Connie Britton

Although best known as an actress, Connie Britton, due to her role as Rayna James (a fictional country singer struggling to navigate the back-end tipping point of her career) on the ABC television series Nashville, has also had some success as a singer. Born Constance Elaine Womack in Boston, Massachusetts on March 6, 1967, she attended high school in Lynchburg, Virginia, then went on to earn a degree from Dartmouth College, majoring in Asian studies. After graduating, she moved to New York City, where she spent two years studying with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and then another couple years working in off-Broadway productions before moving to Los Angeles, where she began to see work on several television shows, including Spin City and 24. Her first big break came when she was cast as Tami Taylor, the coach's wife, in NBC's Friday Night Lights (she also played the same role in the preceding movie version). By 2012 she was starring as Rayna James in the television series Nashville, a role that required her to sing in most episodes, which in turn led to a rapidly emerging recording career for her on the side.