Chicago Tribune

My worst moment: The time ‘Abbott Elementary’ star Lisa Ann Walter froze in a scene with Tom Cruise

Lisa Ann Walter attends the 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Barker Hangar on Feb. 27, 2022, in Santa Monica, California.

On ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” the hit freshman sitcom that was just renewed for a second season, Lisa Ann Walter plays the tough-talking second grade teacher. The role, she said, fits her like a glove: She knows a guy who knows a guy, not just on the show but in real life too: “Oh, that’s me!”

Walter has been heartened to see a broadcast TV network wholeheartedly support the show’s creator and star Quinta Brunson. “Having done that job, for ABC by the way, with my show ‘Life’s Work’ (which ran for a season from 1996-1997), I can tell you, it’s not always the case that people will say, ‘OK, we’ll trust her and back that.’ And they did with Quinta, a young woman of color, and I’m not going to say it’s a miracle, but it was such a blessing.”

Walter’s other credits range from “The Parent Trap” (Chessy!) to “Bruce Almighty” to “War of the Worlds,” the latter of which came to

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