

Helgenberger guest starred in an episode of the ABC series Spenser: For Hire, NBC's Matlock and ABC's thirtysomething.

After nearly four years, Helgenberger left the show in January 1986 to pursue new opportunities.
#Marg helgenberger species professional
Soon after completing college, Helgenberger landed her first professional role on the long-running ABC Daytime soap opera in March 1982, playing amateur cop Siobhan Ryan Novak DuBujak, a role previously played by Ann Gillespie. While performing in a summer 1981 NU campus production of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, where she played Kate, Helgenberger was spotted by a scout for the TV soap opera Ryan's Hope.

After portraying the role of Blanche Dubois in a university production of A Streetcar Named Desire, she developed an interest in acting. During the summer she also worked as a deboner at her father's meat packing plant. Helgenberger began as a nightly weather person at KHGI-TV in Kearney, Nebraska, while attending college (her name was changed by the producer to Margi McCarty). Until she went to college, Helgenberger aspired to be a nurse like her mother, but attended Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) in Kearney, Nebraska, then attended Northwestern University's School of Speech in Evanston, Illinois, (now the School of Communication) and earned a B.S. Helgenberger played the French horn in her high school marching band. Helgenberger is of Irish and German descentand had a Roman Catholic upbringing.She has one older sister named Ann and a younger brother named Curt. Helgenberger was born in Fremont, Nebraska, to Mary Kay (née Bolte), a nurse, and Hugh Helgenberger, a meat inspector.She was raised in North Bend, Nebraska, where she graduated from.
