Amy Aquino on screen and stage

Amy Aquino is an American actress of television, film and stage. As a honors graduate in biology from Harvard Radcliffe Institute, she studied acting at the Yale School of Drama. She was accepted after three attempts and received an MFA.^[1][2]

Aquino began her television career with guest spots in Easy Street (1987) and Hooperman (1987) before landing a lead role in the six-episode series One of the Boys (1989).^[1][3][4] There, she performed Bernice DiSalvo, the wisecracking best friend of Maria Conchita Navarro (Latin American star María Conchita Alonso) who struggled with relationships.^[1] She landed another main role in Brooklyn Bridge (1991–1993), which starred a Jewish family where Aquino's character, Phyllis Berger Silver, was the mother of Alan Silver. Although critically-acclaimed and a cult hit, Brooklyn Bridge's ratings were not strong enough to provide it more than two seasons.^[5][2] Her next lead was Lieutenant Grace Billets, superior of the title character who works in the Homicide Department of the Hollywood Division of the LAPD, in Amazon Studios' streaming series Bosch (2014–2021).^[6]

Most of her television roles are recurring or guest, usually performing intelligent, assertive powerful women and professionals in medical and legal fields, such as psychologists, oncologists, gynecologists, judges, detectives, defense attorneys and district attorneys.^[2][7] In 1996, she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for her role as Dr. Joanna 'Joey' Diamond in David E. Kelley's family drama series Picket Fences (1995–1996).^[2] Her other recurring roles as doctors include Dr. Janet Coburn in ER (1995–2009) and Dr. Toni Pavone in Felicity (2000–2002).^[7] Her most recent television appearance was Dr. Christina Raynor, a military-taught therapist colleague with Bucky Barnes, on the Disney+ Marvel Comics miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).^[7]

Although a huge majority of her work is in television, Aquino has appeared in film as well. Her most notable film roles are her earliest, obtaining them instantly after graduating from Yale: Bonnie, the hairdresser of Cher's character in Moonstruck (1987) that screamed "I've been dying to do this for years!" and Tess's secretary Alice Baxter, who informs Tess she is the boss of a windowed office at the end of Working Girl (1988).^[1][7][8] She was also in the 2002 adaptation of Janet Fitch's White Oleander as Miss Martinez.^[8]