Angela Petrelli/ Cristine Rose

Cristine Rose stars in NBC's Emmy Award-nominated ensemble drama series "Heroes" as the mysterious, calculating NY matriarch Angela Petrelli, who is willing to sacrifice anything, including her gifted sons Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Peter (Milo Ventimeglia), to change the world. She and her late husband were part of a core group of special individuals associated with The Company. "Heroes" follows the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities.

Rose has performed on stage, in film, and on television. Series roles include Mrs. Bueller in NBC's "Ferris Bueller" and Mrs. Barash in "Flying Blind." Recurring roles include Lydia Brock on "Picket Fences," Cynthia Blake on "Providence," and Bitsy Hannigan on "Friends." Recently, she has been featured on "How I Met Your Mother" and "Big Love."

After graduation from Stanford University, Rose spent many years devoted to the stage. In New York, she starred in Wendy Wasserstein's long-running hit "Isn't It Romantic?" at Playwrights Horizons; and played Elfriede in Richard Foreman's production of "Three Acts of Recognition" at Joe Papp's Public Theatre.

She has performed at several regional theatres, including the Guthrie Theatre where she played the Countess in Andre Serban's acclaimed production of "The Marriage of Figaro," as well as Yelyena in "Uncle Vanya," directed by Garland Wright. Her most recent foray onto the stage was in Charles Mee's "A Perfect Wedding," directed by Gordon Davidson as the inaugural production of the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles.

In 2007, Rose received her Master of Arts degree in theatre with distinction from California State University, Northridge. She managed to interweave her television work with classes, papers, and presentations. Her master's thesis centered on the actor's role in American new play development, for which she criss-crossed the country, interviewing 21 accomplished directors and playwrights, including Pulitzer Prize winners Lanford Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Lee Blessing, and Donald Margulies.

A special with the ability to see the future in her dreams, Angela is the last surviving Company founder. It all started in 1961, when Angela's parents brought her to Coyote Sands, a government installation created to study evolved humans. That's where a 16-year-old Angela first met Bob Bishop, Charles Deveaux and Daniel Linderman and formed the Company, to protect and prevent the existence of people like them from becoming public. Fierce in her devotion to family, Angela's choices are often ruthless and controversial. After all, she did poison her husband Arthur with a bowl of homemade minestrone. But when her son Nathan created an organization to track and imprison all evolved humans, it began to look like Angela's days were numbered, at least until Sylar stepped into the game. Finding Nathan shortly after his brutal murder by Sylar, it was Angela who hatched the plan to have Matt force Sylar into believing himself to be Nathan. Now worried that Nathan/Sylar is becoming unglued, Angela is once again scheming to keep her family together...

Read more about this character at Heroes Wiki.