
In 1993 Richard Jordan, her long-time companion, died. In 1997 she left the show Melrose Place to get her Master's Degree. She did several films from 1997 to 2003, when she returned to television on the drama series Everwood .
She left Everwood after one season to take what has proven to be the biggest role in her career: Bree Van De Kamp on the surprise hit Desperate Housewives. She's got her first award for her work on Housewives. The conventional wisdom is that she will be sticking with Housewives for awhile, and is likely to be nominated for more awards because of it.