Carey Lowell

Lowell was born in Huntington, New York, the daughter of geologist James Lowell.^[2] She spent her childhood living in several countries, including Libya, the Netherlands, and France. In the United States, she also lived in Houston, Texas, and Denver, Colorado,^[3] where her family settled when she was 12.^[4] After a year at the University of Colorado at Boulder,^[3][4] where she considered majoring in literature,^[5] she moved to New York City to pursue modeling, and worked for such clients as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein,^[4] and at one point attended New York University.^[5] She also studied at Manhattan's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.^[5]

Lowell broke into acting with the film Dangerously Close, followed by a small role in the Harold Ramis movie Club Paradise.^[4] She went on to roles including co-starring as Bond girl Pam Bouvier in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill (1989), and starting in 1996, as Assistant District Attorney Jamie Ross for two seasons on the television drama Law & Order, a character she reprised in 2005 for a guest role on its spinoff, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, and again on the original series in 2022 when it returned for a 21st season.^[6] Immediately before getting that role, however, she had become frustrated with her acting career and had applied to study documentary filmmaking at New York University.^[4]

She took a hiatus from acting during the mid-2000s. In 2012, Lowell lent her likeness and voice while reprising her Licence to Kill role in the video game 007 Legends. In 2018, she returned to TV, appearing as a guest on the show Blue Bloods.^[7][8]

Lowell is a devout Buddhist.^[9][10][11] She has incorporated Buddhist teachings into her life, including the naming of her son, Homer James Jigme; jigme is a Tibetan name meaning "fearless".^[12]

Lowell has been married three times. Her first husband was photographer John Stember, to whom she was married from 1984 to 1988.^[13][14] She was married to actor Griffin Dunne from 1989 to 1995 and has a daughter, Hannah, from the marriage.^[15] In November 2002, Lowell married actor Richard Gere;^[16] their son had been born on February 6, 2000.^[2] In 2013, the two separated. They spent three years in highly contested divorce proceedings in New York Supreme Court.^[17] The case was settled in October 2016.^[18][19][20]

In 2021, Lowell launched the company Carey Lowell Ceramics.^[21]