Lauren Holly

About

Lauren Michael Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American and Canadian actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series Picket Fences, NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series NCIS, and Dr. Betty Rogers on Motive. In film, she portrayed Mary Swanson in Dumb and Dumber (1994), Bruce Lee’s wife Linda Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993), Darian Smalls in Beautiful Girls (1996), and Gigi in What Women Want (2000).

Holly was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Michael Ann Holly, is an art historian. She was the Starr Director of Research and Academic Program at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and a professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her father, Grant Holly, was a screenwriter and professor of literature at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She had two younger brothers: Nick Holly and Alexander Innes Holly. Holly attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York.

Holly’s acting career began at the age of 20 when she appeared as Carla Walicki in two episodes of Hill Street Blues. She was also in one episode of Spenser: For Hire. At age 23, she joined the cast of the ABC television…