Early life

Stanchfield was born and raised in Kodiak, Alaska, where her father was a commercial fisherman. She later moved to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, and finally Mercer Island, near Seattle. She attended the University of Puget Sound, graduating in 1993 with a degree in Communications and a minor in theater. She graduated from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Career

Stanchfield began her career in theater, and made her screen debut in the episode of CBS crime drama, Diagnosis: Murder in 2000. She later has appeared in a number of television shows, include Angel, Monk, Strong Medicine, Nip/Tuck, Bones, Cold Case, The Mentalist and How I Met Your Mother.

Stanchfield was regular cast member in the CBS post-apocalyptic drama series, Jericho as April Green. She starred on show from 2006 to 2007. In 2007 she played Amelia Joffe (replacing Annie Wersching for two weeks in May) in the ABC daytime soap opera, General Hospital. She later was cast in the recurring role as Helen Bishop in the critically acclaimed AMC period drama series, Mad Men. She played Shannon Gibbs, Mark Harmon's character first wife, in the CBS procedural NCIS from 2006 to 2012. Stanchfield also guest starred as Meredith, the title character's first ex-wife, on the ABC comedy-drama series, Castle in 2009 and in 2013. In film, she had the female lead role opposite Josh Duhamel in the 2004 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and co-starred as Nathan Fillion's character wife in the comedy-drama Waitress (2007). In addition, Stanchfield appeared in a number of independent films.

In March, 2011 Shonda Rhimes cast Stanchfield in her political drama series, Scandal. Before Scandal, Stanchfield had guest role on Shonda Rhimes' Private Practice in 2008. The series debuted on ABC on April 5, 2012 and in the second season rose to become one of the most high-rated dramas on television. She plays the role of Abby Whelan, the investigator in the lead character firm, and later the White House Press Secretary.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Sybil Vane
2007	Waitress	Francine Pomatter
2008	Square Root of 2, TheThe Square Root of 2	Rachel Lehrer	First film with Darby Stanchfield as a lead role
2008	Sacrifice, TheThe Sacrifice	Loretta Johnson	Monaco International Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress
2009	Open House	Beth Dunne	Short film
2011	Clay	Woman	Short film
2011	Finding Hope	Loretta
2011	Guest Room, TheThe Guest Room	Karen
2011	Fixing Pete	Cynthia
2015	Loserville	Evelyn MacDonald
2016	Carnage Park
2016	Medicine Men	Clementine
2016	The Rendezvous	Ruthie
2016	Slumber

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Diagnosis Murder	Nora	Episode: "Hot House"
2001	Angel	Denise	Episode: "Happy Anniversary"
2002	That '80s Show	Spokeslady #1	Episode: "Road Trip"
2002	American Dreams	Amy	Episode: "The Fighting Irish"
2003	Monk	Erin Hammond	Episode: "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame"
2004	It's All Relative	Jordan F.	Episode: "Who's Camping Now"
2004	Good Girls Don't...	Redhead	Episode: "Whatever Happened to Jane's Baby?"
2004	Strong Medicine	Hilary Davis	Episode: "Code"
2004	Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus	Store Clerk	Television film
2005	Without a Trace	Kim	Episode: "End Game"
2005	24	Shari	Episode: "Day 4: 5:00 a.m.-6:00 a.m."
2005	Inside, TheThe Inside	New Girl	Episode: "New Girl in Town"
2005	Nip/Tuck	Aimee Bolton	Episode: "Tommy Bolton"
2006	Campus Ladies	Mikka	Episode: "Night of the Condom"
2006-07	Jericho	April Green	15 episodes
2007	Bones	Connie Lopata	Episode: "The Bodies in the Book"
2007	General Hospital	Amelia Joffe	10 episodes
2007	Cold Case	Melissa Carter	Episode: "Thick as Thieves"
2007	Exes & Ohs	Sienna	3 episodes
2007-08	Mad Men	Helen Bishop	5 episodes
2008	Private Practice	Tess Milford	Episode: "Tempting Faith"
2009	Exes & Ohs	Sienna	Episode: "Fish in a Barrel"
2009	Mentalist, TheThe Mentalist	Stevie Caid	Episode: "Paint It Red"
2009	Ghost Whisperer	Greer Clarkson	Episode: "Delusions of Grandview"
2009	Life	Ella Holden	Episode: "Initiative 38"
2009	CSI: NY	Dawn Higgins	Episode: "It Happened to Me"
2010	How I Met Your Mother	Marissa Heller	Episode: "Robots Versus Wrestlers"
2011	CSI: Miami	Linda Hill	Episode: "F-T-F"
2011	Burn Notice	Sadie Forte	Episode: "Eye for an Eye"
2006-12	NCIS	Shannon Gibbs	6 episodes
2012-present	Scandal	Abby Whelan	Series regular TV Guide Award for Fan Favorite Cast in a Drama Series (2013)
2009, 2013	Castle	Meredith	Episodes: "Always Buy Retail" and "Significant Others"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]