Why You Recognize Law & Order: Organized Crime's Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays a troubled matriarch on Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime. Find out what you've seen her in before.
Det. Elliot Stabler's (Christopher Meloni) past has come back to haunt him on Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime — in the form of a prominent crime family from Italy that he helped take down during his time there.
The matriarch of that family is Isabella Spezzano, who turned into an informant for Stabler in Italy after her brother had her husband murdered. In return, Stabler promised her freedom and an escape to the U.S. for herself and her three grandkids.
Isabella took the deal, but that wasn't the end of it for her or Stabler as two of her grandsons are now caught up in the Italian criminal organization known as the Camorra, whose members tried to take out Stabler in a drive-by motorcycle shooting in Season 5, Episode 3.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio stars as Isabella, a character whose life is now intertwined with Stabler's, not only through their past in Naples, Italy six years earlier — but in present-day New York as she tries to keep her grandkids out of a life of crime.
It's not going nearly as smoothly as Isabella had hoped, leading to much emotional turmoil. Here's a closer look at Mastrantonio — the actress who's been masterfully bringing Isabella to life — and her decades-long career in film, TV and on Broadway.
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What else has Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio appeared in?
Before taking on the role of Isabella Spezzano in Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime, Mastrantonio most recently starred as Madeline Burke on the final two seasons of the NBC crime drama Blindspot. Before that, the versatile actress — who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her part as Carmen in The Color of Money, and a Best Actress in a Musical Tony nod for her role in the Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha — racked up dozens of other acting credits over the years.
Mastrantonio's prominent film roles include playing Gina Montana, the sister of Al Pacino's character, in 1983's Scarface, Lindsey Brigman in 1989's The Abyss, Marian in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Linda Greenlaw in 2000's The Perfect Storm, according to her profile on IMDb.
Fans of the Law & Order universe may have seen her before on another show in the franchise, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where she played Captain Zoe Callas across 14 episodes in Season 9. Mastrantonio's other TV credits include parts in The Punisher, Limitless, Hostages, Grimm, and Without a Trace.
Mastrantonio's Isabella first appeared on Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime in Episode 3, during a flashback scene when Det. Stabler thinks back to his time in Naples, Italy six years before the present day. Isabella is incarcerated and Stabler manages to convince her to give up information about her crime family in exchange for a new life in America.
In Episode 4, Isabella is horrified to discover that her two grandsons — Roman and Pietro Spezzano — are now also involved with the Camorra.
To find out how the drama will unfold, watch Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime on Peacock, where new episodes drop weekly on Thursdays.
