(The Zeljko Ivanek Hall of Fame is where we turn the spotlight on a television actor or actress, and it is named after their patron saint, Zeljko Ivanek)
For this category, Hyatt has a relatively short career, with her first appearance not being until 1998, but with over 35 titles in the thirteen yeas since then, she’s certainly a worthy entrant and one who will continue to build her resume. We also have another cast member in The Wire, which is always a treat.
Her first role was in a Dharma and Greg episode in 1998, and her next was in an episode of Oz in 1999 in which she played inmate Hamid Khan’s wife, who suffers when Khan is put in a coma in the Oz boxing tournament by Cyrus O’Reilly (why they allow a boxing tourney in Oz I never understand). She was in the pilot of Wonderland, an episode of Ally McBeal, and then in six episodes of The West Wing. She portrayed Angela Blake, who had previously worked for Leo McGarry when he was Secretary of Labor and in Season 5 was hired to be Director of Legislative Affairs. She played the wife of a man who drove himself to the funeral home to die there in Six Feet Under and appeared in episodes of Joan of Arcadia, Huff and 24. She was in four separate episodes of Law & Order, each time as a different character, including as a defense attorney in season 15’s License to Kill. She was in a two part episode of E-Ring and in a second season Veronica Mars episode where she plays a women’s studies professor.
Around this time period, she engaged in her biggest role to date as the villainous Brianna Barksdale in The Wire. Brianna is sister to Barksdale organization head Avon Barksdale, and mother to D’Angelo Barksdale.
(WIRE SPOILERS BEGIN)
Brianna plays a key role in the first season when she convinces D’Angelo, who had all but agreed to cooperate with the police in exchange for a plea bargain, to stand strong for the family and renege on his potential deal. She makes her argument personal and promises D’Angelo, who now must take a long prison sentence, that he will be taken care of. This begins the course of events which lead to D’Angelo’s death. She is suspicious when McNulty tells her that D’Angelo was murdered rather than committed suicide, but eventually comes to believe it, and never gets on with Avon the same way again.
(WIRE SPOILERS END)
She was in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy and two of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. She was in ones of ER and Shark, and two of Smith, and three of Drive. She starred in Spike TV’s one season The Kill Point, about a group of Marines who come home from abroad and execute a bank heist. Hyatt plays the head of the SWAT team determined to save the hostages who are being held as the heist progresses. She was then in episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, Criminal Minds and Bones. She was in TV movies Operating Instructions and a pilot which did not get picked up known only as Untitled Wyoming Project. She appeared in two episodes of Brothers & Sisters and single episodes of Glee, Southland, Harry’s Law, Mad Love and House of Payne. She most recently appeared in an extremely brief role in the first episode of this season of Dexter, as an admissions director for a pre-school, which gave me the inspiration to honor her here.
Television, the Drug of the Nation 