Carrie Preston

With her bubbly persona and drive to perform, Carrie Preston has landed roles in everything from stage to the big screen, including a starring role as Arlene Fowler, the redheaded, sassy waitress in the Golden Globe-nominated HBO series "True Blood." Preston's breakout Outer Critics Award nominated turn in George C. Woolf's Broadway production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" led to roles in major television series such as "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" along with scene-stealing turns in "Duplicity" with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," the Oscar-nominated "Transamerica," Alan Ball's "Towelhead," the Daisy 3 Pictures (her production company) film "Ready? Ok!" and the critically acclaimed independent film, "That Evening Sun" with Hal Holbrook.

Preston obtained a BFA from the University of Evansville followed with an acting diploma from the prestigious Juilliard School. She made an auspicious big screen debut as one of the two sexy, Southern bridesmaid sisters in the Julia Robert's blockbuster "My Best Friend's Wedding." Some other film credits include "Mercury Rising" with Bruce Willis, "For Richer or Poorer" with Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley, "Woman Wanted" with Holly Hunter and Kiefer Sutherland, "The Stepford Wives" with Nicole Kidman and Robert Redford's "The Legend of Bagger Vance."

On television, she was a series regular on the sitcom "Emeril," starring the celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. Guest appearances include "Private Practice, "Numbers," "The Inside," the series finale of "Arrested Development," "Wonder Falls," playing two killers and one victim on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Sex and the City" and "Spin City."

Broadway theater credits include "Festen" with Jeremy Sisto and Julianna Margulies and "The Rivals" with Brian Murray and Emily Bergl. Off-Broadway credits include "Anthony and Cleopatra" at the Public Theater' "Cycling Past the Matterhorn" with Shirley Knight ; John Guare's "Chaucer in Rome" with Jon Tenney (Lincoln Center), "Boys and Girls" with Malcolm Gets and "Freedomland" (Playwrights Horizons). She has also performed in countless Shakespeare plays in festivals in Georgia, Alabama, Utah and California.

Carrie is also a director and producer with her production company, Daisy 3 Pictures. Her directorial debut was the feature film "29th and Gay," written by and starring James Vasquez, which was released on DVD by TLA Releasing. She also directed the short film "Feet of Clay" by David Caudle, which made the festival rounds. James Vasquez's "Ready? Ok!," which she starred in and executive produced, played more than 50 festivals, both domestic and international. Carrie won Best Actress at Film Out San Diego, where the film had its world premiere.

Carrie and her husband, actor Michael Emerson, travel back and forth between Los Angeles and New York with their adopted dog Chumley.