Michelle Landau

Infobox character | name = Michelle Landau


portrayer = Sanaa Lathan
creator = Ryan Murphy
species =
gender = Female
first = Cindy Plumb "(episode 4.01)"
last = Gala Gallardo "(episode 4.15)"
last_cause =
age = 30
occupation = Businesswoman, Plastic Surgery Clinic Owner
title =
alias =
family =
spouse = Burt Landau (deceased), Christian Troy (ex-fiancé)
children = Wilber Sutherland (adopted son ?)
relatives =
footnotes =

Michelle Landau is a fictional character in the television series "Nip/Tuck". She is played by the actress Sanaa Lathan.

She is a successful businesswoman who buys the plastic surgery firm McNamara/Troy from series protagonists Sean McNamara and Christian Troy in the premiere episode of the fourth season.

She was married to a much older wealthy man, Burt Landau, who joined her in buying out McNamara/Troy. It was eventually revealed that she had a secret past with a mysterious woman named James. Anesthesiologist Liz Cruz discovered the secret and Michelle tried to have her fired, but Sean stopped her.

Christian blackmailed her into telling him about James. It was discovered that Michelle was an escort while attending medical school. James paid for Michelle to go to medical school and Michelle thought she had paid her back. However, James took advantage of the fact that Michelle now owns a plastic surgery practice.

After blackmailing this out of Michelle, Christian blackmailed her again to sleep with him, and the two were seen together by James. Christian paid James off for the rest of the pictures - after she promised to leave him and Michelle alone.

James did not keep her end of the bargain and continued to haunt Michelle. At the end of episode 4.05, "Dawn Budge", it was revealed that Michelle is one of the organ thieves that has been stealing kidneys from unsuspecting citizens, like Liz.

When Burt found out that Christian Troy and Michelle had an affair, he brought them both to his house and forced them to have sex because Burt could no longer sexually pleasure Michelle. After this fiasco, Michelle became distant from Burt. She said she always loved him, but after he made her and Christian have sex in front of him, she felt like she was owned and couldn't stand to even look at him. She and Christian fall in love and James, sensing this, tries to use Michelle's love for Christian to her advantage. She drugs Christian and threatens to take both his kidneys unless Michelle can get her more. Burt is already very sick in bed, so when Michelle goes back to the house, she denies him his medicine and watches him die, taking with her both his kidneys.

Michelle and Christian are now free to be together. Christian proposes to Michelle, who agrees. Although they have a brief falling out over living arrangements and Michelle's stress over James, the engagement is on. After Christian gets Wilber back, he asks Michelle to be Wilber's adopted mother - she is initially reluctant but eventually happily agrees.

Later, James kills herself in front of Michelle, upset with the life she is living. After James' suicide, Michelle gets in her car and Escobar comes to her, telling her that she will take James' place delivering the organs.

Christian and Michelle buy Sean's stake in the practice, following Sean's expressed desire to leave Miami. Escobar approaches Christian and Sean about performing surgery on his wife, but they refuse. Escobar approaches Michelle, who believes she may have a way to avoid having Escobar pressure Christian. She attempts to perform the surgery on Gala Gallardo's breasts herself but is discovered by Christian. With this discovery comes the confrontation where Michelle reveals her part in the organ-theft ring to Christian. This revelation serves to end her relationship with Christian, as he feels he can no longer trust her.

She buys out Christian's stake in the practice on the same day as the end of their engagement, freeing Christian to follow Sean to California.

The fate of the McNamara/Troy facility in Miami is unknown after Michelle bought it. The McNamara/Troy name has since been adjourned to the new facility in Los Angeles.

Trivia

*Although it wasn't clear whether or not she finally adopted Wilber, this question has been answered since Wilber has been living with Christian in season 5.
*Although only credited as a special guest star, Michelle got more screen time than most of the regular cast during season 4. She appeared in every episode except Conor McNamara, 2026 which takes place in 2026.