BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Marsha Lisa Thomason (born 19 January 1976) is a British television and film actress who is known in the United States for playing Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series Las Vegas, for her recurring role on ABC's Lost as Naomi Dorrit, and for playingFBI agent Diana Berrigan on USA Network's White Collar.
Early life
Thomason was born in Moston, Manchester, the daughter of Phyllis (née McCrae), a Jamaican electronics company employee and Peter Thomason, who worked in politics.[1] She attended Holy Trinity Primary School in Blackley and North Manchester High School for Girls, before attending Oldham Sixth Form College to study for A levels in Media Studies, Theatre Studies and Performing Arts. Thomason attended the Manchester Metropolitan University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. From the age of 13, Marsha attended Oldham Theatre Workshop where she was able to participate within youth theatre productions which would later contribute in her confidence towards becoming an aspiring professional actress.
Career
Thomason first came to prominence on British television in the series Playing the Field and Where The Heart Is, as well as in the first series of the BBC Three drama Burn It. In the U.S., she appeared in Disney's The Haunted Mansion, playing Eddie Murphy's wife. She played Brandy in the film My Baby's Daddy, and played Victoria in Black Knight. She also played Vicki in Pure. She starred in the U.S. television series Las Vegas as Nessa Holt in seasons 1 and 2, a total of 47 episodes.
On 21 October 2004 she was a guest on the radio show Loveline. In January 2008 she appeared in Messiah V: The Rapture, alongside Marc Warren. In August 2008 Thomason was cast as a series regular in the CW show Easy Money.[2]
In 2009 Thomason appeared on General Hospital; her first appearance was 20 November.[3] After appearing in the pilot episode for White Collar as agent Diana Berrigan, she returned for the first season finale. It was announced that she would appear on the series full time in the second season.[4][5] She is also the new voice of Diana in Hitman: Absolution.
Lost
Thomason was a recurring character on the television show Lost as Naomi Dorrit. Being a friend of Dominic Monaghan (who played Charlie Pace on the series), she was a huge fan of the show and excited to be cast. She also found the lack of character transparency to be refreshing: "That’s kind of difficult as an actor, but also freeing in a way, because you just have to play the scenes as they’re written. And then if you find out if you’re a big villain or whatever, then you play that... You know when that worked really brilliantly? On24 with Nina Myers. She didn’t have a clue – Sarah Clarke, the actress – and that made it really brilliant, because she played Nina honestly. Really honestly. And then she was a villain. Genius. That was such a great one."[6]
She first appeared in the third season episode "Catch-22", which aired on 18 April 2007, and continued to appear until the season finale "Through the Looking Glass". She next appeared in "The Beginning of the End" and in the season 5, episode 13, "Some Like It Hoth".
Personal life
On 5 April 2009 Thomason married Craig Sykes, a lighting technician, in Malibu, California.[7] Their daughter, Tallulah Anaïs, was born on June 12, 2013.[8]
Thomason is an avid supporter of Manchester City.[9]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Safe | Wendy | TV film |
| 1994 | Priest | Nurse | |
| 1996 | Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment | Janice Lafferty | |
| Brazen Hussies | Stripper with fire | TV film | |
| 2001 | Swallow | Tina Harford | TV film |
| Black Knight | Chambermaid Number 7 / Victoria the Chambermaid / Nicole | ||
| 2002 | Long Time Dead | Lucy | |
| Pure | Vicki | ||
| 2003 | The Haunted Mansion | Sara Evers / Elizabeth Henshaw | |
| 2004 | My Baby's Daddy | Brandy | |
| 2005 | The Nickel Children | Beatrice | |
| 2006 | The Package | Melissa | Short film |
| Caffeine | Rachel | ||
| The Fast One | Lucy | Comedy short | |
| The Tripper | Linda | ||
| Tug of War | Sam | Comedy short | |
| 2007 | LA Blues | Carla | |
| 2008 | Messiah V: The Rapture | Mel Palmer | TV film |
| 2009 | Into the Blue 2: The Reef | Azra | Film |
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Prime Suspect | 1 Episode: Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement | |
| 1997 | Pie in the Sky | Sally | 8 Episodes |
| 1998 | Playing the Field | Sharon 'Shazza' Pearce | |
| Where the Heart Is | Jacqui Richards | 3 Episodes: "The Final Curtain", "The Healing Game" & "Fresh" | |
| 1999 | Love in the 21st Century | Louise | Episode: "Threesome" |
| 2001 | Table 12 | Denie | Episode: "Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner" |
| 2003 | Burn It | Tina | |
| 2003–2005 | Las Vegas | Nessa Holt | Seasons 1-2 (Main cast: 47 Episodes) |
| 2007 | Cane | Miranda Sanfilipino | Episode: "Family Business" |
| 2007–2010 | Lost | Naomi Dorritt | 12 Episodes |
| 2008 | Life | Jill Abrahams | Episode: "The Business of Miracles" |
| 2008 | Easy Money | Julia Miller | series regular |
| 2009–2010 | Make It or Break It | Mary Jane "MJ" Martin | 6 Episodes |
| 2009–present | White Collar | Diana Berrigan | Season 1 (2 episodes: Pilot, Finale); Season 2- (Main Cast)[4] |
| 2009 | General Hospital | Gillian Carlyle | |
| 2011 | 2 Broke Girls | Cashandra | Episodes: "And Hoarder Culture", "And The Really Petty Cash" |
| 2013 | Men at Work | Selena | Episode: "Weekend at PJ's", "I Take Thee, Gibbs" |
| 2014 | House of Lies | Accquaintance | Episode: "Soldiers"                                                                                                               |
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