‘Family of the Year’: ABC Casts ‘Raising Hope's’ Martha Plimpton in New Role in Dan Savage Comedy Pilot

Martha Plimpton, 44, best remembered for playing Virginia Chance on Fox's Raising Hope sitcom, will again star in another comedy TV series in ABC's upcoming pilot Family of the Year, which is loosely based on gay activist and writer Dan Savage's life.

Family of the Year is single-camera project written by David Windsor and Casey Johnson about a picture-perfect family, the O'Neals, that is turned upside down when the youngest son Kenny comes out of the closet. As described in the plot outline, what seems like the end of their idyllic life turns out to be the beginning of a bright new chapter when everyone stops pretending to be perfect and actually starts being real.

Plimpton is cast as Eileen O'Neal, Kenny's mother, described as the perfect mother who, in reality, has a marriage on the rocks and is liberated when she comes clean about her efforts to be perfect. She will be joining Noah Galvin who plays the role of Kenny, Jay R. Fergusson who plays her husband Pat, as well as confirmed cast regulars Bebe Wood, Matthew Shively and Mary Hollis Inboden in still undisclosed roles.

Savage, Windsor, Johnson, Brian Pines and Dan McDermott will serve as executive producers, while Todd Holland will direct.

Plimpton, aside from her role in Raising Hope, guest starred in other TV series, in fact winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2012 for her portrayal of attorney Patti Nyholm in the CBS legal drama The Good Wife. In Broadway, she is recognized for her work on The Coast of Utopia, Top Girls, Pal Joey, and Shining City. On the big-screen, her film credits include appearances in The River Rat, The Goonies, The Mosquito Coast, Running on Empty, Parenthood and Small Town Murders.

Just as Savage is an LGBT rights activist, Plimpton too is an activist for a cause. She is an ardent abortion rights campaigner and is co-founder of the abortion rights-focused organization "A Is For."