Scandal-scarred Felicity Huffman has finally landed an acting job.
Huffman, 61, who served 11 days in jail for her involvement in the nationwide 2019 Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, will play a “brilliant biological scientist” on a Season 2 episode of “Criminal Minds: Evolution” on Paramount+.
The news comes two months after the former “Desperate Housewives” star said it was hard for her to find acting roles since getting out of the hoosegow in October 2020.
She appeared in one episode of ABC’s “The Good Doctor” last year.
“I walk into the room with it. I did it. It’s black and white,” the former “Desperate Housewives” star told the Guardian in February. “How I am is kind of a loaded question.”
“As long as my kids are well and my husband is well, I feel like I’m well. I’m grateful to be here,” she went on. “But how am I? I guess I’m still processing.
“It’s been hard,” she said. “Sort of like your old life died, and you died with it.”
On the “Criminal Minds: Evolution” episode, Huffman will play Dr. Jill Gideon, the ex-wife of Jason Gideon, who was played by Mandy Patinkin on “Criminal Minds,” according to Deadline.
[Patinkin left the series after 47 episodes when his character was murdered offscreen.]
The spinoff series stars Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Zach Gilford, Ryan-James Hatanaka, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Season 2 is currently in production with no premiere date yet (likely later this year).
Dr. Gideon, who was never seen in the original series, agrees to help the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit investigate a murderous conspiracy called the Gold Star mystery — but is reluctant to return because of her complicated history until she realizes “her specific skill set could help them uncover another clue,” according to the report.
Huffman almost made a return to television last year in a pilot for a spinoff of ABC’s “The Good Doctor” — opposite Kennedy McMann — that was not picked up as a series.
She also starred in a 2020 pilot for ABC in which she played the owner of a minor league baseball team — but that, too, did not go forward.
Huffman was charged in 2019 with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud after shelling out $15,000 to have someone else take her daughter Sophia’s SATs.
She subsequently paid a $30,000 fine and completed 250 hours of community service.
Huffman was one of 40 people to be charged in the college admissions scandal, along with former “Fuller House” star Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who both pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors alleged that Huffman made a $15,000 donation to the Key Worldwide Foundation, ostensibly a charitable contribution — but that it was, in reality, payment to someone who posed as her daughter Sophia to take the SAT test, and who scored significantly higher than did Sophia on her PSATs.
Huffman and her husband, actor William Macy, have another daughter, Georgia.
No charges were filed against Macy or Sophia, who, Huffman said, knew nothing about the donation and phony SAT test.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and Giannulli pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud.
Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison, while Giannulli was sentenced to five months in prison.
Loughlin, who was a regular on the family-friendly Hallmark Channel before the scandal, was released from prison in 2020. After the network terminated its relationship with her in 2019, she signed a deal with Great American Family to star in a series of TV movies.
She also parodied her involvement in the Varsity Blues scandal in a recent episode of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” opposite series star Larry David.
