Ask American Profile

Sue Thomas, Sam Waterston, Billy Ray Cyrus

We enjoy watching Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. We would like to know about the real Sue Thomas.
—Myrtle F., Michigan

The groundbreaking PAX drama was inspired by Sue Thomas, who lost her hearing before she was 2 years old and developed lip-reading skills, which she used to work surveillance for the FBI. These days, the 53-year-old lives with her hearing dog, Amazing Grace, in Youngstown, Ohio, when she is not on the road speaking to civic, professional, and church groups. Thomas is played by a deaf actress, Deanne Bray, in the television show based on her autobiography, Silent Night. As a child, Thomas escaped the teasing of her peers by ice skating, and at age 7 became the youngest Ohio State Champion freestyle skater in history. Thomas was hired by the FBI to help start a program to train deaf people to classify fingerprints. Later, an agent discovered that the sound had failed on a videotape of an investigation, so he asked her to try and read the lips of the speakers. That led to work in undercover surveillance. She eventually left the agency to attend Columbia Graduate School of Bible and Missions in Columbia, S.C. She is interviewed regularly on television and radio, including NBC’s Today Show, Court TV, Focus on the Family and The 700 Club. She also is working on another book and battling a new challenge—multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease that affects mobility and vision.

Please tell me what you can about Sam Waterston of Law and Order. Has he ever been a lawyer? He is very good in his part.
—Mary B., Ohio

“I have no background in the law, but it appears Shakespeare did, and I have a background in Shakespeare,” Waterston says. Actually, Waterston is just a very good actor. If you saw him in The Killing Fields, you’d be convinced he was a journalist (he was nominated for an Oscar for that performance) or if you saw him in Crimes and Misdemeanors, you’d think he made a pretty good rabbi. Born in Cambridge, Mass., Waterston started his acting career in New York theater, eventually moving on to movies and television. In addition to Jack McCoy on Law & Order, Waterston played a lawyer on the bygone series I’ll Fly Away—winning a Golden Globe award for his work—so he is identified as a lawyer to a lot of the viewing public. “Some lawyers have told me there are many parallels to arguing a case and the creation and performing of drama,” he says. “And don’t forget, the name for the shape and organization of a dramatic story is ‘the argument of the play.’” Waterston lives in Connecticut with his wife and children.

I’m a devoted fan of Billy Ray Cyrus. I hope you can give me some information on him and an address where I can write him.
—Helen H., Florida

Believe it or not, the hip-shaking singer of the country song Achy Breaky Heart has just released a gospel album titled The Other Side. “I grew up singing in church with my family,” says Cyrus, 42. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do and is a life-long dream.” He continues to star in the PAX show Doc, which is filmed in Toronto. “Doc has such an inspirational and spiritual message, so coincidentally, I suspect the gospel CD will appeal to the Doc fans too. So it all seems to make sense again.” He and his wife, Tish, live with their six children near Nashville, Tenn. “If I’m real lucky, they’ll come out on the road with me when they can or come up and stay while I’m on the set of Doc. But the kids are at an age now where they have their own activities—school, sports and dance lessons—so it does get lonely at times being away from them. Tish and I realize they aren’t babies anymore.” While he enjoys acting, music remains his first love. “Acting and Doc have been what I call a ‘happy accident.’ Luckily, the producers are the best to work with and actually encourage me by turning some of my song lyrics into plots for episodes. And they include the music wherever they can, so it’s the best of both worlds in that respect.” You can write to Cyrus at BRC Spirit, P.O. Box 1206, Franklin, Tenn., 37065.

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