FOUR-TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER EDIE FALCO CAST IN NBC'S "LAW & ORDER: TRUE CRIME - THE MENENDEZ MURDERS"

"Sopranos" and "Nurse Jackie" Star to Play Defense Attorney Leslie Abramson in Dick Wolf-Produced Anthology Series

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - Feb. 3, 2017 - Edie Falco, who won three Emmy Awards for her role as matriarch Carmela Soprano on HBO's "The Sopranos" and an additional Emmy for the title role on Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," has been cast as tenacious defense attorney Leslie Abramson on NBC's upcoming "Law & Order: True Crime - The Menendez Murders."

In addition to her four Emmy wins, Falco, widely known as one of the finest actresses of our generation, was Emmy nominated an additional nine times. She also earned 11 Golden Globe nominations for the two roles and won twice. Falco is the only actress to have won the Emmy for Best Actress in both the comedy and drama categories. She has been nominated for a record 22 SAG Awards and became the only actress ever to receive the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award all in the same year for the same performance.

"Edie's past iconic roles cement her place among the highest caliber of actresses working today and we couldn't be happier that someone of her stature will be joining our upcoming 'Menendez' series," said Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. "We know she will do a remarkable job portraying the complexities of defense attorney Leslie Abramson and the issues that made her such a compelling figure."

"I've known Edie for more than two decades," said executive producer Dick Wolf. "Our working relationship started when she was among an elite group of actors who made multiple appearances as defense attorneys on 'Law & Order' in the early '90s. Edie was at the top of that list. She did a fabulous job on 'Law & Order' and, as Leslie Abramson, will knock the role out of the park."

Falco, who most recently starred alongside Louis CK on his critically reviewed series "Horace and Pete," has appeared on several seminal TV dramas, including "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Law & Order" and "Oz." On the comedy side, she has appeared in guest roles on "Will & Grace" and "30 Rock."

Falco's lengthy film career includes "Laws of Gravity" (Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead), "Bullets Over Broadway, "Cost of Living" (AFI Fest Award for Best Actress), "Judy Berlin" and "Sunshine State" (L.A. Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress).

Her upcoming films include "The Comedian," opposite Robert De Niro; "Landline," opposite Jenny Slate and John Turturro; "Megan Leavey," with Kate Mara; and "Land of Steady Habits," opposite Ben Mendelsohn.

A theater veteran as well, Falco has starred on Broadway in "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," "'night, Mother," "Side Man," in which she was a winner of the Theatre World Award, and opposite Ben Stiller in "The House of Blue Leaves," for which she was Tony Award nominated and won a Drama Desk Award.

The eight-episode anthology series "Law & Order: True Crime - The Menendez Murders" will focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The brothers, who were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of the murders, were tried separately but eventually convicted in a third trial after no verdicts were rendered in the first two trials because of hung juries.

Defense attorney Abramson represented the brothers through the three trials and claimed the brothers had suffered a lifetime of abuse from their parents. Their father, Jose Menendez, was accused of sexual abuse as well as being unusually cruel while mother Kitty Menendez was accused of being mentally unstable, and a violent drug and alcohol abuser.

Rene Balcer will write and executive produce with Dick Wolf, Peter Jankowski and Arthur W. Forney through Wolf Entertainment in association with Universal Television.