Christa Miller

Christa Beatrice Miller (born May 28, 1964) is an American actress and model 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.

Christa Miller
Born (1964-05-28) May 28, 1964
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1985–present
Spouse(s)Bill Lawrence (m. 1999)
Children3, including Charlotte Lawrence

Early life

Miller was born in Manhattan, and attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart. She is the daughter of Bonnie Trompeter, and a niece of actress Susan Saint James and NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol. She has a sister, Leona, and a 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 and starring 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),[4] William Stoddard (born January 3, 2003),[5] and Henry Van Duzer (born October 8, 2006).[6] 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 Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire Kathy
2000 The Operator Janice Wheelan
2015 Hot Air[7]
2018 Breaking In[8] Maggie Harris

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, 183 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
2019 Whiskey Cavalier Kelly Ahsland Episode: "Two of a Kind"
gollark: How do you type cacti?
gollark: On a side note, how do people actually end up typing my name to @ me?
gollark: What software are you missing out on?
gollark: Why aren't you on linux if you want to use it then?
gollark: I mean, you could go to them and ask that they remove such a ridiculous requirement.

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. Archived from the original on 15 March 2010. 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. Variety Staff (June 23, 2000). "Charlotte Sarah Lawrence". Variety. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  5. Variety Staff (January 30, 2003). "William Stoddard Lawrence". Variety. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  6. People Staff (December 4, 2006). "Hello, Henry!". People. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  7. "'Cougar Town' Actress Joins Indie Comedy 'Hot Air' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  8. Dave McNary (2017-07-10). "Gabrielle Union's Home-Invasion Drama 'Breaking In' Casts Christa Miller". Variety. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
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