Emily Mallory Procter (born October 8, 1968 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is an American actress best known for her roles of Ainsley Hayes in The West Wing (1999–2006) and Calleigh Duquesne in CSI: Miami (2002–present). Emily Procter was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was two years old when her parents William (a general practitioner) and Barbara divorced. Emily is a graduate of Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. After she received her degrees in journalism and dance at East Carolina University, she was employed as a television weather anchor at WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina. Emily had originally intended to get into the theater department at her college in East Carolina, but the head of the theater department told her that he thought she did not have what it takes to become an actress and that it would not work for her. According to Emily's own words, this was a great inspiration to go out and do it anyway. After the move to Los Angeles, her father provided the costs for acting school for two years. Before even graduating, she had already landed a number of small roles in films such as Jerry Maguire (1996) and Breast Men (1997), where she appeared along with David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper During the 1995–96 season (season 3) of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, she portrayed Lana Lang the first blond actress to ever do so. She also briefly appeared in the 1997 TV movie The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! as Mavis. Procter also had a recurring guest role as Associate White House Counsel Ainsley Hayes on NBC's The West Wing. She landed her breakthrough with the role of Calleigh Duquesne in the television series CSI: Miami, which has been running on American television since 2002.