Briga Heelan

 

Heelan was the daughter of Kimball Heelan, an actress and teacher at Lowell Public Schools, and Kevin Heelan, a playwright. Conor is her older brother. Her father was a dramatic actor and was an active Phillips Andover Academy faculty member since 1983. Heelan was an alumni of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She was also a student for one year at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before making the move to the University of Southern California. In 2009, she earned an Associate's degree. Heelan was presented with the James B. Pendleton Award upon graduation for her exceptional contribution to the USC School of Dramatic Arts. Heelan was keen to focus on musical theatre. Skylar Astin was her Ground Floor star. They were at a musical theatre convention. Cougar Town was her breakout television character. She was also credited with regular appearances in Undateable. She was featured in three episodes as well as the pilot. Since both Bill Lawrence's Ground Floor as well as Undateable were multi-camera comedies they could be shot concurrently. She also appeared in the season 10 pilot episode. Alan Sepinwall, TV critic who was a critic for the show, stated that Heelan was "simply amazing as Jenny charming and quirky, yet robust and confident." According to the Los Angeles Times, Heelan creates Ground Floor "watchable". The critics say she is "remarkably alive" and "in the moment, she is able to make everything she touches feel real." I suggest you watch her work, which I am recommending you do.