Lisa Edelstein


Lisa Edelstein Biography

Lisa Edelstein (born May 21, 1966) is an American actress and playwright best known for playing Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the medical drama series House MD.

Early life and education

Edelstein was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Bonnie and Alvin Edelstein. Her father is a pediatrician at Chilton Memorial Hospital (since retired). Her family is Jewish. The youngest of three children, she was raised in Wayne, New Jersey, and attended Wayne Valley High School, graduating in 1984.

At 16, Edelstein was a cheerleader for Donald Trump's New Jersey Generals. Edelstein soon encountered trouble when she organized a protest, because the team was forcing the cheerleaders to go and stand in bars while wearing their uniforms. Edelstein said she felt this was "akin to prostitution" and started a cheerleader strike.

She moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study theatre at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. While living in New York, she became involved in the club scene (known there only as "Lisa E.") and caused enough of a stir in the community to be dubbed New York City's "Queen of Downtown" by writer and fellow celebutante James St. James, who briefly refers to Edelstein in his 1999 book Disco Bloodbath.

Career

Actress

After being dubbed a "celebutante" by The New York Times magazine during her club kid days Edelstein used her new-found celebrity to write, compose, and star in an original musical called Positive Me in response to the growing AIDS crisis of the 1980s. After a brief stint hosting Awake on the Wild Side for MTV in 1990, she spent the early 1990s appearing in guest roles on several popular comedies, including Mad About You, Wings, and The Larry Sanders Show. On Sports Night, she played a sports reporter who claimed to be a former lover of Josh Charles's character whom he did not remember. On Seinfeld, she played George Costanza's frustrated girlfriend, the "Risotto Girl" (the only girlfriend of George's to appear in multiple episodes other than Susan Ross).

Bigger roles in TV dramas soon followed, among them the lesbian sister on ABC's Relativity (1996); a high-priced call girl turned Rob Lowe's date on The West Wing (1999); an assigned male at birth (AMAB) transgender woman on Ally McBeal (2000); and Ben Covington's (Scott Speedman) girlfriend on Felicity (2001). She also continued to land guest star spots on such shows as ER, Frasier, Just Shoot Me!, Without a Trace, and Judging Amy.

The actress has lent her voice to several animated programs including King of the Hill, American Dad!, Superman: The Animated Series (as Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor's bodyguard, a role she later reprised in several episodes of Justice League) and the video game adaptation of Blade Runner (1997). Edelstein's film credits include small parts and cameos in What Women Want, Keeping the Faith, As Good as It Gets, and Daddy Day Care.

From 2004 to 2011, she played Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and frequent character foil and ex-girlfriend to title character Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) on Fox's TV series House, M.D. In May 2011, Edelstein announced that she would not return for the eighth season of House.

Edelstein starred in the Lifetime network movie Special Delivery with Brenda Song. In June 2011, it was revealed that she would join the cast of The Good Wife for a "juicy" multi-episode arc. She played Celeste Serano, an attorney and one of Will Gardner's (Josh Charles) old flames, in an echo of the relationship between their Sports Night characters.

On July 10 2013, TVLine announced that Edelstein will join Season 6 of ABC series Castle for a multi-episode arc.

Other appearances

Edelstein appeared on the September 2010 cover of H magazine. She posed naked for PETA in an ad promoting vegetarianism, a diet she has followed for most of her life.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1991 The Doors Makeup artist cameo
1997 As Good as It Gets Woman at table cameo
1998 Susan's Plan Penny Myers
1998 L.A. Without a Map Sandra
1999 30 Days Danielle
2000 Keeping the Faith Ali Decker
2000 What Women Want Dina
2003 Daddy Day Care Crispin's mother
2005 Say Uncle Sarah Faber
2013 She Loves Me Not Amy

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1992 L.A. Law Episode: "My Friend Flicker"
1992 Mad About You Lynne Stoddard Episode: "Out of the Past"
1993 Good Advice Robin Episode: "The Kiss"
1993 Seinfeld Karen 2 episodes
1993 Wings Marsha Peebles Episode: "Labor Pains"
1994 The Larry Sanders Show Diane French Episode: "The Mr. Sharon Stone Show"
1994 Wild Oats Episode: "Pilot"
1995-1997 Almost Perfect Patty Karp 9 episodes
1995 Partners Cindy Wolfe Episode: "Who's Afraid of Ron and Cindy Wolfe?"
1996-1997 Relativity Rhonda Roth 17 episodes
1995 Superman: The Animated Series (Voice) Mercy Graves 8 episodes
1996 Ned & Stacey Janine Episode: "Friends and Lovers"
1997 ER Aggi Orton Episode: "Ambush"
1998 Just Shoot Me! Erin Simons Episode: "Sewer!"
1998 Frasier Caitlin Episode: "Frasier Gotta Have It"
1998 Indiscreet Beth Sussman TV movie
1999 Sports Night Bobbi Bernstein 3 episodes
1999-2000 The West Wing Laurie "Brittany" Rollins 5 episodes
2000 Grosse Pointe Shawn Shapiro Episode: "Satisfaction"
2000-2001 Ally McBeal Cindy McCauliff 5 episodes
2001 Black River Laura TV movie
2001-2002 Felicity Lauren 6 episodes
2002 Obsessed Charlotte TV movie
2002 Leap of Faith Patty 6 episodes
2003 Without a Trace Dr. Lianna Sardo Episode: "Moving On"
2003 A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster Maeve Fox TV movie
2003 The Practice Diane Ward 2 episodes
2003 Justice League (Voice) Mercy Graves 2 episodes
2004 Judging Amy Sylvia Danforth Episode: "The Quick and the Dead"
2005 Fathers and Sons Irene TV movie
2005 Justice League Unlimited (Voice) Mercy Graves Episode: "Clash"
2008 Special Delivery Maxine Carter TV movie
2007 King of the Hill (Voice) Alexis Episode: "The Powder Puff Boys"
2004-2011 House Lisa Cuddy 153 episodes
2007-2011 American Dad! (Voice) Sharri Rothberg 6 episodes
2011 Childrens Hospital (Cameo) Herself/Lisa Cuddy Episode: "Run, Dr. Lola Spratt, Run!
2011 The Good Wife Celeste Serano 3 episodes
2011 Paul The Male Matchmaker Jillian Episode: "Know When You Are Not Ready"
2011 Night of the Hurricane Sharri Rothberg Television special
2012 Blue-Eyed Butcher Kelly Siegler TV movie
2012 Elementary Heather Van Owen Episode: "The Long Fuse"
2013 House of Lies Brynn Episode: "Sincerity is an Easy Disguise in This Business"
Episode: "The Runner Stumbles"
2013 Scandal Mrs. Stanner Episode: "Top of the Hour"
2013 The Legend of Korra (season 2) Kya Voice actress
2013 Castle Rachel Mccord Episode: "Valkyrie"

Awards

  • In 2005, she accepted the award for Television Series drama at the 10th Annual Satellite Awards for her portrayal of Dr. Lisa Cuddy on House, M.D.
  • In 2011, she won the People's Choice Award for Best Drama Actress in a TV Series for her portrayal of Dr. Lisa Cuddy on House, M.D.



This webpage uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lisa_Edelstein" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions the Wikipedia article may contain.
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