Alumni Gazette

A ‘Geeky, Frazzled’ Star of Screen Dena Tyler ’94 ditched her plans for a medical career and took a shot as an actress. It’s working out. By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD) the intention of becoming a physician. She SNAPSHOT majored in neuroscience, and fed her love In the past several years, Dena Tyler ’94 of the stage with a minor in dramatic arts. Dena Tyler ’94 has been showing up in some high-profile In the spring of her senior year, she played At Todd Theater: Carol Cutrere in Orpheus television series. In 2005, she appeared in the role of Carol Cutrere in the theater pro- Descending, spring 1994. multiple episodes of Law & Order. From gram’s production of Tennessee Williams’s Last role in Rochester: Edna St. Vincent 2011 to 2015, she popped up on the hit Orpheus Descending. Millay, in Take Up the Song, Geva Theatre. shows 30 Rock, Orange Is the New Black, After college, she decided to delay medi- Law & Order (NBC): Multiple appearances and Homeland. This fall, she played a key cal school, performing locally at venues in- from 2005 to 2008. “I was the go-to girl for role in the pilot of the new CBS drama Bull. cluding Geva Theatre, and working at the the bereaved widow,” Tyler says. “I love playing characters that are raw and University’s Strong Memorial Hospital as a 30 Rock (NBC): Stephanie, “a jilted, chain- fiercely committed to their charges,” says respiratory therapist. On her actress’s pro- smoking ex-wife,” says Tyler. Season 5, “I Tyler, adding that she has a “goofy” side, too. file, Tyler lists her familiarity with medical Heart Connecticut.” Those traits describe Bull’s Liberty Davis terminology and neuroscience right along Louie (FX): Bianca, a New Age cult leader. to a T: a “geeky, somewhat frazzled” attor- with her facility in Cockney, Irish, and New Season 5, “Pot Luck.” ney, Tyler says, hired by Jason Bull (Mi- York accents. Orange Is the New Black (Netflix): Miss chael Weatherly), a psychologist who runs Her professional career took off in 1999 Rosa’s chemo nurse. Season 2, “Appropriately a trial consulting firm. Earnest and intense, when she was introduced to the Actors Stu- Sized Pots.” Liberty stumbles alongside her more grace- dio in New York City. She steadily landed Homeland (Showtime): Surgical nurse. ful colleagues, juggling multiple briefcases, leads in off-Broadway productions before Season 5, “Our Man in Damascus.” navigating precariously in her high heels. turning her focus to television. Bull (CBS): Liberty Davis, a “geeky, frazzled” But in a pair of dramatic courtroom scenes, In 2017, she’ll appear in the pilot of a new attorney. Pilot, “The Necklace.” Tyler shows her to be a hero. HBO series, The Deuce. The brainchild of In both Homeland and Orange Is the David Simon, creator of The Wire, and nov- New Black, Tyler played medical person- elist George Pelecanos, The Deuce is the “My audition for Liberty was long de- nel. Those roles, too, were fitting. A native fictional story of two brothers caught up layed, and by the time I went in, I had un- of Syracuse, she arrived at Rochester with in New York’s porn industry in the 1970s. derarm stains down to my waist and my Tyler is also a coach at MN Acting Studio stomach was eating my back,” she says. IN CHARACTER: Tyler (above, right) is about in Manhattan, where she teaches a work- “I thought, well, I’m going to use it. So I to launch closing arguments as an attorney in shop called TV Audition Bookcamp. She flashed my sweaty pits and belched in my the CBS series Bull. She minored in dramatic says that being yourself—even on a difficult audition. That says geeky, somewhat fraz- arts at Rochester. day—can work to your advantage. zled, to me.”r

46 ROCHESTER REVIEW November–December 2016 DAVID M. RUSSELL/CBS

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