Though Kaczmarek’s character might have been hot-headed, Kaczmarek herself is more low-key.
The gown according to Kaczmarek paid for 50,000 immunizations for children through UNICEF.
“As an actor, you always have to believe your character is right,” Kaczmarek said.
“Judge Kessler is not doing anything illegal.
She is following things to the letter of the law.”
Regardless, Kaczmarek shined in her role as the frequently devious judge.
On the whole, though, the change revealed what Kaczmarek most prized in her life.
Not surprisingly, this shake-up led her back to her first love of acting.
“That has also, in a funny way, reinvigorated my desire to act again.”
Kaczmarek was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and went on to have her left hip replaced in 2004.
“I just couldn’t function anymore like a person was supposed to function,” she toldYahoo!
Thankfully, her joint replacements and subsequent surgeries have put her back on stage and on screen.
Unsurprisingly, Kaczmarek’s character Gwen was both opinionated and at loggerheads with her daughter.
What’s more interesting to Kaczmarek is the choices average people make in their portrayal to the public.
“You have to pay for every word in an obituary,” she said.
“They’re the most touching things,” she toldThe Realin an onscreen appearance.
Not long after, she found herself struck by a rare career epiphany.
“Something kind of clicked,” she told theLos Angeles Times.
The Emmy-nominated actor has traveled from Baltimore to Pasadena to star in a variety of plays over the years.
Her most recent role was Stage Manager in a Sharon Playhouse production of “Our Town.”
It’s a good thing, too, as critics have called her one of the series' highlights.
Kaczmarek holds her own across from the lauded Stanfield, aiding him in his quest to unravel the mystery.
With any luck, too, this will be a permanent return to the small screen for Kaczmarek.
