Christa Miller

Christa Miller
Born	November 28, 1964 New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Bill Lawrence (1999-present)

Christa Miller (born November 28, 1964) is an American actress who has achieved success in television comedy. Her foremost roles include Kate O'Brien on The Drew Carey Show and Jordan Sullivan on Scrubs (which was created by her husband Bill Lawrence). She has also appeared in Seinfeld, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and CSI: Miami. From 2009 to 2015, she starred in the TBS (formerly ABC) sitcom Cougar Town, also created by Lawrence.

Early life

Miller was born in Manhattan and attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart. She is the daughter of Bonnie Trompeter and the niece of actress Susan Saint James and NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol. She has a sister and one brother, John. Miller was a model as a child, appearing in a Wonder Bread commercial when she was six months old, posing at three for Francesco Scavullo in an Ivory soap advertisement, and being photographed for the cover of Redbook. Her days as a child model were curtailed after an operation for a benign bone tumor. After attending Convent of the Sacred Heart, she returned briefly to modeling, but soon took acting lessons, and gave up modeling when she moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1990.^[1] She was cover model and had a pictorial in the first U.S. edition of Maxim.

Career

Miller's first role on television was in Kate & Allie, which starred her real-life aunt, Susan Saint James, whom she resembles. She then appeared in episodes of Northern Exposure, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Party of Five. She had a small role in the horror film Stepfather III (1992) with Priscilla Barnes. Miller later appeared twice on Seinfeld, as two different characters. In the 1993 episode "The Sniffing Accountant", she played the boss of George Costanza. She had intended to be a dramatic actress, and this role proved to be a turning point for Miller, who realized how much she enjoyed comedy. Two years later, she returned to Seinfeld in "The Doodle" to play George's girlfriend, Paula. This episode proved to be a boon to her career, as she convinced co-creator Larry David to provide her with a rough-cut video of the still-unaired episode when she auditioned for The Drew Carey Show, whose producers had initially thought she was too inexperienced. David's support helped Miller win over the producers of The Drew Carey Show,^[2] who cast her as Kate O'Brien,^[3] whom she played from 1995 to 2002.

In 2001, Miller's husband, writer-producer Bill Lawrence, conceived a new comedy-drama, Scrubs. Miller was given a guest role as Dr. Cox's (John C. McGinley) acerbic ex-wife Jordan Sullivan. Originally, the character was intended to appear in only one episode; in season 2, the role became recurring. When her young cousin Teddy Ebersol, son of Susan St. James and Dick Ebersol, died in a plane crash in 2004, Scrubs dedicated the season-4 episode "My Lucky Charm" to him. Miller also was the voice of Cleopatra in the short-lived animated show Clone High. She had a leading role in the 2008 two-part TV miniseries The Andromeda Strain. She also appeared in the CSI: Miami episode Divorce Party .

In 2009, Miller began starring on Cougar Town, a sitcom created and produced by her husband, which stars Courteney Cox, with whom Miller worked in a three-part story-arc of season 8 of Scrubs.

Personal life

Miller married Bill Lawrence in 1999.^[3] They have three children, Charlotte Sarah (born June 8, 2000), William Stoddard (born January 3, 2003), and Henry Vanduzer (born October 8, 2006). Her last two pregnancies were written into Scrubs.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Stepfather III	Beth Davis	Television film
1994	A Friend to Die For	Terri	Television film
1995	Love and Happiness
1997	Kiss & Tell	Alex Stoddard
1999	Goat on Fire and Smiling Fish	Kathy
2000	The Operator	Janice Wheelan
2015	Hot Air[4]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Kate & Allie	Student	Episode: "Allie's Affair"
1988	Kate & Allie	Blair	Episodes: "Allie Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and "The Odd Couples"
1990	Northern Exposure	Laurie Batan	Episode: "Soapy Sanderson"
1993	Seinfeld	Ms. De Granmont	Episode: "The Sniffing Accountant"
1994	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Girl	Episode: "Who's the Boss?"
1994	Party of Five	Theresa	Episode: "Much Ado"
1995	Seinfeld	Paula	Episode: "The Doodle"
1995-2002	The Drew Carey Show	Kate O'Brien	Series regular, 180 episodes
2002-2003	Clone High	Cleopatra (voice)	Series regular, 13 episodes
2008	The Andromeda Strain	Dr. Angela Noyce	Miniseries
2009	CSI: Miami	Amy Lansing	Episode: "Divorce Party"
2001–2010	Scrubs	Jordan Sullivan	Recurring role, 89 episodes Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2003–04)
2009–2015	Cougar Town	Ellie Torres	Main Cast. 102 episodes Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (2014)
2015	Undateable	Ally/Jackie	Episodes: 02.07, 02.08 and 03.07

References

1. Slewinski, Christy (September 15, 1996). "Growing up was a real soap opera sitcom star Christa Miller says her mother was the model mom". Daily News. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
2. Rizzo, Carita. "Before They Were Stars", TV Guide, January 3, 2011, page 23
3. Brady, Lois Smith (December 5, 1999). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Christa Miller, William Lawrence IV". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
4. "'Cougar Town' Actress Joins Indie Comedy 'Hot Air' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2014-06-04.

External links

• Christa Miller at the Internet Movie Database