Kelli Williams Biography

Kelli Renee Williams (born June 8, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Lindsay Dole on the legal drama The Practice and as psychologist and deception expert Dr. Gillian Foster on Lie to Me. She currently stars as Jackie Clark on Army Wives.

Early life

Kelli Williams was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actress Shannon Wilcox and plastic surgeon John Williams. Her parents divorced when she was 13. She has one brother and two half-brothers.

Williams earned her Screen Actors Guild card before her first birthday by appearing in a diapers commercial, and appeared in several other commercials as a child. She attended elementary school at Lycée Français, and graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1988. While attending school, she was active in the performing arts department. After starring opposite General Hospital's Steve Burton in the school's production of Romeo and Juliet, she was signed by an agent.

Career

Williams began her career on television, with a second-season role in an episode of the CBS series Beauty and the Beast and as the first victim of the Hillside Stranglers in NBC's made-for television film The Case of the Hillside Stranglers. Her first feature film appearances were in Zapped Again! (1990) and There Goes My Baby (1994) opposite ER's Noah Wyle. She also appeared in The Young Riders in 1991. Also in 1994, she played Jennifer Stolpa in the television movie Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story. She guest starred on the hit Fox teen drama Party of Five in its first season in 1994 as a woman named Annie Alcott. She also guest starred in the second season Law & Order episode "Sisters Of Mercy" as a sexually abused meth addict in 1992.

Beginning with Episode 11 titled "Moon Cross" (aired on February 5, 1995) of the science fiction series Earth 2, Williams appeared in a multiple episode story arc in the role of Mary, a human orphan raised on another planet by the indigenous alien species known as the Terrians.

She appeared in 1996 in the 19th episode of the fourth and final season of the TV series Picket Fences as an Amish woman who was raped.

In 1997, she took her most prominent role as Lindsay Dole Donnell on the ABC legal drama The Practice. She appeared in the series The Lyon's Den and Hack, as well as two episodes of Scrubs. Williams appeared as Dr. Natalie Durant on the NBC television show Medical Investigation which began in the fall of 2004 and ran for 20 episodes before being cancelled. Also in 2004, she starred in the television movie A Boyfriend for Christmas.

In 2000, Williams starred in the TV Movie Flowers for Algernon, based on the novel/short story by Daniel Keyes.

In May 2007, she portrayed Holly Lauren/Kathleen Shaw in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent sixth season finale episode, "Renewal"; as a neighbor and later girlfriend to Detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth), her character dies towards the end of the episode. In August 2008, Williams was cast in a lead role as psychologist Dr. Gillian Foster in the Fox series Lie to Me, which ran for three seasons and ended in 2011.

In April 2011, she was cast in a guest role as Shelley Chamberlain, a grieving mother on a killing spree in the CBS series Criminal Minds. In October 2011, she was cast in a guest role as a kidnapped child's mother called Elizabeth Flint in the CBS series The Mentalist. In 2012, she landed the recurring role of Jackie Clark in the Lifetime television series Army Wives and was quickly upgraded to series regular.

Personal life

Williams married author Ajay Sahgal in 1996. The couple has three children: Kiran Ram (b. May 1998), Sarame Jane (b. February 3, 2001), and Ravi Lyndon (b. July 11, 2003). She told Marie Claire that she got breast implants when she was 19 and had them removed when she was 22. Williams speaks French and Spanish, and has volunteered with the Young Storytellers Program.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Zapped Again!	Lucy Kaminsky	Video
1993	Mr. Jones	Kelli
1994	There Goes My Baby	Sunshine
1996	E=mc2	Claire Higgins
1999	Kismet	Kelly	Short film
2000	It's a Shame About Ray	Anna	Short film
2010	'	Junkie
2012	Any Day Now	Miss Flemming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Beauty and the Beast	Young Lisa	Episode: "Arabesque"
1989	'	Margaret Wilson	TV movie
1989	Day by Day	Ross' Girlfriend	3 episodes
1989	Out on the Edge	Melissa	TV movie
1989	CBS Summer Playhouse	Natalie	Episode: "Curse of the Corn People"
1989	Island Son	Elisa Bordinet	Episode: "Sometimes They're Zebras"
1989	Quantum Leap	Shannon	Episode: "Disco Inferno"
1990	Elvis	Mattie Walker	13 episodes
1990	My Life as a Babysitter	Kelly	TV movie
1991	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Cassie O'Brian	Episode: "But He Loves Me"
1991	Switched at Birth	Irisa	TV movie
1991	'	Emily Metcalfe	Episode: "The Presence of Mine Enemies"
1992	'	Kate Broderick	TV movie
1992	Law & Order	Maggie	Episode: "Sisters of Mercy"
1992	Sisters	Sarah Nolan	Episode: "Pandora's Box"
1992	Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter	Kate Broderick	TV movie
1993	For Their Own Good	Erma	TV movie
1993	Lifepod	Rena Jahnusia	TV movie
1994	Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story	Jennifer Stolpa	TV movie
1994	Party of Five	Annie Alcott	Episode: "Thanksgiving"
1995	Earth 2	Mary	2 episodes
1995	New York News	Ellie	TV series
1996	Voice from the Grave	Yvonne Shuster	TV movie
1996	Picket Fences	Hannah Mary Beiler	Episode: "To Forgive Is Devine"
1996	Mary & Tim	Justine Melville	TV movie
1997-2003	'	Lindsay Dole	145 episodes Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated"?Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series
1998	Ally McBeal	Lindsay Dole	Episode: "The Inmates"
1999	Sweetwater	Cami Carlson	TV movie
2000	Flowers for Algernon	Alice Kinian	TV movie
2002	Scrubs	Kristen Murphy	2 episodes
2003	'	Attorney Monica Crane	3 episodes
2003	Hack	Charlotte Weston	Episode: "My Fare Lady"
2004	'	Holly Grant	TV movie
2004-2005	Medical Investigation	Dr. Natalie Durant	20 episodes
2005	Third Watch	Dr. Natalie Durant	Episode: "In the Family Way"
2006	Women in Law		Episode: "Pilot"
2006	Murder on Pleasant Drive	Deanna Whelen	TV movie
2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Holly Lauren / Kathleen Shaw	Episode: "Renewal"
2007-2008	Men in Trees	Julia Switzer	6 episodes
2008	'	Joanna	TV movie
2009-2011	Lie to Me	Dr. Gillian Foster	48 episodes
2011	Criminal Minds	Shelley Chamberlain	Episode: "Hanley Waters"
2011	'	Beth Flint	Episode: "Pretty Red Balloon"
2012"present	Army Wives	Jackie Clark	Series regular