Louise Renee Fletcher is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Janet Dubois on the TV series Beyond Our Dreams. She is also known for supporting roles in the movies "Best and Personal," "Dorothy" and the 2000 mini-series, "Union Wars."
Fletcher was born September 11, 1961 in Nashville, Tennessee, the third of seven children born to Robert and Dawn Fletcher. Her father was the preacher at a small church and Louise started singing and entertaining in church groups and fairs at the age of 14. She also spent part of her life living near Ridgetop, Tennessee, learning to ride horses and take care of animals. She attended Station Camp High School, later studying acting and dance at Daymar College.
Traveling with friends to break into the business in New York City, Fletcher lived with five struggling actors in a west side loft apartment as she took acting classes and went on auditions. She starred in commercials for "Pepsi," "Burger King," "Blockbuster Video" and "Timex" while working as a background character and extra on TV shows like "Psycho Dad," "Galaxy Quest" and "The Jackie Thomas Show."
In 1990, Fletcher auditioned for and got the role of Janet DuBois on Beyond Our Dreams during its final season, developing a friendship with show creator Jack Gable. One of the reasons she reportedly got the job was based on her ability to ride a horse. She received notice for her acting in the series and was nominated as "Best Newcomer" for the Golden Globe Award that year. Her highest profile role came with her role in "Staten Island," a romantic comedy directed by Richard Crosby.
Although she has worked steadily for several years, Fletcher has struggled to find further roles that kept her in the spotlight. In 1995, she starred in Beyond Our Dreams: Return to Ashford Falls, once again playing Janet, and "Glamor" with Oliver Cohen and Jack Gates. She appeared several times on television and had four short lived shows, "Prudence" from 1990 to 1992, "Thena: Warrior Goddess" from 1993 to 1996, "Fossils" from 2003 to 2005 and "CSI: Nashville" from 2010 to 2012. Between 2013 to 2015, she starred in three movies, "Running From Cuba," "Papa Woody" and "Finding Future" which garnered good reviews from the critics but yet struggled at the box office.
A devout Christian, Fletcher has been married to Kevin Crossman, a stuntman she had been seeing since she starred on "Thena: Warrior Goddess" since December 9, 1994. They have two children: Bree (born 1997) and Langton (born 1999). She has also dabbled in writing and behind the scenes work on the prime-time soap "Deep Powder" with her "Beyond Our Dreams" co-stars Leigh Costello and Stan Freeman.
