Connie Britton

Connie Britton
Murder House	Vivien Harmon
Apocalypse	Vivien Harmon

Connie Elaine Britton (née Womack; born March 6, 1967) is an American actress.

Biography

Britton (born Constance Womack) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Linda and Allen Womack, who was a physicist. She moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, with her parents and sister, Cynthia, when she was seven. Britton attended E.C. Glass High School, majored in Asian Studies at Dartmouth College, and after graduating, moved to New York City and spent two years at the Neighborhood Playhouse, studying with Sanford Meisner. Britton is divorced, but still uses her married name as her stage name. On November 16, 2011, she revealed that she had adopted a baby boy from Ethiopia, named Eyob, whom she calls "Yoby".

Career

She is best known for her roles as "Nikki Faber" on Spin City and "Tami Taylor" on Friday Night Lights (a TV series based on the film of the same name, which she also acted in). Her most notable films are Friday Night Lights (she portrayed "Sharon Gaines") and A Nightmare on Elm Street (she portrayed "Gwen", Nancy's mother), among other works. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010-2011 for her role as "Tami Taylor" in the Friday Night Lights television series. From 2011-2018, She portrayed "Rayna Jaymes" in the ABC/CMT musical drama series Nashville. In 2018, she starred as Abby Clark in the first season of the Fox drama 9-1-1.

Work on American Horror Story

In American Horror Story, she portrayed Vivien Harmon, a "wife who wants a new start", in both first and eighth seasons, subtitled Murder House and Apocalypse, respectively. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for the former.

Connie Britton on her role as Vivien Harmon

• "American Horror Story has been such a great choice because It’s so different and I’m flexing such completely different muscles as an actor."
• On saying yes to American Horror Story: It was presented to Britton by co-creator Ryan Murphy, as: ‘This is something we’ve never seen you do before. It will be turning what you’ve just been doing on its ear.’ I was intrigued by that and I thought it was such a fun opportunity to do exactly that and when I read the script, I was like, ‘how does this work?’ It felt like a big risk. As an actor it’s really important to take risks but that’s also what keeps you up at night. When you take risks, you can definitely fail.”

Notes

• Connie Britton reprised her role as Vivien Harmon from Murder House in Apocalypse, after having been absent from American Horror Story since 2011.
• By reprising her role as Vivien Harmon in the eighth season, Connie Britton became one of the twenty-four cast members that portrayed the same character in different seasons.
• Britton, Dylan McDermott and Evan Peters are the only three cast members to appear in all episodes of Murder House.
• Connie Britton has worked with three other cast members on another Ryan Murphy show, American Crime Story. Those cast members being Cuba Gooding, Jr., Sarah Paulson and 9-1-1 with Angela Bassett. 

Appearances

Murder House

• Pilot - Vivien Harmon
• Home Invasion - Vivien Harmon
• Murder House - Vivien Harmon
• Halloween: Part 1 - Vivien Harmon
• Halloween: Part 2 - Vivien Harmon
• Piggy Piggy - Vivien Harmon
• Open House - Vivien Harmon
• Rubber Man - Vivien Harmon
• Spooky Little Girl - Vivien Harmon
• Smoldering Children - Vivien Harmon
• Birth - Vivien Harmon
• Afterbirth - Vivien Harmon

Apocalypse

• Return to Murder House - Vivien Harmon

Gallery

Connie Britton as Vivien Harmon (Murder House and Apocalypse)