Online OriginalsSeptember 17, 2026
Law & Order‘s Carey Lowell on Why She Left (and Came Back) to the Show (Exclusive)
Thirty years after she joined the show as Assistant District Attorney Jamie Ross, the actress reflects on working with the late Jerry Orbach and her frequent returns to the series.
Law & Order isn’t a time-travel series, but it might as well be.
Think about it: Thanks to those ubiquitous 24/7 reruns, it seems totally plausible that Carey Lowell’s Assistant District Attorney character Jamie Ross is still building a case against a slimy NYC criminal. The reality? A full 30 years have passed since she made her debut in the courtroom (and 28 years since she left). “The reruns keep me young — and make it seem like I still have a career!” she jokes. “I’m just amazed by the popularity of the show.”
But back in September 1996, the legendary Dick Wolf-created NBC procedural underwent a key transition for its seventh season. During that May’s shocking finale, ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessey) was killed in a car crash while driving home a drunken Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach). In a rare moment that didn’t involve law or order, viewers also learned she was dating her boss, Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston). Enter Jamie, a sharp, highly principled prosecutor and divorced single mom.
“Jamie was very focused on getting the job done,” says Lowell. “She also had a strong moral center, and she was constantly making that known.”
Lowell, a former model, first showed that strong-willed nature — albeit in a slinkier wardrobe — as Bond girl Pam Bouvier in 1989’s License to Kill. (Timothy Dalton played 007.) She was also stand-out catcher Dottie Hinson in the short-lived, small-screen version of A League of Their Ownin 1993. But Jamie remains closest to her heart: “It fit pretty well because I can be very prosecutorial!”
And though the actress exited the series in 1998 after two seasons to spend more time with her young daughter (the storyline was written into the show), she’s reprised the role six times over the years — as recently as 2022 in the revived version Law & Order, which will start its 26th season on October 8.
At 6:02 PM on August 20 (da-dum), Lowell checked in with the Television Academy to reminisce about her anniversary.
The Television Academy: Happy 30th! How does it feel?
Carey Lowell: So I have a 36-year-old daughter, and she was basically five years old when I got the role. I always measure time by her being on set and coming by the craft service table.
Going back to the beginning, what do you recall about landing the role?
I had to go to Los Angeles to read for the network, which basically consisted of walking into a room filled with executives and reading the lines for them and trying to do a good job. It was me and one or two other ladies, and we all were sitting out together in the waiting room. Then I read and got on a plane to go back to New York — and right before I boarded, I learned that I had gotten [the part]. I also remember that I landed in New York on the same night that TWA Flight 800 went down in Queens.
Really? What a bittersweet memory.
It is. But I was excited to be working in New York because the studios were right down the street from where I lived. It was just really nice to be home at night.
What did Law & Order mean to you at the time? Were you a fan?
Honestly, I hadn’t watched much of it. But I felt at home in the role really quickly. I mean, it was definitely different to be on a soundstage — I had only done A League of Their Own, but that was mostly on location playing baseball. But Rikers Island and the courtroom and precinct [scenes] were all on soundstages at Chelsea Piers. Then we’d go on location for a few shoots.
The show is famously stingy about showing a character’s private side. How did you flesh her out?
You know, they don’t let you bring a lot of humor into it. Jerry Orbach and Steven Hill [as District Attorney Adam Schiff] were the two guys that got to make wisecracks. I just tried to make it like she’s going about her work.
But she was not going to be a complete pushover for the Sam Waterston character. In my early episodes, we get into a little bit of a tiff over how to prosecute somebody. I was able to assert myself and not just be a worker bee on the “law” side of things.
Do you have a good Jerry Orbach story?
Jerry was the most charming, easygoing, lovely man. Our dressing rooms were right next to each other. He could do The New York Times crossword puzzle any day of the week and do it with such speed and accuracy that it was pretty mind-blowing. He was one of the original cast members of The Fantasticks, so he always knew a tune. He was a hoofer, too. He was so multi-talented. He had a wonderful wife, and he was such a gentleman. We lost him too soon. [Editor’s note: Orbach died in 2004 at age 69.]
What about Sam? He seems very intimidating.
We had some laughs! I mean, he does have that gravitas about him. He takes the work very seriously. So I would be a goofball and try to make him crack. When we had the scenes with him and Steven Hill in Steven’s office, we had a lot of fun.
The show won the Emmy for Outstanding Best Drama Series for your first season. What was that night like?
It was the only year it ever won the Emmy for best drama, and that means a lot to me. It is such a beloved show and it has had such a long life in reruns, and yet it hasn’t won before or after.
But we didn’t go to the award show because we were shooting! In fact, I had actually gone to sleep because the award was given so late in the evening. Somebody woke me up and said, “You won! You won!” And I was like, “Oh, great!” And I just went back to sleep. But the next day on set, everybody was very happy.
You were also part of the ’90s ADA brunette brigade, along with Jill Hennessy and Angie Harmon. Do you three still have some sort of secret club?
I can’t say there’s a club, but there is a sorority. I had met Jill and her husband, Paulo, because we both lived in New York. She was friendly and supportive — there was no competition. And when Angie got the job, she made it her own. I asked to leave after my second year, and I still had another year on my contract. They hired Angie, and she really brought her own self to the role. I would see her at events here and there.
Any regrets about leaving the show early?
I sometimes think about what would have been. I could have managed it. But I also felt like my daughter took priority, and I needed to be there for her. I always said that if I had a wife, I could have continued — you know, if someone was home making the food and doing the shopping and taking care of the kids. But it just wasn’t meant to be.
And as much as I loved the role, my schedule was so much longer and more involved than either of the cops or Sam. That’s because my character was the crossover person between the police and the prosecutors — meaning I would shoot on the cop days and the lawyer days.
Do you have a favorite case?
Yes. I remember the criminal was also a DA [played by David Marshall Grant], and I was friends with him and his wife. Of course, we find him guilty. At Rikers Island, he goes, “What was I supposed to do?” And I just say, “You could have come to me, Charlie. You could have come to me.” She felt so betrayed. [Editor’s note: The episode referenced here is “Shadow” from season eight.]
What was it like going back to the role in the revamped Law & Order?
We were filming during Covid and everybody had to test and wear masks. I was no longer like second or third or fourth on the call sheet. I didn’t have any pull on the set anymore. I was there at 7 A.M., but they wouldn’t get to my scene until like 7 P.M. at night because they switched the order. They would never have done that in the old days. Things change.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
