Lisa Edelstein Biography

Lisa Edelstein was born on May 21, 1966 in Boston, an important city located in the US state of Massachusetts; but was raised in Wayne, New Jersey. Her father, Alvin Edelstein, worked as a pediatrician at Chilton Memorial Hospital in nearby Pequannock Township, New Jersey.

Her mother, Bonnie Edelstein, was a social worker. Born youngest of her parents’ three children, she has an elder sister called Karen Edelstein Bernstein and a brother called Eric Edelstein. The children were raised in conservative Jewish tradition.

In 1982, while studying at Wayne Valley High School, she became a cheerleader for the newly established New Jersey Generals, a franchise of the United States Football League. But, when the team began forcing them to stand in uniforms at bars, she felt humiliated and organized a cheerleader strike.

In 1984, she graduated from Wayne Valley High School. Although her parents wanted her to become a lawyer, she now moved to New York City to study theatre at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Raised in Wayne, she initially felt like a fish out of water and stayed mostly by herself.

Worried about her safety and well-being, her parents eventually bought her an apartment on the Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. It was here that she became friendly with her classmate, James Clark, who introduced her to the clubs-area; the Pyramid Club, Danceteria etc.

Soon, Lisa Edelstein became a regular feature at the clubs, where she introduced herself simply as Lisa E, making a splash as a celebrated member of the city's nightlife scene. By 1986, she was being called a ‘top celebutante’ by the New York press including The New York Times.

Sometime in late 1980s, Lisa Edelstein became aware of AIDS and how people were dying from it. Eventually she volunteered for Gay Men's Health Crisis and visited AIDS patients at the hospitals, in the process becoming aware about the disease and learning how one gets infected.

Her visit to the hospitals inspired her to write and compose a musical called Positive Me. It made its debut in 1989 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, a well-known off Broadway theatre in Manhattan and received critical accolade. She also starred in it.

In 1990, she hosted Awake on the Wild Side for MTV. It was grueling job and although she did not enjoy the work, she agreed to do it only for financial reason as making Positive Me had drained out her funds.

In 1991, she debuted in films with a small part of a backstage make-up artist in The Doors. In the following year, she debuted on television, playing Francine Flicker in the My Friend Flicker episode of L.A. Law and Lynne Stoddard in the Out of the Past episode of Mad About You.

In 1993, she attracted the attention, playing Karen, George Costanza's sexually frustrated girlfriend in two episodes of Seinfeld. Also, in the same year, she played Robin in the TV series Good Advice, Marsha Peebles in the TV series Wings. These were followed in 1994 by The Larry Sanders Show and TV series Wild Oats.

In 1995, she got her first recurring role, appearing as Patty Carp in eight episodes of Almost Perfect and as Mercy Graves in nine episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. In the following year, she got her first main role, playing lesbian Rhonda Roth in ABC’s Relativity.

Soon she was appearing both on television and films, her first major work on the big screen being Susan’s Plan (1998), in which she played Penny Myers. Also, in the same year, she appeared as Sandra in the movie L. A. Without A Map.

Continuing to appear both on big and small screen, she played Danielle in an independent film called 30 Days in 1999. On the small screen, she played sports reporter Bobbi Bernstein on Sports Night and Laurie "Brittany" Rollins, a high-priced call girl, on The West Wing.

In 2000-2001, she portrayed Cindy McCauliff, an assigned male at birth transgender woman on Ally McBeal and Lauren on Felicity in 2001-2002. Playing Patty in Leap of Faith’ was another of her major work in 2002.

In 2002, she was seen in television series, Leap of Faith and in her first television movie, Obsessed. It was followed in 2003 by another television movie called A Date with Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster.

In 2004, she got her biggest role when she was selected to play Dr. Lisa Cuddy in House, appearing in it for seven consecutive seasons. Meanwhile, she continued to appear in other productions like American Dad (2007 –2011) and also in television films like Fathers and Sons (2005) and Special Delivery (2008).

In 2011, she joined the cast of The Good Wife, playing Celeste Serano in three of its episodes. Two years later, she returned to the big screen, appearing as Amy in She Loves Me Not. Also, in 2013-2014, she lent her voice to her character, Kya, in the TV series The Legend of Korra.

From December 2014 to July 2018, she appeared in the main role of Abby McCarthy, a self-help book author in her early 40s, in the TV series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, receiving critical acclaim for her work. It was followed in 2018-2019 by The Good Doctor, in which she played Dr. Marina Blaize.

Since 2018, she has been appearing in the recurring role of Phoebe in The Kominsky Method. Concurrently, she is also playing Gwyneth "Gwyn" Morgan in ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’ (2021). Also, in 2021, was seen in the movie, Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets.

Lisa Edelstein is best known for her role in the Fox medical drama series House, starring in it as Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, for seven consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2010. Her character resigned from her post at the end of the seventh season.

On May 2014, 2014, Lisa Edelstein married Robert Russell, an artist and with that she became stepmother of Russell’s two sons, Benjamin and Santiago. Currently, the family resides in Los Angeles.

She is a vegan and also a supporter and ambassador of Best Friends Animal Society

As a vegan, Edelstein finds getting shoes that do not have leather on them is the most difficult part.