Lisa Edelstein (; born May 21, 1966) is an American
actress and
playwright. She currently stars as Dr.
Lisa Cuddy on the television drama,
House M.D.
Early life
Edelstein was born to Alvin and Bonnie Edelstein in
Boston, Massachusetts. Her family is
Jewish,
and her father is a
pediatrician in New Jersey at
Chilton Memorial Hospital. One of three children, she was raised in
Wayne, New Jersey and attended
Wayne Valley High School, graduating in 1984.
[Rohan, Virginia. "North Jersey-bred and talented too", The Record (Bergen County), June 18, 2007. Accessed June 25, 2007. "Lisa Edelstein: Class of 1984, Wayne Valley High School"] 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
After being dubbed a "
celebutante" by
New York Times magazine during her
club kid days,
[James St. James. Party Monster. Simon & Schuster, 2003.] Edelstein used her newfound 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 '90s appearing in guest roles on several popular comedies, including
Mad About You,
Wings,
The Larry Sanders Show,
Sports Night and
Seinfeld, where 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 in 1996;
Rob Lowe's date turned high-priced call girl on
The West Wing in 1999; a male-to-female transsexual on
Ally McBeal in 2000 and Ben's girlfriend on
Felicity in 2001. She also continued to land guest star spots on shows such 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 1997 video game adaptation of
Blade Runner. Edelstein's film credits include
What Women Want with
Mel Gibson,
Keeping the Faith with
Ben Stiller, a cameo in
As Good as it Gets with
Jack Nicholson &
Helen Hunt and
Daddy Day Care with
Eddie Murphy.
In 2004, she was cast as Dr.
Lisa Cuddy, the
Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and frequent
character foil to title character
Gregory House (
Hugh Laurie) on
Fox's hit show
House, M.D..
She starred in
Lifetime Movie Network's
Special Delivery alongside
Brenda Song.
[Kimberly Nordyke (January 15, 2008) House actress making "Delivery" for Lifetime Reuters. Accessed 2008-01-16.]
Personal life
Edelstein currently resides in Los Angeles with her cat and three
rescue dogs.
[The Dean of Medicine on TV’s House Is Often Called The Florence Nightingale of Dogs - March 2006] She is a vegetarian
[A Chat with Lisa Edelstein - September 4, 2006] and an avid practitioner of Mysore style
Ashtanga Yoga.
[Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga] She frequently volunteers for the
Best Friends Animal Society. In her spare time she enjoys writing, painting and composing music.
[FOX.com Biography ]
Filmography
Television
