"I went back to work shortly after Avery was born, but 'Inconceivable' didn't go far and suddenly I was left with a big gap in my schedule and I was able to take a year off with my babies.
"I think it was one of those things that just happened in the way that God wanted them to happen for us," Harmon continued matter of factly. "Because His plan was for us, all the timing worked out perfectly. How can anything be wrong with His plan? It worked out really, really well. God is so smart."
Relatively rested, and the beneficiary of a seriously happy marriage with former New York Giants All-Pro-defensive back-turned-TV-sportscaster Jason Sehorn, it took nearly a year of family bliss before Harmon entertained the notion of going back to work again.
"We sat down and talked about it first," she explained. "My children do come first, that's a no-brainer, and there were big considerations."
The main problem in paradise, according to Harmon, "was that it's very hard for me to be a stay-at-home mom. I'd love to say I can do it, but I need creative outlets. And a creative outlet for me is not just going to the gym. So we prayed about it, and the opportunity to do 'Women's Murder Club' came along. We didn't feel that it was just a coincidence."
"Women's Murder Club" - based on James Patterson's best-selling novels revolving around four successful law enforcement-oriented career women in San Francisco - is now a police "procedural show kind of like 'Sex in the City' meets 'CSI,'" she explained, laughing. "My character is Homicide Inspector Lindsay Boxer, a woman great at her job and terrible at her life still painfully dealing with her ex-husband. If she were half as good at her personal life than at a crime scene, she'd be a perfect woman."
The attractive quartet chasing bad guys and occasional eligible bachelors is rounded out by Paula Newsome as meticulous Medical Examiner Claire Washburn, Laura Harris as dogged Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt and Aubrey Dollar cashing in as ace crime reporter Cindy Thomas. To solve grisly murder cases on a weekly basis, the estrogen-powered group relies on their tight friendship, unerring instincts and brilliant collective expertise.
"Doing this series means working 80 hours a week on the set and locations all over Los Angeles," Harmon explained, "and as I'm the only one in the cast who is married and has kids, (the producers) have set me up in their most beautiful trailer - my kids are thrilled. And there are only great guys in the crew.
"Some come in with DVDs of children's movies and toys to keep them busy when they visit on the set. If I left something for them at home, transportation guys will go and get it."
Born and raised in Dallas, the sleek, 5-foot-10 brunette is the daughter of professional models Larry Harmon and Daphne Demar Caravageli - both since retired.
"Both my parents introduced me to modeling; legend has it that the personnel at the hospital where I was born chose me as their model when showing other moms how to pick up their babies, give them baths, and so on,'" said the deeply religious actress, laughing. "That was sort of the beginning, but don't think I didn't go through that awkward stage."
On-camera from the time she could walk, Harmon wiped out more than 60,000 competitors to cop Seventeen magazine's cover model contest by the time she was 15. But she was much more interested in acting and checked out possibilities in New York and Los Angeles as soon as she graduated from Dallas' Highland Park High School. She promptly made her screen debut in a TV beer commercial. Prior to her feature film debut in "Lawn Dogs," Harmon launched a successful television career with a string of episodic guest shots before hooking up with David Hasselhoff on "Baywatch Nights." Harmon became a regular on such good and bad series as "C-16: FBI" and "Law & Order" as Assistant District Attorney Abbie Carmichael. She counts "Agent Cody Banks," "Glass Houses: The Good Mother" and "Seraphim Falls" among her feature film credits. But her introduction to football great Jason Sehorn eight years ago by her friend and his New York Giants teammate Michael Strahan was her biggest break of all.
"I'm a football fan - it's in my DNA because I'm from Texas," she laughed. "I literally could have married into the royal family and my parents would not have been more thrilled that me marrying into the National Football League."
