Melissa Leo Movies

Season 12 of Law & Order featured a new face in the D.A.'s office: feisty young A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn, played by Elisabeth Rohm. The opening episode, based on a real-life California case, gets under way when a jogger and her pet terrier are mauled by a vicious pit bull. Further investigation reveals that the attack dog's original owner, now serving two life terms in Attica, bred the animal for illegal dog fights. It is up to the D.A.'s office to prove that the pit bull's current caretakers, Sherri and Roger Quinn (Melissa Leo, Bruce McCarty), were fully aware of how dangerous their "pet" was when they bought it. Originally slated to air on September 19, 2001, this episode was moved forward to the following week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An author suffering from writer's block takes a cross country trip with a pair of identical twins in this surreal road film starring Melissa Leo and Sam Trammell. Sigrid Anderssen (Leo) has a bestselling book and a red hot reputation. Trouble is, her well of ideas has just run dry. In search of inspiration, she answers an ad seeking a traveling companion for a coast-to-coast cruise. The person who placed the ad is Red (Trammell). He's packed his camping gear for a tour of the south, but he doesn't want to make the drive alone. When the two road warriors stop to pick up Red's identical twin brother Tom, the road before them seems to stretch out into infinity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the seventh and final season of Homicide: Life on the Street, Baltimore detectives Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) have resigned in the wake of the bloody shoot-out between the homicide cops and the minions of criminal mastermind Georgia Rae Mahoney (though Kellerman will return in a later episode as a private detective). Seriously wounded in the fray, detectives Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Ghary (Peter Gerety) eventually return to work, but it is clear that some emotional scars will never heal. Former recurring character Det. Terri Stivers (Toni Lewis) has become a regular, while new cast members include Michael Michele as Detective Rene Sheppard, a former beauty queen, and Giancarlo Esposito as FBI agent Mike Giardello, the long-estranged son of homicide lieutenant Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto). Before the year is out, Mike will make Al a grandfather; Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) will finally propose to his long-suffering girlfriend, Billie Lou McCoy (Ellen McElduff); detectives Det. Laura Ballard (Callie Thorne) and Falsone (Jon Seda) will enter into a romance so torrid that Giardello is forced to warn them to cool things down or they'll be suspended; and Rene Sheppard will endure both a serious injury and a humiliating suspension. Episode highlights include yet another crossover with Law & Order, this one involving an investigation conducted by a Kenneth Starr-like special prosecutor and appropriately titled "Sideshow," and the devastating "Line of Fire," in which the homicide cops try and fail to negotiate with a reluctant murderer. Homicide caps its seven-season run with good news for Giardello; the unauthorized shootdown of a killer who has managed to slip through the legal cracks; and a literal "full circle" for Bayliss (Kyle Secor), whose career with the Baltimore PD began with the series' first episode...and ends with the last one. ~ All Movie Guide

In the final episode of Homicide: Life on the Street's fifth season, a grieving Howard (Melissa Leo) wants to be primary investigator of the death of her former colleague (and intimate) Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin), but Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) insists upon placing a more objective individual in charge. Elsewhere, Kellerman (Reed Diamond) and Cox (Michelle Forbes) are forced to confront their inner demons; Bayliss (Kyle Secor) continues appearing and disappearing from view without warning; and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) offers to give up his job for the sake of his marriage. As the episode ends, a number of radical changes are promised for the series' next season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Munch (Richard Belzer) suffers a crisis in faith when a middle-aged woman whom he had pined over in high school is found murdered. As he investigates the case, Munch flashes back to his mixed-up youth, yielding few answers but plenty of questions. Meanwhile, Mary Pembleton (Ami Brabson) walks out on her husband, Frank (Andre Braugher), when he shows up for their daughter's baptism. Among its many other virtues, "Kaddish" is the only cop-series episode in living memory to invoke the title of the long-forgotten 1959 private-eye TV show Johnny Staccato (an early John Cassavetes effort). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When one of drug kingpin Luther Mahoney's "heroin mules" is found dead, Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) mount an elaborate sting operation to bring down Mahoney (Erik Todd Dellums) once and for all. Elsewhere, Bayliss (Kyle Secor) finally patches up his differences with Pembleton (Andre Braugher), then braces himself for a meeting with the relative who sexually abused him as a child. And Munch (Richard Belzer) is informed that the so-called victim in an old murder case may still be alive -- little realizing that he is being set up as a pawn for a vengeful gangster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having been exonerated by the federal grand jury, Kellerman (Reed Diamond) is upset that the media has stopped covering him now that he is no longer suspected of corruption. So unnerved is Kellerman by his recent traumatic experiences that he may very well mess up the homicide squad's latest effort to bring down the elusive drug kingpin Luther Mahoney (Erik Todd Dellums). Meanwhile, Bayliss (Kyle Secor) tells Pembleton (Andre Braugher) that he no longer wants him as a partner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pembleton (Andre Braugher) is impressed by reporter Elizabeth Wu (Joan Chen), who is covering his investigation of a drug-related cop killing. He is, however, less than impressed when the inquisitive Wu proves to be a monumental nuisance. Elsewhere, Kellerman's (Reed Diamond) wild country-boy brothers Drew (Eric Stoltz) and Greg (Tate Donovan) show up in Baltimore, insisting that he return to Miami and join them in setting up a charter-boat service. What his brothers have neglected to tell them is that they are on the lam from a pair of murderous bookies -- and that they have stolen a valuable souvenir baseball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another Homicide: Life on the Street regular bids goodbye to the Baltimore PD homicide division as the series enters its fifth season: Megan Russert (Isabella Hofmann) has decided to leave for Europe to pursue a romance (though she will make a handful of return visits in subsequent episodes). In its typical revolving-door fashion, the series compensates for Russert's loss by promoting a former recurring career, police videographer Brodie (Max Perlich), to full regular status. Other additions to the cast roster include Michelle Forbes as abrasive, no-nonsense chief medical examiner Julianna Cox and Toni Lewis as transplanted downtown narcotics detective Terri Stivers. Stivers, in fact, is a principal player in the fifth season's most significant story arc, involving the pursuit of elusive drug kingpin Luther Mahoney (Erik Todd Dellums). Picking up a plot strand introduced in the previous season, Detective Pembleton (Andre Braugher) tries to return to duty, even though he has not fully recovered from his stroke; before long, Pembleton and his partner, Bayliss (Kyle Secor), will come to an acrimonious parting of the ways. Elsewhere, Brodie tentatively inaugurates a romance (or so he hopes) with Det. Kay Howard (Melissa Leo); Assistant DA Danvers (Zeljko Ivanek) rethinks his opposition to the death penalty when his fiancée is murdered; and arson detective Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) is targeted by a federal grand jury's investigation of corruption within the arson unit. By the time the season has reached its climax, drug lord Luther Mahoney is killed under highly suspicious circumstances that will have wide-ranging and tragic ramifications in the future; and Jon Seda makes his first series appearance as Det. Paul Falsone, freshly arrived at Baltimore Homicide to investigate the reported suicide of former department member Beau Felton. ~ All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, a serial sniper is still at large -- and now there's a copycat killer on the loose. While the city is in full panic mode, the men and women of the homicide department work 24-hour shifts to track down the killers. Elsewhere, Howard (Melissa Leo) recovers from her wounds; Pembleton (Andre Braugher) agonizes over the well-being of his pregnant wife; and Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) coerces the newly demoted Russert (Isabella Hoffman) to come out of her self-imposed exile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a two-part story, a retired Baltimore police officer named Rodzinski is found murdered near his wife's tombstone. Rodzinski's son Jake (Bruce Campbell), also a cop, begs Lewis (Clark Johnson) to conduct a personal investigation of the killing. When key evidence fails to materialize and suspected murderer Kenny Damon (Wendell Jordan) is acquitted, the embittered Jake decides to take the law into his own hands. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An ER doctor (Mimi Kennedy) is suspected of withholding vital evidence in the mysterious shooting of a burglar. An enormous man who has gone on a rampage proves to be a major challenge for Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) -- and also indirectly exposes a number of skeletons in the closet of Lewis' family. And Munch (Richard Belzer) is continually frustrated in his efforts to find out whom Howard (Melissa Leo) is dating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide