Her parents are Peter, a music teacher and trained concert violinist who played with The Shannonaires, and Anne, a nurse. She was the third among six siblings -- two of whom are in the military, one studied Physical Therapy, one is a music teacher, and another considering a film career.
Film and TV Movie Credits:
• Love, Lies and Murder (1991) as Cinnamon Brown
• The Boy Who Cried B!tch (1991) as Jessica
• Thirty Below Zero (1992) as Lucy
• Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996) as Dorothy Day
• Love Walked In (1997) as Vera
• Drive, She Said (1997) as Nadine Ship
• Monday After the Miracle (1998) as Helen Keller
• Hi-Life (1998) as Susan
• A Woman Reported (2004) as Woman
• Two Tickets to Paradise (2006) as Kate
• The Beautiful Ordinary (2007) as Mrs. Ford
In 2001, Moira won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for The West Wing. She was also nominated at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards in the category Choice TV Parental Units for playing Karen Scott, mother of Lucas Scott, on One Tree Hill.
Moira: (on choosing roles) I read it, and realize if it's a character I can commit to. I usually know by, say, the fifteenth page, whether or not I want to do the script. There's a lot I won't do. I've done films that were violent and films with nudity, but there's a fine line between what's necessary and what's not. I'll ask myself, 'Does it glorify it? Are these characters that grow and learn from it?'
Moira: I would vote for anyone who is willing to clean house in Washington and get back to the actual issues at hand rather than getting bogged down by involving themselves in people's personal lives.
Moira: Growing up Catholic has been a gift. Being in the movie business is hard. There are a lot of battles to face, and if I didn't have that religious core -- that base to turn to - I would be truly lost.