Early life

Monica was born on June 30, 1971, in Cleveland, Ohio to Nancy and Paul Brokaw. Her mother was a secretary in a hospital, and her father invented the first flame-resistant car wax. Potter is the eldest of four sisters (Kerry, Jessica, and Brigette). Her maternal grandparents were Irish immigrants, and she was raised Catholic.

During her childhood, she was part of the St. Jerome Parish in Cleveland, and attended the local elementary, as well as Villa Angela Academy, before graduating from Euclid High School. She also spent part of her early years in Arab, Alabama. Potter had wanted to be an actress since childhood. She began acting at the Cleveland Play House when she was in elementary school. Starting at age 12, she worked at a flower shop, and did some modeling for newspaper and magazine ads and some local commercials. She also did a few commercials in Chicago, went to Miami to film a Seinfeld pilot, and then moved to Los Angeles in 1994.

Career

Potter made her screen debut in 1994, on CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Sharon Newman. She later appeared in several feature films, including Con Air (playing the wife of Nicolas Cage's character) and starring opposite Robin Williams in Patch Adams. In 1998, she played the love interest of doomed distance runner Steve Prefontaine in the movie Without Limits. In 2001, she had two major roles, co-starring with Freddie Prinze, Jr. in Head Over Heels, and in the thriller Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman, based on the James Patterson best-seller.

In 2004, Potter played the role of Alison Gordon in the first Saw film. Later Potter worked on television. She was a cast member of the ABC legal drama Boston Legal but left during the second season. In 2009, Potter became a cast member of the new TNT series Trust Me which was cancelled after the first season due to low ratings. Potter plays the role of Kristina Braverman in NBC's comedy-drama Parenthood as of 2014. She received critical acclaim for her performance in the fourth season. In 2013, she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Supporting Actress and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her role in the show.

In 2015, Potter was joined by her mother and all three sisters on Celebrity Family Feud.

Personal life

Potter was married to Tom Potter from 1990 to 1998; together they have two sons. In 2005, Potter married Daniel Allison, an orthopedic surgeon. Potter and Allison have one child, a daughter born in 2005.

Her father died in 2004 of cardiovascular disease.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Bulletproof	Biker's Woman
1997	Con Air	Tricia Poe
1998	A Cool, Dry Place	Kate Durrell
1998	Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence	Martha	Alternative title: The Very Thought of You
1998	Without Limits	Mary Marckx
1998	Patch Adams	Carin Fisher
1999	Heaven or Vegas	Lilli
2001	Head Over Heels	Amanda Pierce
2001	Along Came a Spider	Jezzie Flannigan
2002	I'm with Lucy	Lucy
2004	Saw	Alison Gordon
2008	Lower Learning	Laura Buchwald
2009	The Last House on the Left	Emma Collingwood

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Young and the Restless	Sharon Newman #1
2003	The Lunchbox Chronicles	Kate	TV pilot
2004	Reversible Errors	Muriel Wynn	Miniseries
2004-2005	Boston Legal	Lori Colson	Series regular, 21 episodes Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005)
2007	Protect and Serve	Lizzie Borelli	TV pilot
2009	Trust Me	Sarah Krajicek-Hunter	Series regular, 13 episodes
2010-2015	Parenthood	Kristina Braverman	Main Cast; 90 episodes Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Supporting Actress (2013) Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2013) Nominated — TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2013)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]