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There's one episode of Law and Order that gets rerun a lot, because it's the first one in which Jerry Orbach appears as Lenny Briscoe. The case involves a woman who kills a liquor salesman, supposedly because he attempted to rape her, although ultimately it's revealed that the Irish mafia was involved. The suspect is apprehended at her place of business based on a tip from a woman who saw the suspect in a pub washroom shortly before the murder; the tipster tells police they had discussed the Jacques Dessange cosmetics the suspect had on and adds, "Her make-up was flawless."

That tipster was played by Caroline Aaron.

At the beginning of Big Night, the waiter Segundo, played by Stanley Tucci, serves a plate of risotto to a patron who asks why it doesn't come with spaghetti on the side. Exasperated, he goes back to the kitchen to ask for a side of pasta from his brother Primo, the chef played by Tony Shalhoub. Primo is aghast at the notion of consuming a huge plate of rice with a spaghetti chaser, and Segundo exclaims, "She likes starch! I don't know!"

That starch lover was played by Caroline Aaron.

Aaron kicked off her career in 1982 with Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, and since then has played character roles in such films as Working Girl, Edward Scissorhands, and Sleepless in Seattle. Her slightly gravelly voice, deadpan delivery, and everywoman looks also seem to have endeared her to Woody Allen; she is a veteran of his films, having appeared in Alice, Husbands and Wives, and Deconstructing Harry. Her most showy role in a Woody Allen film came with Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which she played the sister of Allen's character -- the one whose blind date tied her down to a bed and -- not to put too fine a point on it -- pooed on her.

As Judy Davis or Julie Kavner can tell you, once you're in with Woody, you'll never go hungry. Aaron has been canny enough to supplement her roles in Woody Allen movies by playing no-bullshit Jewish women in such films as This Is My Life and Primary Colors. As long as leading ladies need sassy, non-WASP best friends -- and Lainie Kazan is too old -- Caroline Aaron will have work.