Who Is Eddie’s Partner, Officer Rachel Witten, on 'Blue Bloods’?

Currently, the popular cop drama Blue Bloods is in the middle of its 11th season. Over the years, while telling the Regan family's stories, the hit television show has also told various stories centered around different characters. During Season 8 of Blue Bloods, viewers were introduced to a new character, the newest recurring officer — Rachel Witten, played by Lauren Patten. Rachel’s introduction on the show was rather emotional and involved the officer stopping a man who had been jaywalking.

She unintentionally asks the man about his immigration status, which violates protocol, and becomes a massive problem for the police department. Frank Regan (Tom Selleck) ends up terminating her position at the 65th Precinct. Viewers see Rachel again in Season 9 when Frank feels guilty about the circumstances surrounding her firing and wants to reinstate her employment. Rachel at first was hesitant to come back but ends up returning to the NYPD, and her new partner is Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray).

Blue Bloods is not the first show that Lauren has been on. She held her own against the Roy family on the HBO drama Succession, which centers around the Roys, who own a media empire that has dominated the entertainment and media space for decades. The children aim to take over the company which leads to underhandedness and deception. In Season 1, Episode 8, Lauren's character Angela is introduced when she meets one of the kids Kendall (Jeremy Strong), who’s vying to make money and connections. 

If you're a fan of CBS's The Good Fight, you will recognize Lauren as Polly Dean. Polly fit right into the series' conspiracies as the newest addition to the resistance movement started by Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski). Lauren played Polly until Episode 9 and probably won't appear in any new episodes in the future since she's busy fighting crime as Officer Rachel on Blue Bloods.

Lauren, like a few of her co-stars on Blue Bloods, has acted on Broadway. She was the first to play Jo, who's dealing with her religious mother’s disapproval regarding her sexuality in Jagged Little Pill, the Broadway musical inspired by Alanis Morissette’s music. In an interview with ShowTickets.com about her path to Broadway, she said, “I have been acting since I was a young kid. Nobody in my family does it. I was sort of a strange child who talked about performing from the time that I could talk."

Lauren added, "I grew up in Chicago and did community theater in a Chicago suburb from the time I was six. The first show I ever did was an adaptation of The Christmas Pageant." In 2020, Lauren was nominated for a Tony for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. 

Len Cariou (Henry), Sami Gayle (Nicky), and Tom Selleck (Frank) have all performed on Broadway before Blue Bloods. Len played Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  

Rachel and Eddie seem to make a pretty good match out in the field. Maybe they’ll become close friends, and she will get an invitation to the infamous Sunday family dinner. 

Watch Blue Bloods on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.