Christine Joan Taylor Stiller (born July 30, 1971) is an American actress. She has played Marcia Brady in '' The Brady Bunch Movie'' and '' A Very Brady Sequel'' and appeared in '' The Craft'', '' The Wedding Singer'', '' Zoolander'', and '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story''. In television, she has appeared in roles in '' Hey Dude'', '' Arrested Development'', and '' Search Party''.

Early life and education

Taylor was born on July 30, 1971, in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

, to Joan, a homemaker, and Albert E. "Skip" Taylor III, who owns a security company. She grew up in neighboring Wescosville, Pennsylvania, and has a younger brother. Taylor was raised

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and attended St. Thomas More School and then Allentown Central Catholic High School.

Career

In 1989, Taylor began her acting career on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

children's television series '' Hey Dude'' in which she portrayed the

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...

Melody Hanson. She continued in that role through 1991, while making various guest appearances on other programs and films. In 1995, Taylor was cast as Marcia Brady in '' The Brady Bunch Movie'' and later in '' A Very Brady Sequel''. Following ''The Brady Bunch Movie'', Taylor made several comedic guest appearances on the television series '' Ellen'', landing the lead role in the television series '' Party Girl'', based on the 1995 film of the same name, and more guest appearances on sitcoms, including ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' and ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

''. In 1996, she portrayed the racist school bully Laura Lizzie in the horror film '' The Craft'', and also portrayed Drew Barrymore's cousin, Holly Sullivan, in the 1998 comedy '' The Wedding Singer''. In 2001, she starred alongside her husband Ben Stiller in '' Zoolander''. In 2005, Taylor guest starred on two episodes of '' Arrested Development'', portraying the character Sally Sitwell; and the following year she performed in an episode of NBC's ''

My Name Is Earl ''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia (producer), Greg Garcia for NBC. It aired for four seasons from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, with a total of List of My Name Is Earl episodes, 96 episodes. It wa ...

''. In July 2006, Taylor's husband Ben Stiller announced plans to direct a CBS sitcom starring Taylor, but the series never aired. Taylor has appeared with Mandy Moore in both '' Dedication'' and '' License to Wed''. In 2010, Taylor guest starred in '' Hannah Montana Forever'' and the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie ''Farewell Mr. Kringle''. In 2013, Taylor reprised her role as Sally Sitwell in two episodes of the revived fourth season of ''Arrested Development''. She also guest starred on '' Elementary'' in 2017, playing villainess Gail Lundquist. From 2016 to 2022, Taylor had a recurring role as Gail on '' Search Party''. In 2021, Taylor joined the cast of '' High Desert'', an Apple TV+ series. In 2023, she reunited with her ''Hey Dude'' co-star David Lascher for the ''Hey Dude...The 90s Called!'' podcast.

Personal life

Taylor dated actor Neil Patrick Harris from 1997 to 1998. In May 2000, Taylor married Ben Stiller, whom she first met in 1999 while they were both filming '' Heat Vision and Jack''. Taylor and Stiller appeared together in the films '' Zoolander'', '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'', '' Tropic Thunder'', and '' Zoolander 2'', and the television series '' Arrested Development'' and '' Curb Your Enthusiasm''. They live in

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...

, and have a daughter and a son. Taylor and Stiller are both vegetarians. After 17 years of marriage, Taylor and Stiller separated in 2017. The couple later reconciled after living together during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

lockdown.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Christine 1971 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown Central Catholic High School alumni American film actresses American Roman Catholics American sketch comedians American television actresses American voice actresses American women comedians Comedians from Pennsylvania