Penny Johnson Jerald won rave reviews as the devious political wife Sherry Palmer on 24.
Jerald was previously best known to television audiences for her role as the savvy assistant Beverly on The Larry Sanders Show, for which she was nominated for a CableAce Award and an NAACP Image Award.
Always wanting to become an actress, Jerald began her formal training at the Center Stage Theater of Baltimore, which offered workshops for teenagers, age fourteen and up. Jerald, thirteen, lied about her age to win a spot with the group. As a teenager, she also performed mime, juggling and fire-eating with the traveling local arts circus of Theatre Project. She later attended the famed Juilliard School and also studied the Suzuki Method of classical music in Japan before beginning her professional acting career.
Jerald has appeared in the feature films Absolute Power, What's Love Got to Do with It, Savannah, Goin' to Chicago, Swing Shift and The Great Pretender. Her television credits include recurring roles on ER, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Family Law. She also guest-starred on Grace Under Fire, Sweet Justice, and Touched by an Angel.