After the Harvest | Amelia Gare | TV film |
| 2002 | Guilt by Association | Angie | TV film |
| 2002 | Chasing Cain: Face | Det. Denise McGoogan | TV film |
| 2003 | The Risen | Amanda Knowles | TV film |
| 2003 | Penguins Behind Bars | Babs (voice) | TV film |
| 2003 | Missing | Mrs. Mastriani | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2003 | Choice: The Henry Morgentaler Story | Chava Rosenfarb-Morgentaler | TV film |
| 2004 | Puppets Who Kill | Judge | Episode: "Bill Sues" |
| 2004 | The Newsroom | Susan | Recurring role (4 episodes) |
| 2004 | Show Me Yours | Toni Bane | Recurring role (8 episodes) |
| 2004–2005 | 24 | Erin Driscoll | Regular role (13 episodes) |
| 2005 | Million Dollar Murder | Ted's Lawyer | TV film |
| 2006 | At the Hotel | Camille | Recurring role (4 episodes) |
| 2006 | Angela's Eyes | Lydia Anderson | Recurring role (6 episodes) |
| 2008 | The Border | Minister Suzanne Fleischer | Recurring role (10 episodes) |
| 2010 | Heartland | Sarah Craven | Episode: "Where the Truth Lies" |
| 2011–2012 | Nikita | Senator Madeline Pierce | Recurring role (9 episodes) |