Early life

Cardellini was born in Redwood City, California, the daughter of Lorraine (née Hernan), a homemaker, and Wayne David Cardellini, a businessman. She is the youngest of four children. Cardellini is of Italian (from her paternal grandfather), Irish (her mother), German, English, and Scottish descent, and was raised Catholic. She made her first public appearance at age 10, when she sang in a school play. Subsequently, she acted in several school productions and started attending drama lessons. She graduated from nearby Mountain View's Catholic St. Francis High School in 1993, then moved to Los Angeles to seek roles in television and film. Cardellini was a contestant in a 1994 episode of The Price Is Right, winning a fireplace.

Career

Cardellini received her first big break role in 1996 when she landed a starring role as Sarah on ABC's Saturday morning live-action children's series, Bone Chillers. Following this, she made guest appearances on prime-time programs such as Step by Step, Clueless, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Boy Meets World as Lauren, a girl that came between the show's star couple. Cardellini co-starred in the AMC mini-series The Lot in 1999, and spent the summer in Europe as part of a touring production of Lancelot, a fourteenth-century Dutch tragedy.

Cardellini had her first major success when she landed one of the starring roles in the NBC series Freaks and Geeks, which debuted during the 1999-2000 season. As Lindsay Weir, an honor student in the midst of an identity crisis, Cardellini earned positive response that subsequently catapulted her to fame. Cardellini starred in the live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo in 2002, in which she brought to life the cartoon character of Velma Dinkley. She would later reprise the role of Velma in 2004's Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. She joined the cast of the hospital drama ER in 2003 as Samantha Taggart, a free-spirited nurse. Cardellini acted for six seasons on ER, until the series finale, "And in the End...", and with the cast won the TV Land ensemble Icon Award in 2009.

Her other film work includes roles in Dead Man on Campus, Strangeland, Good Burger, Legally Blonde, Brokeback Mountain (for which she was nominated for the ensemble Gotham and Screen Actors Guild awards), and a starring role in the Happy Madison film Grandma's Boy as Samantha. She was the voice of Ursula in the role-playing video game, Gladius, and played the voice of Bliss Goode on the ABC animated series The Goode Family. In 2007, Cardellini was chosen to play lovelorn Clara in the CBS miniseries Comanche Moon, a prequel to 1989's Lonesome Dove.

In 2010 and 2011, Cardellini returned to the stage with the Dr. God comedy group in Los Angeles and San Francisco, appeared in Kill the Irishman and Super, and starred in the independent film Return.

Cardellini appeared with cast members and producers of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared at the Paley Center for Media PaleyFest on March 12, 2011. Since June 15, 2012, she has been the voice of Wendy on the Disney Channel show Gravity Falls.

Cardellini voice acts periodically on the podcast and live show The Thrilling Adventure Hour, on the Sparks Nevada: Marshall on Mars segments.

In 2013, Cardellini was chosen to play Sylvia Rosen, a love interest of Don Draper on Mad Men. For her performance on Mad Men, she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She joined Kyle Chandler on a new Netflix series Bloodline from the creators of Damages.

Personal life

Cardellini attended Loyola Marymount University's College of Communication and Fine Arts, graduating in 2000 with a degree in theatre arts. In 2007, she was recognized as a "Distinguished Alumnus" by the university.

Cardellini dated her Freaks and Geeks co-star Jason Segel for five years following the show's cancellation.

In October 2011, Cardellini and her boyfriend Steven Rodriguez announced her pregnancy. Cardellini gave birth to their daughter Lilah-Rose in February 2012. Cardellini and Rodriguez became engaged in June 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Good Burger	Heather
1998	Dead Man on Campus	Kelly
1998	Strangeland	Genevieve Gage
1999	Prince and the Surfer, TheThe Prince and the Surfer	Melissa
2001	Legally Blonde	Chutney Wyndham
2001	Unsaid, TheThe Unsaid	Shelly Hunter
2002	Scooby-Doo	Velma Dinkley
2002	Certainly Not a Fairytale	Adelle/Writer	Short film
2004	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed	Velma Dinkley
2004	Jiminy Glick in Lalawood	Natalie Coolidge
2004	LolliLove	Linda
2005	Brokeback Mountain	Cassie Cartwright
2005	American Gun	Mary Ann Wilk
2006	Grandma's Boy	Samantha
2008	Lazarus Project, TheThe Lazarus Project	Julie Ingram
2010	Gleeclipse	Coach	Short film
2011	Kill the Irishman	Joan Madigan
2011	Super	Pet Store Employee
2011	All-Star Superman	Nasthalthia "Nasty" Luthor (voice)	Direct-to-DVD
2011	Return	Kelli
2014	Welcome to Me	Gina
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Laura Barton
2015	Daddy's Home	Sara Whitaker
2016	The Founder	Joan Smith

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Bone Chillers	Sarah	13 episodes
1997	3rd Rock from the Sun	Lorna	Episode: "Dickmalion"
1997	Pacific Palisades	Sara	2 episodes
1997	Clueless	Oddrey	Episode: "Chick Fight Tonight"
1997	Step by Step	Cassie Evans	Episode: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
1998	Promised Land	Amber	Episode: "Chasin' the Blues"
1998	Kenan & Kel	Becky	Episode: "Chicago Witch Trials"
1998-1999	Guys Like Us	Jude	6 episodes
1998-1999	Boy Meets World	Lauren	2 episodes
1999	Dying to Live	Leslie Dugger	Television film
1999	The Lot	June Parker	4 episodes
1999-2000	Freaks and Geeks	Lindsay Weir	18 episodes
2003	The Twilight Zone	Ali Warner	Episode: "The Path"
2003-2009	ER	Samantha Taggart	128 episodes
2005-2012	Robot Chicken	Velma Dinkley / Various voices	3 episodes
2007	Human Giant	Melody Richards	Episode: "Mind Explosion"
2008	Comanche Moon	Clara Forsythe	3 episodes
2009	Cupid	Masseuse	Episode: "My Fair Masseuse" (uncredited)
2009	The Goode Family	Bliss Goode (voice)	13 episodes
2011	Person of Interest	Dr. Megan Tillman	Episode: "Cura Te Ipsum"
2011-2013	Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated	Marcy 'Hot Dog Water' Fleach / Various voices	8 episodes
2012-present	Regular Show	C.J. (voice)	24 episodes
2012-2016	Gravity Falls	Wendy Corduroy (voice)	31 episodes
2013	Out There	Sharla Lemoyne (voice)	5 episodes
2013-2015	Mad Men	Sylvia Rosen	9 episodes
2013-present	Sanjay and Craig	Megan Sparkles / Various voices	32 episodes
2014	New Girl	Abby Day	3 episodes
2015-present	Bloodline	Meg Rayburn	13 episodes

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
2002	"Land of a Million Drums"	Outkast
2008	"Sing Along"	Virginia Coalition

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2003	Gladius	Ursula
2004	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed	Velma Dinkley
2012	Lollipop Chainsaw	Cordelia Starling

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
2005	Gotham Awards	Best Ensemble Cast	Brokeback Mountain	Nominated
2006	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated
2009	TV Land Awards	Icon	ER	Won
2013	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Female Lead	Return	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Mad Men	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]