Raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Atkinson earned a theater arts degree from Hendrix College before honing the Meisner technique at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse, where a showcase performance led to early television work on Law & Order and Rescue Me. Her off-Broadway debut as Helen in Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig earned a Theatre World Award and nominations for both a Lucille Lortel and an Outer Criti…
