Lisa Edelstein

Lisa Edelstein (/ˈliːsə ˈɛdəlstiːn/; born May 21, 1966)[1][2][3] is an American actress and playwright. Edelstein is known for playing Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the Fox medical drama series House. Between 2014 and 2018, she starred as Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce.
== Early lifeEdit ==
Edelstein was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Bonnie and Alvin Edelstein. Her father is a pediatrician at Chilton Memorial Hospital (since retired).[4] The youngest of three children in a Jewish family, she was raised in Wayne, New Jersey,[5] and attended Wayne Valley High School, graduating in 1984.[6]
At 16, Edelstein was a cheerleader for the New Jersey Generals. Edelstein encountered trouble when she organized a protest because the team was forcing the cheerleaders to stand in bars while wearing their uniforms. Edelstein said she felt they were treated "like hookers" and organized a cheerleader walkout.[7]
She moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study theatre at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[8] 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 the Night" by writer and fellow celebutant James St. James, who briefly refers to Edelstein in his 1999 book Disco Bloodbath.[9]
== Career ==
=== Actress ===
After being dubbed a "celebutante" by The New York Times magazine during her club kid days,[5] Edelstein used her new-found celebrity to write, compose and star in an original musical called Positive Me[10] in response to the growing AIDS crisis of the 1980s. The play, performed at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City, received many accolades.[5][11]After a regrettable experience hosting Awake on the Wild Side for MTV in 1990,[12] she appeared for a few seconds as a backstage make-up artist in the Jim Morrison biography The Doors followed by 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".
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, as well as small parts in the films What Women Want, Keeping the Faith, As Good as It Gets, and Daddy Day Care.
From 2004 to 2011, she portrayed her biggest and most notable role to date, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and frequent adversary, friend, and eventual girlfriend of title character Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) on Fox's TV series House. Edelstein has often spoken fondly of her experiences on the show and fellow cast and crew, especially her friendship and strong working relationship with Laurie.
In May 2011, Edelstein announced that she would not return for the eighth and final season of House.[13] Starting in June 2011, she began an arc on The Good Wife as lawyer Celeste Serrano.[14] She guest-starred in Scandal in 2013, and later three episodes of the ABC series Castle.
She also starred as the lead role of Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, an hour-long comedy-drama loosely based on the book series by Vicki Iovine and which premiered on December 2, 2014. In 2018, Edelstein will join the cast of ABC's The Good Doctor in season two as Dr. Blaize in an recurring role. This reunites her with House creator David Shore.[15]Edelstein plays a recurring character in The Kominsky Method, a Netflix series that debuted in November 2018.
She 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), Legend of Korra (as Kya, Tenzin's sister) and the video game adaptation of Blade Runner.
=== Other appearances ===
Edelstein is a supporter of Best Friends Animal Society, of which she is an Ambassador. She supports human rights organizations and is a patron of the arts. She has appeared in numerous magazines, including the September 2010 cover of H magazine.[16] She posed for PETA in an ad promoting vegetarianism, a diet she has followed for most of her life.[17]
== Personal life ==
On May 25, 2014, Edelstein married artist Robert Russell in Los Angeles.[18]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1991	The Doors 	Makeup artist 	
1997	As Good as It Gets	Woman at table 	
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[19] 	
2016	Joshy 	Claudia 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1992 	L.A. Law 	Francine Flicker 	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 	Unknown 	Episode: "Pilot"
1995–97 	Almost Perfect 	Patty Karp 	9 episodes
1995 	Partners 	Cindy Wolfe 	Episode: "Who's Afraid of Ron and Cindy Wolfe?"
1995 	Superman: The Animated Series 	Mercy Graves 	8 episodes
1996 	Ned & Stacey 	Janine 	Episode: "Friends and Lovers"
1996–97 	Relativity 	Rhonda Roth 	17 episodes
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 	Television 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"
2000–01 	Ally McBeal 	Cindy McCauliff 	5 episodes
2001 	Black River 	Laura 	Television movie
2001–02 	Felicity 	Lauren 	6 episodes
2002 	Obsessed 	Charlotte 	Television movie
2002 	Leap of Faith 	Patty 	6 episodes
2003 	A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster	Maeve Fox 	Television movie
2003 	Without a Trace 	Dr. Lianna Sardo 	Episode: "Moving On"
2003 	The Practice 	Diane Ward 	2 episodes
2003 	Justice League 	Mercy Graves 	2 episodes
2004 	Judging Amy 	Sylvia Danforth 	Episode: "The Quick and the Dead"
2004–11 	House 	Dr. Lisa Cuddy 	153 episodes
People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Drama Actress
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2005 	Justice League Unlimited 	Mercy Graves 	Episode: "Clash"
2005 	Fathers and Sons 	Irene 	Television movie
2007 	King of the Hill 	Alexis 	Episode: "The Powder Puff Boys"
2007–11 	American Dad! 	Sharri Rothberg 	6 episodes
2008 	Special Delivery 	Maxine Carter 	Television movie
2011 	Childrens Hospital 	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"
2012 	Blue-Eyed Butcher 	Kelly Siegler 	Television movie
2012 	Elementary 	Heather Van Owen 	Episode: "The Long Fuse"
2013 	House of Lies 	Brynn 	2 episodes
2013 	Scandal 	Sarah Stanner 	Episode: "Top of the Hour"
2013 	Castle 	Rachel McCord 	3 episodes
2013–14 	The Legend of Korra 	Kya 	14 episodes
2014–18 	Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce 	Abby McCarthy 	Lead role
2018–present	The Good Doctor 	Dr. Marina Blaize 	Recurring
2018 	The Kominsky Method 	Phoebe 	Recurring
== 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.
* 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.[20]