Biography
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