# Merritt Wever

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), Unbelievable (2019), and Severance (2022).
Wever won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Nurse Jackie and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Godless. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for Unbelievable.
Wever starred in other television series, including Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), New Girl (2013), The Walking Dead (2015–2016), and Severance (2025). She had supporting roles in films, such as Michael Clayton (2007), Birdman (2014), and Marriage Story (2019).

## Personal life

Wever was born in Manhattan. She was conceived by a sperm donor and raised by her mother, Georgia. Her mother is from Texas, and is a feminist and political activist. Wever graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and Sarah Lawrence College.

## 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. Wever appeared in numerous films, including Into the Wild, Michael Clayton, 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 New Girl, The Good Wife, Conviction, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and The Wire. She also starred in Ed Zwick's ill-fated pilot Quarterlife, with Rachel Blanchard, Austin Nichols and Shiri Appleby. She also had a recurring role on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip 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'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 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 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 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 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 nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film.
In 2020, Wever starred opposite Domhnall Gleeson in the HBO comedy thriller series Run. It was cancelled after one season.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1997 | Alaska | April | Short film |
| 1998 | All I Wanna Do | Maureen 'Momo' Haines | |
| 1998 | Arresting Gena | Tammy | |
| 1999 | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Susan | |
| 2001 | Series 7: The Contenders | Lindsay Berns | |
| 2002 | Signs | Tracey Abernathy | |
| 2003 | Season of Youth | Anna | |
| 2003 | Bringing Rain | Monica Greenfield | |
| 2004 | A Hole in One | Betty | |
| 2005 | 12 and Holding | Debbie Poole | |
| 2007 | Michael Clayton | Anna Kaiserson | |
| 2007 | Into the Wild | Lori | |
| 2007 | Neal Cassady | Mountain Girl | |
| 2008 | Righteous Kill | Rape Victim | |
| 2009 | Mr. Softie | Gail | |
| 2009 | The Missing Person | Mabel Page | |
| 2009 | The Messenger | Lara | |
| 2010 | Greenberg | Gina | |
| 2010 | Tiny Furniture | Frankie | |
| 2011 | The Strange Ones | Hotel Girl | Short film |
| 2014 | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) | Annie | |
| 2015 | Meadowland | Kelly | |
| 2016 | The Last Face | Marlee | |
| 2018 | Irreplaceable You | Mindy | |
| 2018 | Charlie Says | Karlene Faith | |
| 2018 | Welcome to Marwen | Roberta | |
| 2019 | Marriage Story | Cassie | |
| 2022 | Midday Black Midnight Blue | Beth | |
| 2023 | Memory | Olivia | |
| TBA | Untitled Christy Martin film † | TBA | Post-production |
| TBA | Primetime † | TBA | Filming |
Key :
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Blue River | Lottie Howland | Television film |
| 1997 | Law & Order | Myra | Episode: "Mad Dog" |
| 2002 | Law & Order | Jennifer Taylor | Episode: "American Jihad" |
| 2002 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Hannah Price | Episode: "Tomorrow" |
| 2003 | The Wire | Prissy | 2 episodes: "Storm Warnings" and "Bad Dreams" |
| 2004 | Something the Lord Made | Mrs. Francis Saxon | Television film |
| 2005 | Quarterlife | Bailey | Television film |
| 2005 | Law & Order | Sunshine Porter | Episode: "Sects" |
| 2005 | NCIS | Wendy Smith | Episode: "Switch" |
| 2006 | Conviction | Bridget Kellner | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2006–2007 | Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | Suzanne | 12 episodes |
| 2009–2015 | Nurse Jackie | Zoey Barkow | Main role |
| 2012 | The Good Wife | Aubrey Gardner | Episode: "After the Fall" |
| 2013 | New Girl | Elizabeth | 7 episodes |
| 2013 | Remember Sunday | Lucy Gillenwater | Television film |
| 2015–2016 | The Walking Dead | Dr. Denise Cloyd | 9 episodes |
| 2017 | Godless | Mary Agnes McNue | Main role |
| 2019 | Unbelievable | Detective Karen Duvall | Main role |
| 2020 | Run | Ruby Richardson | Main role |
| 2021 | Robot Chicken | Mandy, Susan the Tauntaun (voices) | Episode: "May Cause the Exact Thing You're Taking This to Avoid" |
| 2022 | Roar | Elisa | Episode: "The Woman Who Was Fed by a Duck" |
| 2023 | Tiny Beautiful Things | Frances "Frankie" Pierce | 7 episodes |
| 2025 | Severance | Gretchen George | Season 2 |
| TBA | Lockerbie | | Filming |
| TBA | The Gilded Age | Monica O'Brien | Season 3 |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
| 2010 | Gotham Independent Film Awards | Best Ensemble Performance | Tiny Furniture | Nominated |
| 2012 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nurse Jackie | Nominated |
| 2013 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nurse Jackie | Nominated |
| 2013 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nurse Jackie | Won |
| 2014 | Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nurse Jackie | Nominated |
| 2014 | Critics' Choice Television Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nurse Jackie | Nominated |
| 2014 | Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards | Best Ensemble | Birdman | Won |
| 2018 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Godless | Won |
| 2020 | Independent Spirit Awards | Robert Altman Award | Marriage Story | Won |
| 2020 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Unbelievable | Nominated |
| 2020 | Critics' Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries | Unbelievable | Nominated |
| 2020 | Television Critics Association Awards | Individual Achievement in Drama | Unbelievable | Nominated |
| 2023 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Tiny Beautiful Things | Nominated |