Michelle Hurd (born December 21, 1966) is an American actress best known for her work in television. She first received recognition for portraying Monique Jeffries in the police procedural series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2001). She has since starred as Athena Barnes in the drama series Leap Years (2001), Colleen Manus in the crime drama series The Glades (2010–2013), Linda Bates Emery in the comedy-horror series Ash vs Evil Dead (2016), and Ellen "Shepherd" Briggs in the crime drama series Blindspot (2015–2018). She portrays Raffi Musiker in the science fiction series Star Trek: Picard (2020–present). Early life Michelle Hurd is the daughter of actor Hugh Hurd and Merlyn Hurd (), an actress and clinical psychologist. Her parents met when they appeared in the same Broadway show. Hurd has two sisters. She graduated from Saint Ann's School in 1984 and Boston University in 1988, and studied with the Alvin Ailey School. After her graduation from college, she studied at London's National Theatre. Career One of Hurd's early Off Broadway performances was in the play The Constant Couple in 1990. A review in The Nation predicted that this would be a stepping stone to Broadway roles. Hurd made her Broadway debut in the 1996 Stephen Sondheim–George Furth play Getting Away with Murder. Her other theatre credits include Othello, A.M.L., Hamlet and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Hurd acted in Looking for the Pony for Manhattan Theater Source with her sister Adrienne and in 900 Oneonta for Circle Repertory Company with Garret Dillahunt who would become her husband. She won the Robbie Award and the California Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for the premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour. Michelle Hurd appeared as the comic book superhero B.B. DaCosta / Fire in the failed television pilot Justice League of America in 1997. Her other early television appearances include New York Undercover, The Practice and The Cosby Mysteries. Her experiences filming the latter series led her to come forward as a witness to a woman being drugged by Bill Cosby. Hurd's association with the Law & Order franchise began with her appearance in a 1997 episode of the titular series. Her performance as a corrupt FBI informant caught the attention of Law & Order producer Dick Wolf, who two years later cast her in the spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Detective Monique Jeffries. She