Constance Zimmer Biography

Constance Zimmer (born October 11, 1970) is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as Dana Gordon in HBO's Entourage, as Claire Simms on the critically acclaimed ABC legal comedy-drama Boston Legal and Rosalind Price on the ABC drama Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She also starred on NBC's short-lived series Love Bites. From 2013 to 2014, she starred in the Netflix original series House of Cards. She currently stars in the Lifetime television series UnREAL for which she won a Critics' Choice Television Award and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Early life

Zimmer was born in Seattle, Washington, to German migrant parents from the former East Prussia. She speaks fluent German, saying in a 2015 interview that although her parents spoke English with her as a child, she spent six weeks of every summer in Germany, with her grandmother who only spoke German. Zimmer decided to pursue a career in acting after she fell in love with the craft as a high school student. Following high school, she was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena.

Career

Zimmer's stage career was highlighted with her award-winning portrayal in a Los Angeles production of Catholic School Girls, where she won a Dramalogue for Best Actress. After starring in several national commercials, most notably for Duracell, she started making guest appearances in such shows as Ellen, Seinfeld, The X-Files, Gideon's Crossing, and The King of Queens, as well as having recurring roles in The Wayans Bros., Hyperion Bay, and The Trouble With Normal. During that same period, she was cast in a few independent movies such as Spin Cycle, Home Room, and Warm Blooded Killers.

Zimmer eventually booked her first TV series regular role on the NBC comedy Good Morning, Miami as the lazy and burned-out office assistant, Penny Barrington. After the series was canceled, she spent the second season recurring as Sister Lilly Waters in the CBS drama, Joan of Arcadia, as well as guest-starring in episodes of NYPD Blue and Jake in Progress. Also in 2005, she acted in the short film Just Pray, directed by Tiffani Thiessen. It was accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival.

In early 2006, Zimmer was cast as Brianna, the competitive law undergrad, in the ABC crime/drama series In Justice. She joined the cast of Boston Legal, where she played associate attorney Claire Simms on the show's third season. Her character did not return in season four. Zimmer also portrayed industry powerhouse and studio executive Dana Gordon in the HBO original series Entourage from 2005 to 2011, arguably her most known role to date.

Zimmer performed in the world-premiere play, Girls Talk, alongside Brooke Shields, Andrea Bendewald, and Nicole Paggi. The play was written and directed by Roger Kumble. She also starred in the NBC summer series Love Bites as Colleen Rouscher and had a guest appearance on USA"?s Royal Pains, playing psychiatrist Dr. Abby Burton.

In 2014, she was cast in the series regular role of Quinn King on the Lifetime dramedy series UnREAL. The show has received critical acclaim and Zimmer's performance has garnered high praise.

In 2015, she had a recurring role on season three of ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Rosalind Price.

Personal life

Zimmer has been married twice. First, to special effects artist Steve Johnson, whom she met when working on a Duracell TV commercial in the late 1990s.

On January 5, 2008, Zimmer gave birth to a daughter, Colette Zoe, whose father is director Russ Lamoureux. On June 20, 2010, it was announced that Zimmer and Lamoureux were engaged, with the couple getting married in October of the same year.

Zimmer attends many celebrity benefits for charity. Among those she supports are the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Heifer International.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Senseless	Zestfully Clean Woman
1999	Warm Blooded Killers	Vicky Portenza
2000	Spin Cycle	Echo
2001	Farewell, My Love	Kyle
2002	Home Room	Assistant Kelly
2005	Just Pray	Corley James	Short film
2006	Damaged Goods	Angel	Short film
2007	The Hammer	Nicole
2008	Chaos Theory	Peg the Teacher
2008	AmericanEast	The Director
2011	Demoted	Elizabeth Holland
2012	The Babymakers	Mona
2015	Entourage	Dana Gordon
2015	Results	Mandy
2015	Run the Tide	Lola

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Day My Parents Ran Away	Girl in line	TV movie
1994	Babylon 5	Young woman patient	Episode: "The Quality of Mercy"
1997	Quicksilver Highway	Female patient	Movie
1997	Ellen	Riot Girl	Episode: "Just Coffee?"
1997	Unhappily Ever After	LaVerne	Episode: "Tiffany, the Home Wrecker"
1998	Seinfeld	Waitress #2	Episode: "The Wizard"
1998	Jenny	Kaleigh	Episode: "A Girl"?s Gotta Come through in a Clutch"
1998	Diagnosis: Murder	Lisa Blake	Episode: "An Education in Murder"
1998	Beverly Hills, 90210	Millie	Episode: "Reunion"
1998	The Wayans Bros.	Vanessa	2 episodes
1998	Felicity	Girl	Episode: "The Last Stand"
1998	The King of Queens	Jenny	Episode: "Fixer Upper"
1998-1999	Hyperion Bay		2 episodes
1999	Chicago Hope	Dana	Episode: "A Goy and his Dog"
2000	The X-Files	Phoebe	Episode: "First Person Shooter"
2000	Rude Awakening	Sandi	Episode: "Star 80 Proof"
2000	Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction	Mary	Episode: "The Find"
2000	Providence	Megan	2 episodes
2000-2001	The Trouble With Normal	Kristen	4 episodes
2001	Gideon's Crossing	Jessica Kagen	Episode: "Dr. Cherry Must Be Stopped"
2001	FreakyLinks	Tori Spangler	Episode: "Subject: The Stone Room"
2001	The Fighting Fitzgeralds	Beth	5 episodes
2001	Philly	Pamela Tommasino	Episode: "Blown Away"
2002	My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star	Siobahn! Ross	3 episodes
2002-2004	Good Morning, Miami	Penelope "Penny" Barnes Barrington	40 episodes
2003	Mystery Woman	Cassie Tilman / Cassie Thomas (in end credits)	Movie
2004	NYPD Blue	Zoe Prentiss	Episode: "Dress for Success"
2004-2005	Joan of Arcadia	Sister Lilly Watters	11 episodes
2005	Jake in Progress	Greta	Episode: "Henry Porter and the Coitus Interruptus"
2005-2006	Out of Practice	Naomi	2 episodes
2006	In Justice	Brianna	13 episodes
2006-2007	Boston Legal	Claire Simms	23 episodes
2007	Notes from the Underbelly	Kelly	Episode: "Oleander"
2009	Pushing Daisies	Coco Juniper	Episode: "Window Dressed to Kill"
2009	Cupid	Hallie Butler	Episode: "The Great Right Hope"
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Amy Hunter	2 episodes
2005-2011	Entourage	Dana Gordon	21 episodes
2011	Love Bites	Colleen Rouscher	7 episodes
2011	Royal Pains	Dr. Abby Burton	Episode: "A Little Art, A Little Science"
2013	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Alana Cahill	5 episodes
2013	The Newsroom	Taylor Warren	5 episodes
2013-2014; 2016	House of Cards	Janine Skorsky	13 episodes
2014	Hot In Cleveland	Lilly	Episode: "Stayin' Alive"
2015	Transformers: Robots in Disguise	Strongarm, Filch (voices)	Series regular
2015-present	UnREAL	Quinn King	Series regular
2015	Complications	Dr. Laster	2 episodes
2015	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Rosalind Price	8 episodes
2016	Better Things	Herself	Episode: "Sam/Pilot"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2016	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Unreal
	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
2017