Sarah Clarke (born February 16, 1972) is an American

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, best known for her role as Nina Myers on '' 24'', and also for her roles as Renée Dwyer,

Bella Swan Isabella "Bella" Marie Cullen (née Swan) is the protagonist character of the ''Twilight'' book series by Stephenie Meyer. She is initially an ordinary teenage girl, but during the series, Bella falls in love and marries a vampire Edward Culle ...

's mother, in the 2008 film ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'', Erin McGuire on the short-lived TV show '' Trust Me'', and CIA Officer Lena Smith on the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

show ''

Covert Affairs ''Covert Affairs'' is an American action drama television series filmed in Toronto, Canada, starring Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham that premiered on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. On January 6, 2015, USA Network canceled ''Covert Affairs'' afte ...

''. She also starred as Eleanor Wish in

Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...

' police procedural drama '' Bosch''.

Early life

Clarke was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Ernest Clarke, an engineer, and Carolyn, a homemaker. Clarke attended

John Burroughs School John Burroughs School (JBS) is a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school with 631 students in grades 7– 12. Its 49-acre () campus is located in Ladue, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1923, it is named for U.S. naturali ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

(along with ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'' star

Jon Hamm Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and tw ...

, her

prom A promenade dance or prom is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year. Students participating in the prom will typically vote for a ''prom king'' and ''prom queen''. Other students may be honored ...

date), and

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

studying Fine Arts and Italian. She dated fellow actor

Paul Rudd Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. Rudd studied theatre at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his acting debut in 1991. He was included on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 li ...

for a short time. While a student at Indiana University, Clarke became a member of the

Kappa Alpha Theta Kappa Alpha Theta (), commonly referred to simply as Theta, is an international Fraternities and sororities, sorority founded on January 27, 1870, at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. It was the first Greek-letter fraternity established ...

sorority. She was initiated into the Beta chapter in 1990. Clarke became interested in acting while studying abroad during her senior year in

Bologna, Italy Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. Upon returning to the United States, she began studying

architectural photography Architectural photography is the subgenre of the photography discipline where the primary emphasis is made to capturing photographs of buildings and similar architectural structures that are both aesthetically pleasing and accurate in terms of re ...

. She received free acting lessons in return for taking photographs of a cultural arts center, and she studied acting at

Circle in the Square Theatre School Circle in the Square Theatre School is a non-profit, tax exempt drama school associated with Circle in the Square Theatre; it is the only accredited conservatory attached to a Broadway theatre. It offers two 2-year full-time programs: a Professi ...

, Axis Theater Company, and The Willow Cabin Theatre Company.

Career

Clarke began her acting career with an appearance in a 1999 award-winning commercial for

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

. She followed this with a role in the 2000 short film ''Pas de deux'' and received an Outstanding Performance award at the Brooklyn Film Festival. Clarke's career soon blossomed with minor roles, including films ''All About George'' in 2000 and ''The Accident'' in 2001, as well as television shows such as '' Ed'' and ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

''. In 2001, Clarke auditioned for the role of CTU agent Nina Myers on ''24''. She won the role on the day that filming began. The wardrobe department did not have time to fit her, so she had to wear her own outfit for the entire season of filming. In her three seasons with the show, Clarke was featured in a total of 36 episodes. Clarke won a

Golden Satellite Award The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...

for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series for this role. Clarke also lent her voice to '' 24: The Game'', as her ''24'' character, Nina Myers. Clarke has guest-starred on ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

'' and ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

''. She played Renée Dwyer, Bella Swan's mother, in ''

''. She accepted a leading role on the TNT series '' Trust Me'', opposite

Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian and American actor known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers (TV series), Travelers'', and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the T ...

and Thomas Cavanagh. The series premiered on January 26, 2009 to positive reviews, though it was cancelled after one season due to declining ratings. In 2010, Clarke reprised her role as Renée Dwyer in ''

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

'', the third movie in the ''Twilight series''. In 2013, she was cast as Marla Jameson in the US version of ''

The Tomorrow People ''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction on television, science fiction television series created by Roger Price (television producer), Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV (TV network), ITV Network, th ...

''.

Personal life

Clarke met her husband,

Xander Berkeley Alexander Harper Berkeley (born December 16, 1955) is an American actor. Since beginning his career in the early 1980s, he has appeared in over 200 film and television projects. His films include ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), ''Candyman ...

, while on the set of ''24'' (he played her supervisor,

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

) and they were married in September 2002, a year after meeting. They have two daughters.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* * at www.reviewgraveyard.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Sarah 1972 births Living people American film actresses American television actresses Circle in the Square Theatre School alumni Actresses from St. Louis 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses John Burroughs School alumni