Kelli Renee Williams (born June 8, 1970) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as lawyer Lindsay Dole on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

legal drama Legal drama, also called courtroom drama, is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in wh ...

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy i ...

'', psychologist and deception expert Dr. Gillian Foster on the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

series ''

Lie to Me ''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ''Lie to me*'') is an American crime drama television series created by Samuel Baum that aired on Fox from January 21, 2009, to January 31, 2011. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman ( Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The ...

'', Jackie Clarke on the Lifetime series ''

Army Wives ''Army Wives'' is an American drama television series that followed the lives of four army wives, one army husband, and their families. The series premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007, and ran for seven seasons, ending on June 9, 2013. The sh ...

'', and Margaret Reed on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

drama series '' Found.

Early life

Kelli Williams was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actress Shannon Wilcox and plastic surgeon John Williams. Her parents divorced when she was 13. She has one brother and two half-brothers. Williams earned her

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

card before her first birthday by appearing in a

diaper A diaper (, North American English) or a nappy (British English, Australian English, Hiberno-English) is a type of underwear that allows the wearer to urinate or defecate without using a toilet, by absorbing or containing waste products to p ...

s commercial, and appeared in several other commercials as a child. She attended elementary school at Lycée Français, and graduated from

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (shortly as BHHS or Beverly) is a public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills is Moreno High School, a small alternative school located on Beverly Hills High School's c ...

in 1988. While attending school, she was active in the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

department. After starring opposite Steve Burton (who would go on to gain fame on ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

'') in the school's production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

,'' she was signed by an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

Career

Williams began her career on television in 1989, with a role in an episode of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

series ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'' and as the first victim of the Hillside Stranglers in

's made-for-TV film ''The Case of the Hillside Stranglers''. Her first feature film appearances were in '' Zapped Again!'' (1990) and '' There Goes My Baby'' (1994) opposite '' ER'' star

Noah Wyle Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor, writer, producer and director. He rose to fame as John Carter in the NBC medical drama '' ER'' (1994–2009), receiving five Emmy Award nominations, three Golden Globe Award ...

. She also appeared in ''

The Young Riders ''The Young Riders'' is an American Western television series created by Ed Spielman that presents a fictionalized account of a group of young Pony Express riders (some of whom are young versions of legendary figures in Old West history) based ...

'' in 1991. Also in 1994, she played Jennifer Stolpa in the TV movie '' Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story.'' She guest starred on the

teen drama ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...

'' in its first season in 1994 as Annie Alcott. She guest-starred in the 1992 ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

'' episode "Sisters Of Mercy" as a

meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational or performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity ...

addict who accuses a nun of sexually abusing her. Beginning with episode 11, "Moon Cross" (aired on February 5, 1995), of the science-fiction series '' Earth 2'', Williams appeared in a multiple episode

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of a plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing narrative, storyline in episode, episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strip ...

in the role of Mary, a human orphan raised on another planet by the indigenous alien species known as the Terrians. In 1997, she took her most prominent role as Lindsay Dole Donnell on the

legal drama ''

''. She appeared in the series ''

The Lyon's Den ''The Lyon's Den'' is a 2003 American legal drama television series. Set in Washington, D.C., it stars Rob Lowe as a lawyer named Jack Turner, who has been newly appointed as partner of a long-established law firm that, as the plot revealed, harb ...

'' and ''

Hack Hack may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Hack (Unix video game), ''Hack'' (Unix video game), a 1984 roguelike video game * .hack (video game series), ''.hack'' (video game series), a series of video games by the multimedia fran ...

'', as well as two episodes of '' Scrubs''. Williams appeared as Dr. Natalie Durant on the

television show ''

Medical Investigation ''Medical Investigation'' is an American medical drama television series that began September 9, 2004, on NBC. It ran for 20 one-hour episodes before its cancellation on March 25, 2005. The series was co-produced by Paramount Network Televisio ...

'' which began in the fall of 2004 and ran for 20 episodes before being canceled. Also in 2004, she starred in the TV movie '' A Boyfriend for Christmas.'' In 2000, Williams starred in the TV movie ''

Flowers for Algernon ''Flowers for Algernon'' is a short story by American author Daniel Keyes, which he later expanded into a novel and adapted for film and other media. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of ''The Magazin ...

'', based on the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Daniel Keyes Daniel Keyes (August 9, 1927 – June 15, 2014) was an American writer who wrote the novel ''Flowers for Algernon''. Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000. Biography Early life ...

. In May 2007, she portrayed Holly Lauren/Kathleen Shaw in the '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' sixth-season finale episode, "Renewal," as a friendly neighbor of Detective Mike Logan (

Chris Noth Christopher David Noth ( ; born November 13, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on ''Law & Order'' (1990–1995), Big on ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on ''The ...

); her character died toward the end of the episode. In August 2008, Williams was cast in a lead role as psychologist Dr. Gillian Foster in the Fox series ''

'', opposite

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (; born 14 May 1961) is an English actor. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the " Brit Pack". After garnering attention in television productions '' Made in Britain'' (1982) and '' Meantime'' (1983), ...

as Dr. Cal Lightman, which ran for three seasons and ended in 2011. In April 2011, she was cast in a guest role as Shelley Chamberlain, a grieving mother on a killing spree in the CBS series ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...

''. In October 2011, she was cast in a guest role as a kidnapped child's mother called Elizabeth Flint in the CBS series ''

The Mentalist ''The Mentalist'' is an American procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, t ...

''. In 2012, she landed the recurring role of Jackie Clarke in the Lifetime series ''

'' and was quickly promoted to a series regular. On August 12, 2015, '' Ties That Bind'', the first original series from the Up Network, debuted with Williams playing police detective Allison McLean. The series balances McLean's work and family. From 2016 on, she worked primarily as a director on multiple TV shows, including ''The Fosters'', ''The Resident'', ''All American'', and '' All American: Homecoming''. In 2020, she joined the cast of the new

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

network series, ''

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

'', starring

Michael Chiklis Michael Charles Chiklis (; born August 30, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), for which he won the Primet ...

. In 2022, she joined the cast of the NBC series, ''Found''.

Personal life

Williams was married to author Ajay Sahgal from 1996 to 2017. She converted to

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

after marrying her husband. The couple has three children. Williams speaks French and Spanish, and has volunteered with the Young Storytellers Program. She has been in a relationship with performance artist, choreographer, and director Lynsey Peisinger since 2023.

Filmography

Director

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Kelli Williams
a
LieToMe.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Kelli Living people 1970 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses American television actresses Beverly Hills High School alumni Lycée Français de Los Angeles alumni Converts to Hinduism