Lisa Edelstein

Upon her election by The New York Times as a "top celebutante" in 1986 (due to her popularity in N.Y.C.'s club scene), then-19-year-old Lisa Edelstein reportedly grew wary of "fame for fame's sake" and spent years grounding her celebrity in a series of well-respected, if minor, acting assignments. She made a small-scale debut in a prestigious film -- the role of the makeup artist in Oliver Stone's controversial Jim Morrison biopic The Doors (1991) -- and thereafter was often pigeonholed in sitcom appearances, typically as a comically eccentric girlfriend or wife. This typecasting characterized Edelstein's appearances on Seinfeld, Mad About You, Sports Night, Frasier, and a myriad of other programs. There were exceptions, though, as the actress also starred on the short-lived but critically acclaimed drama Relativity in the mid-'90s as Rhonda Roth, a lesbian whose complex, non-sensationalized portrayal marked a step forward for homosexual characters on network TV. Edelstein also garnered recurring roles on such series as The West Wing (playing a law student whom Rob Lowe's character romances until he finds out she moonlights as a call girl), Felicity, and Ally McBeal (appearing as a transsexual who dates a lawyer played by James LeGros).

In-between bit parts in the big-screen comedies What Women Want (2000) and Daddy Day Care (2003), Edelstein received second billing on the sitcom Leap of Faith (2002), a kind of toned-down Sex and the City reworking for NBC (from the same producer), as Patty, the best friend of ad executive Faith Wardwell (Sarah Paulson). Unfortunately, that program failed to catch fire with the public, but Edelstein scored a lead role several years later on the hit medical drama House, in which she plays Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, who must constantly contend with the eccentricities and misanthropy of Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide