Michaela Quinn

Michaela Quinn
Jane Seymour as Michaela Quinn
First appearance	"Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman"
Last appearance	The Heart Within
Created by	Beth Sullivan
Portrayed by	Jane Seymour
Information
Nickname(s)	"Dr. Mike"
Gender	Female
Occupation	Physician
Title	Doctor
Spouse(s)	Byron Sully
Children	Katherine Elizabeth "Katie" Sully Matthew Cooper (adopted) Colleen Cooper-Cook (adopted) Brian Cooper (adopted)

Michaela Anne "Dr. Mike" Quinn, M.D. is a fictional character from the American hit television show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. CBS introduced the series in 1993, and Dr. Quinn was played by Jane Seymour. The series ran for six seasons, ending in 1998. Seymour reprised the role in two made for TV movies, Dr. Quinn: Revolutions (1999) and Dr. Quinn: The Heart Within (2001), following the series cancellation.

Michaela Quinn was born into a wealthy family in Boston. With the encouragement of Josef Quinn, her father and a doctor in his own right, she attends the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania and becomes licensed herself. Unable to find respect as a female physician in a practice of her own, she works with her father in his clinic until his death. Once again faced with discrimination as an independent, female doctor, she pursues employment outside of Boston. After being mistaken for "Michael Quinn", (a man) she is offered a job via telegraph in the Colorado Territory. Upon her arrival, the townsfolk discover the error and attempt to withdraw the offer of employment. Michaela insists, however, that she is up to the challenge, and she is reluctantly offered the job as town doctor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

There she starts her own medical clinic in the town, in lieu of being employed by the town directly, giving her autonomy in her medical practice. She also begins actively trying to change the townfolks attitudes toward modern medicine, the Cheyenne and other Native American peoples, and a host of other, more progressive attitudes not entirely shared by the frontier-minded residents. She adopts three children after her friend and their mother, Charlotte Cooper, was bitten by a rattlesnake and succumbs to the poison.

Quinn is a very independent woman who often clashes with the townsfolk, but more often than not she is successful in changing or at the least softening their attitudes. Soon after her arrival she falls in love with the man named Byron Sully, played by Joe Lando, who is very interested in Indian culture and spends most of his time with the Indians.