Nicole Forester

In 2012, Forester filmed season two of Boss, the Golden Globe nominated drama series on Starz, starring Kelsey Grammer. Forester played "Maggie Zajac," the politically savvy wife of gubernatorial candidate and chronic philanderer "Ben Zajac," played by Jeff Hephner.

In 2010, David Schwimmer cast Forester in his film, Trust, starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener. Also in 2010 (and while 7 months pregnant with her second child), Forester worked with Richard Gere in The Double, directed by Michael Brandt. In 2012, Forester appeared in Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise and directed by Academy Award-winner Christopher McQuarrie.

She is married to Paul Brown and they have two children: Frances Eleanor, born on February 11, 2009, and Paul Walker III, born on October 14, 2010.

Of French and German descent, Forester spent three years studying German at UCLA and, in 2006, a term at the Goethe Institut in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany.

After moving to New York City in 2005, Forester booked the coveted contract role of "Cassie Layne Winslow" on CBS soap opera Guiding Light, replacing the originating actress, Laura Wright. In her three years on the show, Forester performed in nearly 300 episodes and received a Lead Actress Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her work in 2008.

Forester was born Nicole Theresa Schmidt in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She began dance training at the age of five and began working locally in professional musical theatre at the age of twelve. She majored in drama in the Creative and Performing Arts Program at Stevenson High School in Livonia, Michigan (fellow alumni include actress Judy Greer and musician Rosie Thomas) and majored in Musical Theatre Performance at Western Michigan University before moving to Los Angeles at 19. She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1993, when she took Forester, her grandmother's maiden name, as her professional name.

Nicole Forester (born November 19, 1972) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Maggie Zajac on the Starz original series Boss and as Cassie Layne Winslow on Guiding Light. She currently appears as Christie on NBC's Chicago Fire.