Chicago Justice’s Joelle Carter celebrates her birthday

Chicago Justice star Joelle Carter celebrates her birthday Wednesday, so we’re celebrating her and her Chicago Justice character Laura Nagel.

Today is the birthday of Chicago Justice alum Joelle Carter, who starred in the fourth One Chicago series as State’s Investigator Laura Nagel. While she hasn’t been seen in Chicago since then, we’re hoping she makes a comeback.

Nagel was the most complicated character on Chicago Justice. She not only had a lot of personal baggage to work through, but was engaged in a custody battle, and one episode referenced that she had a tough backstory.

But despite all that, she was a determined member of the State’s Attorney’s team, who never gave up no matter how difficult things got for her.

There was so much about her that audiences never got to know, but the bits and pieces that did come out made us want to root for her and see her power through every challenge.

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It was a pleasure to have Joelle Carter as part of the One Chicago family, too. If Chicago Justice was your first introduction to her, you should go back and see the rest of her resume.

She deserved an Emmy Award for her performance as Ava Crowder on the FX series Justified, where she was the toughest woman in Kentucky. She took her character from being a love interest, to being one of the most well-developed protagonists on the show.

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She’s also done great work in a number of other shows and movies, including being the first to play the role of Vanessa Moss on ABC‘s Scandal.

Where is she now? Carter shot a pilot for ABC last season, Salvage, with Charity Wakefield. However, the network decided not to order that show to series, so we don’t have her back on our small screens just yet.

That makes it a shame that she’s the one person from Chicago Justice who hasn’t resurfaced elsewhere in the universe since the show ended. She’s a fantastic talent, and there’s so much more to explore with her character. And she’s certainly out there if a reason to bring her back would occur.

Let’s make it happen, One Chicago producers, because we need more Joelle Carter in our fandom. Happy birthday, Joelle!

For more on what the Chicago Justice cast is doing now and other news, follow the Chicago Justice category at One Chicago Center.