Early life

Ross was born and raised in Winnetka, Illinois. Her parents are Debbie Ross Kullby, who is retired and living in Colorado; and Peter Ross (d. 2009), a financial advisor. Charlotte has one younger brother, George, a hedge-fund analyst. "When we were little I used to beat him up," she recalls with a laugh, "but now we're close." Her first on-screen performance was in My First Mouthpiece; she was 8 years old. She moved on to performing in various hometown theater productions.

Career

After graduating from New Trier High School, Charlotte moved to Los Angeles, which her father opposed. She tried out for the role of Kelly Bundy on Married... with Children, but was the producers' second choice behind Christina Applegate to whom she lost the role, before being cast as Eve Donovan on Days of Our Lives. Four years later, Ross co-starred with Katey Sagal ("Peg Bundy") in the movie Violation of Trust (aka She Says She's Innocent). The year after that, she guested on Married... with Children as one of Bud Bundy's sexier classmates.

Ross's run on Days of Our Lives lasted from 1987 to 1991, earning her two Emmy nominations. Her other television credits include the musical drama series The Heights (where she sang on the Billboard Number One hit "How Do You Talk to an Angel"), The 5 Mrs. Buchanans, Drexell's Class, Pauly, Law & Order, Trinity, Beggars and Choosers, Frasier, Savage Land, Jake in Progress, Fall Into Darkness and A Kiss So Deadly (which reunited her with Days co-star Charles Shaughnessy). She also co-starred in the 2007 Lifetime TV films Montana Sky and Christmas in Paradise. She earned a Gold record in 1992 for her work as a singer on the soundtrack album to the The Heights, famous for the song "How Do You Talk To An Angel".

Ross is also known for her role as Connie McDowell in the ABC police drama series NYPD Blue from 2001 to 2004. On February 25, 2003, Ross appeared in an NYPD Blue episode entitled "Nude Awakening", which featured shots of her buttocks as she prepared to step into the shower. As a result, the FCC fined each of the 52 ABC stations with a $27,500 fine for broadcasting "indecent material" between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. However, on January 4, 2011, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously revoked the fine, stating that the FCC's enforcement of its indecency rules was "unconstitutionally vague and chilling." ABC, Inc., et al. v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 08-0841-ag(L) (2nd Cir.).

In 2006, Ross joined Billy Blanks to co-host a series of Tae-Bo infomercials. In 2011, Ross appeared as Candy in Summit's 3D film Drive Angry, alongside Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard. In 2009, Ross began a recurring role on the Fox comedy-drama series Glee as Judy Fabray, the mother of Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron). She appeared in 4 episodes. In 2013, Ross began starring in the VH1 drama Hit the Floor . In 2014, Ross passed on an offer to return to Days of our Lives as Eve Donovan, and her role was recast with Kassie DePaiva because she was too busy with other acting projects. Along with this news, Ross made a guest appearance on the ABC musical drama series Nashville. Later that year she was cast as Felicity Smoak's mother in The CW series, Arrow.

Personal life

On October 18, 2003, Ross married Michael Goldman and gave birth to one child: son Maxwell Ross Goldman (whose name combines Charlotte's and her mother's maiden names). She and Michael Goldman separated in 2008 but "remain best of friends in raising our son." She resides in Los Angeles.

Activism

In 2002, Ross supported PETA's anti-fur campaign by appearing naked in advertisements captioned "I'd Rather Show My Buns Than Wear Fur".

In 2014, Ross signed on her support to the Animal Legal Defense Fund campaign "National Justice for Animals Week" by filming a video.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Touch and Go	Courtney's Girlfriend
1994	Foreign Student	Elizabeth 'Sue Ann' Baldridge
	Love and a .45	Mary Ann
	Savage Land	Mandy
1998	Looking for Lola	Debbie
2007	Moola	Nora
	Live!	Jennifer
2011	Drive Angry	Candy
	Street Kings 2: Motor City	Beth Kingston	Direct to video
	Umpire, TheThe Umpire	Billie Satriano	Short film
2014	Rita Mahtoubian is Not a Terrorist	Lana	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987-1991	Days of Our Lives	Eve Baron Donovan	Series regular, role from July 16, 1987 to July 12, 1991 Nominated — Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series (1990-1991)
1991	She Says She's Innocent	Justine Essex	TV movie
	Reasonable Doubts	Meredith Little	Episode: "Dicky's Got the Blues"
1992	Empty Nest	Antoinette	Episode: "Sayonara"
	Drexell's Class	Janet	Episode: "The Resentments"
	Married... with Children	Darlene	Episode: "Teacher Pets"
	Heights, TheThe Heights	Hope Linden	Series regular, 13 episodes
1994	Birdland	Ronnie	Episode: "Crazy for You"
1994-1995	5 Mrs. Buchanans, TheThe 5 Mrs. Buchanans	Bree Buchanan	Series regular, 17 episodes
1995-1996	Murder One	Stephanie Lambert	Episodes: "Chapter 8", "Chapter Seventeen"
1996	ER	Angel	Episode: "The Right Thing"
	Minor Adjustments	Amy	Episode: "Baba-Doo-Wang"
	Kiss So Deadly, AA Kiss So Deadly	Amanda Blake	TV movie
	Fall into Darkness	Ann Price	TV movie
1997	Pauly	Dawn Delaney	Series regular, 7 episodes
1998	Will of their Own, AA Will of their Own	Susan Peterson	TV miniseries
1998	Trinity	Fiona McCallister	Series regular, 10 episodes
	NYPD Blue	Laurie Richardson	Episodes: "The One That Got Away" and "I Don't Wanna Dye"
1999	Kidnapped in Paradise	Megan Emerson	TV movie
1999-2001	Beggars and Choosers	Lori Volpone	Series regular, 42 episodes
2001	Frasier	Monica	Episode: "Sliding Frasiers"
2001-2004	NYPD Blue	Det. Connie McDowell	Series regular, 70 episodes
2006	Jake in Progress	Annie	3 episodes
2007	Law & Order	Judith Barlow	Episode: "Talking Points"
	Montana Sky	Tess Mercy	TV movie
	Christmas in Paradise	Dana Marino	TV movie
2008	Ring of Death	Mary Wyatt	TV movie
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Sabrina Owen	Episode: "If I Had a Hammer..."
2009-2012	Glee	Judy Fabray	Episodes: "Ballad", "Journey to Regionals", "Prom Queen", and "Goodbye"
2013	Hit the Floor	Olivia Vincent	Series regular (Season 1)
2014	Nashville	Ruth Bennett	Episode: "Guilty Street"
2014-present	Arrow	Donna Smoak	Recurring role

[ Source: Wikipedia ]