Andrea Parker (born March 8, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles on '' ER'', '' JAG'', '' The Pretender'', ''

Less than Perfect ''Less than Perfect'' is an American television sitcom created by Terri Minsky and starring Sara Rue and Sherri Shepherd which originally aired on ABC from October 1, 2002, to June 6, 2006. It follows Claude (Rue), who works at a television n ...

'', ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'', and ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery teen drama television series created by I. Marlene King, which aired on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform from June 8, 2010 to June 27, 2017, based on the novel series Pretty Little L ...

''.

Early years

Parker is a native of southern California. When she was 8 years old, she became a ballet student, and when she was 15 she left home and joined the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

. She "danced professionally for a few years" with that group and went on to take acting classes and work in commercials as a contemporary dancer.

Career

Parker's first speaking role was in "The Contest", an episode of ''

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 ...

''. Her first documented film role was at age 19 in the movie '' Rented Lips'' in which she played a dancer/nurse. Parker appeared in '' Married... with Children'' as a go-go dancer in two episodes. In 1995, Parker was cast in Donald Bellisario's

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 ...

series '' JAG'' as Kate Pike, the initial female lead for the two-part

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. However, when ''JAG'' was picked up for a full series, the producers replaced Parker with

Tracey Needham Tracey Renee Needham (born March 28, 1967) is an American actress who has acted primarily in television roles such as Paige Thatcher on ''Life Goes On (TV series), Life Goes On'' (2nd–4th seasons; 1990–1993), Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Me ...

in the new role of Meg Austin, although Parker did make several guest appearances as Kate throughout the first season. Parker instead went on to star in '' The Pretender''; another NBC series in which she portrayed Miss Catherine Parker, an operative for a sinister agency known as The Centre. She played the role for all four seasons. After ''The Pretender'' was cancelled in 2000, Parker did another guest spot on ''JAG'' before signing on to reprise her role as Miss Parker in two telemovies for ''The Pretender'', which aired on

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

in 2001. She then returned to series television in 2002 and starred in 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 ...

comedy ''

'', playing Lydia Weston until it was cancelled in 2006. From 2011 to 2012, Parker had recurring role of Jane Carlson in the ABC series ''

''. She later starred in NBC drama pilot ''Beautiful People'', and joined the cast of

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

series ''

''.

Personal life

Parker married producer Michael Birnbaum. She supports various charities such as the National Hospice Palliative Care Organization, Glenn Siegel's My Good Friend charity organization, the

Michael J. Fox Foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is a US non-profit organization founded in 2000 by Canadian-American actor Michael J. Fox to find a cure for Parkinson's disease. Business model The organization funds grants directly to ...

for

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

research, and

Project Angel Food Project Angel Food is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Los Angeles County which provides free meals for people too sick to shop and cook for themselves. Project Angel Food serves the majority of Los Angeles County; South Los Angeles and Metro ...

. In February 2006, Parker attended a benefit with former ''Pretender'' co-stars Michael T. Weiss and

James Denton James Denton (born January 20, 1963) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Mike Delfino on ABC's comedy drama series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2004–2012) and Dr. Sam Radford on Hallmark Channel's fantasy seri ...

for

Cure Autism Now Autism Speaks Inc. is an American non-profit autism awareness organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States. It sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governm ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Andrea 1969 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American film actresses American television actresses Living people Place of birth missing (living people)