Natalie Zea

Natalie Zea Biography

Natalie Zea (born March 17, 1975) is an American actress known for her roles as Gwen Hotchkiss on the NBC daytime soap Passions, socialite Karen Darling on Dirty Sexy Money on ABC, Winona Hawkins on Justified on FX and Claire Matthews on The Following on Fox.

Early life and education

Zea was born in Harris County, Texas, and attended Monahans High School, graduating in 1993. She then graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

Personal life

Zea resides with her partner, actor Travis Schuldt who is her former co-star in Passions. They celebrate the anniversary of when they bought property together.Zea and Schuldt announced on June 26, 2013 that they are engaged.

Career

Zea had a few small film roles before joining the cast of Passions in 2000 as Gwen Hotchkiss, replacing exiting actress Liza Huber. Zea left the show in 2002, and was replaced by Huber.

Zea has made several different guest appearances in primetime, guest starring on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2001. In 2004, she had a recurring role on the FX police drama The Shield playing a love interest of Michael Chiklis' Vic Mackey, leaving the show for the short-lived ABC drama Eyes. Zea's next major role was on the ABC soap Dirty Sexy Money from 2007 to 2009, playing spoiled socialite Karen Darling. Following the series' cancellation after two seasons, She had a recurring role during the first season of the HBO series Hung.

Zea was a series regular during the first three seasons of the FX drama Justified, changing to a recurring role from Season 4. In 2010, she played Will Ferrell's character's ex-girlfriend, Christinith, in the action comedy The Other Guys. She also portrayed high-powered defence lawyer Sarah Goodwin in one episode of Law and Order: Los Angeles.

In 2013 she appeared in the major role of Dr. Claire Matthews, the wife of a serial killer, in the Fox thriller drama The Following.

Filmography

Television
Year	Show	Role	Notes
2000	D.C.		Blame (1.4)
2000"2002	Passions	Gwen Winthrop (#2)	Series regular
2001	CSI	Needra Fenway	"Gentle, Gentle" (1.19)
2002	MDs	Ghost	"R.I.P." (1.6)
2004	The Shield	Lauren Riley	Recurring role (5 episodes)
2005	Two and a Half Men	Colleen	"We Called It Mr. Pinky" (3.5)
2005	Eyes	Trish Agermeyer	Series regular
2006	Just Legal		"The Rainmaker" (1.6)
	Without a Trace	Jennifer Nichols	"Crossroads" (4.24)
	Freddie	Sally	"Freddie and the Hot Mom" (1.20)
2007"2009	Dirty Sexy Money	Karen Darling	Series regular
2009	Medium	Sophie Cullen	"Deja Vu All Over Again" (6.1)
2009	Hung	Jemma	Recurring role (4 episodes)
2010"present	Justified	Winona Hawkins	Guest star (1.1), Series regular (1.2"3.12), Guest star (4.4")
2010	The Defenders	Meredith Kramer	Recurring role (3 episodes)
2010	Law & Order: Los Angeles	Sarah Goodwin	"Hondo Field" (1.6)
2011	Franklin and Bash	Isabella Kaplowitz	"She Came Upstairs to Kill Me" (1.2)
	Person of Interest	Diane Hanson	"Pilot"
	Royal Pains	Judy	Season 3 Episode 1
2012	Californication	Carrie	4 episodes
2013"present	The Following	Claire Matthews	Series regular (1.1")
2013	Under the Dome	Maxine Seagrave	guest role

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Boys Don't Cry	Lana Tisdel	Short film
1999	Boys Don't Cry		Uncredited
	Lucid Days in Hell	Naomi
	Macbeth in Manhattan	Samantha
2008	From a Place of Darkness	Brenda
2010	The Other Guys	Christinith
2011	InSight	Kaitlyn	Post-production
2012	Burden of evil	?	Post-production