SUPERGIRL Casts Laura Benanti as Supergirl's Mom Alura

The Girl of Steel has a mom.

Deadline has revealed that the CBS pilot for Supergirl has cast Laura Benanti as Supergirl's mother Alura Zor-El.  Benanti joins Melissa Benoist and Mehcad Brooks in the pilot and her character Alura is described in the article as "A strong noblewoman, Alura sends Kara to Earth to escape Krypton’s destruction.  Her wisdom and guidance echoes across space and time, proving invaluable on Kara’s journey toward becoming Supergirl."

Benanti, 35, is probably best known as Sadie Stone in the ABC series Nashville, and has appeared on The Sound of Music Live, The Playboy Club, The Big C, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Elementary, Nurse Jackie and The Good Wife.

Created in 1959 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, Alura Zor-El first appeared in Action Comics (vol.1) #252, which featured the first appearance of Supergirl.  Alura In-Zee was born on the planet Krypton and became part of the science guild, where she learned to dismiss all emotions as simple primitive instincts and to observe the world in a pure mathematical and physical fashion.

However, Alura ended up falling in love with a young artist called Zor-El, brother of Superman's father, Jor-El.  Zor-El taught her to watch the world as more than just mathematical equations and to see the beauty in things. They soon married and gave birth to a daughter, Kara, until the family was forcibly separated when the planet Krypton was destroyed.

Benanti will be the second person to portray Alura in live action, after Mia Farrow in the 1984 film Supergirl.