Early life

Bergl was born in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, to an Irish mother and an English architect father. She lost her English accent when she moved to Glenview, Illinois with her family when she was a child. She attended Glenbrook South High School and Grinnell College, where she was the lead in several school productions. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1997 with a BA in English and Theatre. During her college years, she spent a semester (Spring 1996) studying with the National Theater Institute at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. She has a brother.

Career

Acting

Bergl's big break came with the lead role of Rachel Lang in the 1999 film, The Rage: Carrie 2, the sequel to the 1976 supernatural thriller Carrie. Much of her acting also takes place on television. Bergl has appeared in episodes of the TV shows Gilmore Girls, CSI: Miami, Medium, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, NYPD Blue, and Star Trek: Enterprise. She also appeared in the psychological thriller Chasing Sleep, opposite star Jeff Daniels. Bergl had a major role in the Steven Spielberg 2002 miniseries Taken.

Bergl had a significant co-starring role in the ABC series Men in Trees as Annie, an enthusiastic fan of the series' main character, relationship expert Marin Frist (Anne Heche). Annie travels to every event Marin appears at, and ends up in Elmo, Alaska with Marin. Annie stays in Elmo (as does Marin after she decides to re-evaluate her life), when she meets Patrick Bachelor (Derek Richardson), a local hotel desk clerk and radio DJ she knew through online chats about Marin's books.

Recently, Bergl played in Becky Shaw at Second Stage Theatre in New York in the beginning of 2009. As of the season's second episode Bergl played Paul Young's new wife, Beth, in the seventh season of Desperate Housewives.

Cabaret

Since 2010, Bergl has performed a cabaret show called Kidding on the Square, which had a run in the summer of 2010 in Los Angeles and New York City, then later in Chicago. In September 2011, with the show in New York, the New York Times wrote of her performance:

"Emily Bergl, an incandescent kewpie doll with a bright Betty Boop-inflected chirp, a defiant flounce and a sharp comedic edge, took the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel by storm on Tuesday evening. Her sensational show, “Kidding on the Square” may have played elsewhere, but arriving at the staid Oak Room it felt like a gust of fresh air that could knock you off your feet."

A later article elaborated on her cabaret acts.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Rage: Carrie 2, TheThe Rage: Carrie 2	Rachel Lang
2000	Chasing Sleep	Sadie
2001	Happy Campers	Talia
2003	Final Draft	Helga
2006	Hard Easy, TheThe Hard Easy	Natalie
2009	Get the Dime	Kristy	Short film
2009	Date Blind	Susan	Short film
2012	Grassroots	Theresa Glendon
2013	Eva	Eva	Short film
2013	I Know What I'm Doing	June Bennett
2013	Blue Jasmine	Hal & Jasmine's Friend

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Wasteland	Corie	"Indian Summer"
2000	NYPD Blue	Anya Weiss	"Welcome to New York"
2000	ER	Gloria Milton	"May Day"
2001-2003	Gilmore Girls	Francie Jarvis	Recurring role
2002	Taken	Lisa Clarke (adult)	TV miniseries
2003	Wild Thornberrys, TheThe Wild Thornberrys	Lisa Soderblom (voice)	"Look Who's Squawking"
2003	Star Trek: Enterprise	Bethany	"North Star"
2004	CSI: Miami	Melanie Hines	"Blood Moon"
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Alice	"Vacancy"
2006-2008	Men in Trees	Annie O'Donnell	Main role
2008	Governor's Wife, TheThe Governor's Wife	Dr. Heather McManus	TV film
2009	Medium	Victoria	"Things to Do in Phoenix When You're Dead"
2009	Good Wife, TheThe Good Wife	Bree	"Conjugal", "Unorthodox"
2009-2013	Southland	Tammi Byrant	Recurring role
2010	Grey's Anatomy	Trisha	"Shiny Happy People"
2010-2012	Desperate Housewives	Beth Young	Recurring role
2011	Royal Pains	Nola Cadeau	"The Shaw/Hank Redemption", "A Man Called Grandpa"
2011	Hawaii Five-0	Rhea Carver	"Ua Lawe Wale"
2012	Mentalist, TheThe Mentalist	Ms. Austin	"Something Rotten in Redmund"
2013	Warehouse 13	Autumn Radnor	"Parks and Rehabilitation"
2014	Elementary	Marion West	"Art in the Blood"
2014	Knick, TheThe Knick	Mrs. Hemming	"Mr. Paris Shoes", "The Busy Flea", "Where's the Dignity"
2014-2015	Shameless	Sammi Slott	Regular role
2015	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Judith Briggs	"December Solstice"
2015	Scandal	Janet Beene	"Put a Ring on It"
2016	American Crime	Lilah Tanner	"2.2"

Accolades

She was nominated in 2000 and 2003 for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress for The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) and for Best Actress in a Television Series for Taken (2002), respectively.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]