‘Blue Bloods’: Who Plays Detective Allison Mulaney?
The latest episode of Blue Bloods introduces us to a new character, Detective Allison Mulaney. Who is the actor who plays this role? Here’s everything Showbiz Cheat Sheet knows.
Frank Reagan’s tough decision
During Blue Bloods Season 11, Episode 4 (titled “Redemption”), Detective Allison Mulaney presents Frank with a special request. Allison was injured in the field and now she uses a wheelchair. She wants Frank to allow her to return to the field. It’s up to him to decide where her career goes from here.
Allison decides to put pressure on Frank during a press conference. However, Frank doesn’t like her approach. He tells her he “doesn’t take well to that kind of pressure.” So far, it doesn’t look good for Allison. “No detective has ever worked an active crime scene from a wheelchair,” Frank tells her during a sneak preview of the episode.
Who plays Allison Mulaney on ‘Blue Bloods’?
Detective Allison Mulaney is played by Ali Stroker. One of Stroker’s early roles was in the 2011 video short Rachel Bloom: I Was a Mermaid and Now I’m a Pop Star. She rose to fame after making it to the finals in The Glee Project Season 2. In 2013, Stroker played the character Betty Pillsbury in an episode of Glee titled “I Do.”
Stroker is also known for becoming the first actress who uses a wheelchair for mobility to be nominated for and win a Tony Award for a Broadway performance (she played Ado Annie in Oklahoma!). She’s also the first actress who uses a wheelchair to perform on a Broadway stage. Furthermore, Stroker is the first person with a disability to play the lead in a Lifetime Christmas movie, reports USA Today.
Stroker says she’s happy to be playing characters who have a broader story line. She told USA Today it’s encouraging to see Lifetime embracing diversity when it comes to casting:
I’m really excited that this narrative now exists, because when I was a kid, I didn’t have that. I went to see theater and watched TV and movies, and I never saw anybody like me. Those narratives are so powerful for young people, because you understand that that can be you. You can have your love story.
The other piece of it that’s so important to me is that, if you are an actress or an actor with a disability, the story doesn’t have to be about that. It doesn’t have to be about disability. That doesn’t have to be the conflict. That doesn’t have to be the character’s story line.
Ali Stroker, USA Today
Ali Stroker’s accident
Stroker became paralyzed after she was in a car accident when she was 2 years old. She told New Jersey Monthly her parents always encouraged her to reach for her dreams.
“My parents were exceptional,” says Stroker. “Because I had limitations, they always put emphasis on where my strengths and gifts were. We really put our attention on what I could do and not what I couldn’t.”
Follow Sheiresa Ngo on Twitter.
