Early life

Dudek was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. Her father was an architect. She attended Northwestern University. She is of Polish descent.

Career

From the mid-1990s (while at Northwestern University) through 2001, Dudek appeared in various theater productions and on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in Wrong Mountain in 2000, and won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for outstanding performance in The Glass Menagerie.

After success on Broadway, she made the jump to television. Her first starring role on television came when she was cast as the lead in the British comedy drama The Book Group. The show aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom to rave reviews. In her native United States, Dudek has since guest starred on other TV shows, including Desperate Housewives (as Karl Mayer's girlfriend in Season 1), How I Met Your Mother (as Ted's Krav Maga-trained ex-girlfriend), Friends (as 'Precious', Mike Hannigan's girlfriend), ER (as a mother who accidentally shot her son), Charmed, Bones (as Seeley Booth's lawyer girlfriend), Numb3rs and Six Feet Under. She also played Lucinda Barry in the pilot episode of Psych, and a teacher who has a sexual relationship with one of her students (based on the case of Debra Lafave) on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In both "Friends" and "How I Met Your Mother", her character was dumped on her birthday.

Dudek had a recurring role on House (from season 4 onwards) as Dr. Amber Volakis, one of 40 physicians under consideration by Dr. Gregory House for permanent positions on his team. Her character, nicknamed "Cutthroat Bitch" by House, continued to the end of season 4 but was killed off in the two-part season finale, "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart". She would later reappear as a hallucination by House in the season 5 episode "Saviors", appearing in this form for the remainder of the season.

Dudek later appeared in Mad Men as next-door neighbor Francine Hanson, and on Big Love as one of antagonist Alby Grant's wives, both recurring roles. In 2010, Dudek joined the cast of Covert Affairs. She played Anthony Hopkins' character's daughter in the 2003 film The Human Stain, and cruise line heir Tiffany Wilson in the 2004 comedy film White Chicks. In 2012, she played an ISS astronaut in one episode of the TV show Touch. She also reprised her role as Amber Volakis for the House series finale "Everybody Dies".

Personal life

Dudek is married to artist Matthew Heller. They have a son, Akiva, born in December 2008, and a daughter, Saskia, born in February 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Human Stain, TheThe Human Stain	Lisa Silk
2004	White Chicks	Tiffany Wilson
2004	Naughty Lady, TheThe Naughty Lady	Sara	Short film
2005	Coat of Snow, AA Coat of Snow	Anna Marie
2006	Park	Meredith
2006	10 Items or Less	Lorraine
2006	And Then It Breaks	Girlfriend
2007	Speed Dating	Amy	Short film
2013	Shadow People	Ellen
2016	Waiting, TheThe Waiting	Elise
2016	Middle Man	Grail
TBA	House by the Lake	Karen	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	ER	Paula Gamble	Episode: "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
2002-03	Book Group, TheThe Book Group	Clare Pettengill	12 episodes
2002	For the People	Jennifer Carter	6 episodes
2003	Judging Amy	Candace Hurley	Episode: "Marry, Marry Quite Contrary"
2003	Six Feet Under	Allison Williman	Episode: "Twilight"
2003	Friends	Precious	Episode: "The One After Joey and Rachel Kiss"
2004	Desperate Housewives	Brandi	Episode: "Pretty Little Picture"
2004	Less than Perfect	Annie	2 episodes
2005	Charmed	Denise	Episode: "Ordinary Witches"
2005	Invasion	Katie Paxton	2 episodes
2005	Bones	Tessa Jankow	2 episodes
2005-10	How I Met Your Mother	Natalie	2 episodes
2006	Psych	Lucinda	Episode: "Pilot"
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Danielle McCaskin	Episode: "Tru Love"
2006-07	Big Day	Brittany	3 episodes
2007	Numbers	Emmanueline Kirtland	Episode: "Nine Wives"
2007-10, 2014	Mad Men	Francine Hanson	16 episodes
2007-11	Big Love	Lura Grant	18 episodes
2007-12	House	Dr. Amber Volakis	19 episodes
2009	Castle	Emma Carnes	Episode: "The Fifth Bullet"
2010-12	Covert Affairs	Danielle Brooks	26 episodes
2012	Touch	Allegra	Episode: "Zone of Exclusion"
2012	Private Practice	Lori	Episode: "Drifting Back"
2012	Criminal Minds	Emma Kerrigan	Episode: "The Good Earth"
2012	Mentalist, TheThe Mentalist	Sloan Dietz	Episode: "Cherry Picked"
2013	Masters of Sex	Rosalie	Episode: "Fallout"
2013	Santa Switch	Linda Ryebeck	Film
2014	Those Who Kill	Benedicte Schaeffer	9 episodes
2014	Grimm	Vera Gates	Episode: "Once We Were Gods"
2014	Grey's Anatomy	Elise Castor	Episode: "Do You Know?"
2015	NCIS: New Orleans	Dawn Lin	Episode: "The Walking Dead"
2015	Rizzoli & Isles	Cynthia Wallace	Episode: "Family Matters"
2016	Magicians, TheThe Magicians	Pearl Sunderland	4 episodes
2016	Mindy Project, TheThe Mindy Project	Eden	Episode: "The Greatest Date in the World"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]