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Lisa Edelstein ( ; born May 21, 1966) is an American actress and artist. She is known for playing Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the Fox medical drama series House (2004–2011). Between 2014 and 2018, Edelstein starred as Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce.
At 16, Edelstein was a cheerleader for the New Jersey Generals. Edelstein participated in a protest against poor working conditions. She said she felt they were treated "like hookers" and helped organize a cheerleader walkout.
While living in New York, she became involved in the club scene (known there only as "Lisa E") with "Celebutante" James St. James, who briefly refers to Edelstein in his 1999 book Disco Bloodbath. She caused enough of a stir in the community to be dubbed New York City’s "Queen of the Night" by Maureen Dowd in a 1986 article of The New York Times entitled "Lisa In Wonderland."
Bigger roles in TV dramas soon followed, among them the lesbian sister on ABC's Relativity (1996); a high-priced call girl turned Rob Lowe's date on The West Wing (1999); a transgender woman on Ally McBeal (2000); and Ben Covington's (Scott Speedman) girlfriend on Felicity (2001). She also continued to land guest-star spots on such shows as ER, Frasier, Just Shoot Me!, Without a Trace, and Judging Amy, as well as small parts in the films What Women Want, Keeping the Faith, As Good as It Gets, and Daddy Day Care.
From 2004 to 2011, Edelstein portrayed Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and frequent adversary, friend, and eventual girlfriend of title character Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) on Fox's TV series House. Edelstein has often spoken fondly of her experiences on the show and fellow cast and crew, especially her friendship and strong working relationship with Laurie.
In May 2011, Edelstein announced that she would not return for the eighth and final season of House. Starting in June 2011, she joined the cast of The Good Wife, where she played lawyer Celeste Serrano. She guest-starred in Scandal in 2013, and later three episodes of the ABC series Castle.
In 2014, Edelstein landed the lead role of Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, an hour-long dramedy loosely based on the book series by Vicki Iovine focusing on the lives of newly divorced, mid-life women. It ran for five seasons in which she got to expand her creative participation by becoming a producer, writer, and director on the series.
In 2018, Edelstein joined the cast of ABC's The Good Doctor in season two as Dr. Marina Blaize in a recurring role. This reunited her with House creator David Shore as well as with Richard Schiff, who played her father on Relativity.
Edelstein then joined the award winning The Kominsky Method, a Netflix series that debuted in November 2018, playing the drug-addled daughter of Alan Arkin and working alongside such actors such as Michael Douglas, Paul Reiser and Chuck Lorre. During that time she also reunited with Rob Lowe, playing his ex-wife Gwyneth Morgan, and mother of TK Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) on the ABC drama series . She played a Holocaust survivor and adopted mother in the Canadian indigenous TV drama Little Bird, which was nominated for 19 Canadian Screen Awards .
Edelstein is also a Voice actor. Her roles include Mercy Graves in the DC Animated Universe, Sharri Rothberg in American Dad!, Kya in The Legend of Korra, and a guest role as Alexis in King of the Hill.
| 1991 | The Doors | Makeup artist | |
| 1997 | As Good as It Gets | Woman at table | |
| 1998 | Susan's Plan | Penny Myers | |
| 1998 | L.A. Without a Map | Sandra | |
| 1999 | 30 Days | Danielle | |
| 2000 | Keeping the Faith | Ali Decker | |
| 2000 | What Women Want | Dina | |
| 2003 | Daddy Day Care | Crispin's mother | |
| 2005 | Say Uncle | Sarah Faber | |
| 2013 | She Loves Me Not | Amy | |
| 2016 | Joshy | Claudia | |
| 2021 | Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets | Elly | |
| 2023 | Swipe NYC | Syd | Short film |
| 2023 | Shadow Brother Sunday | Sandra | Short film |
| 2024 | The Everything Pot | Rachel |
| 1992 | L.A. Law | Francine Flicker | Episode: "My Friend Flicker" |
| 1992 | Mad About You | Lynne Stoddard | Episode: "Out of the Past" |
| 1993 | Good Advice | Robin | Episode: "The Kiss" |
| 1993 | Seinfeld | Karen | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Wings | Marsha Peebles | Episode: "Labor Pains" |
| 1996 | Ned & Stacey | Janine | Episode: "Friends and Lovers" |
| 1994 | The Larry Sanders Show | Diane French | Episode: "The Mr. Sharon Stone Show" |
| 1994 | Wild Oats | Unknown | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1995–97 | Almost Perfect | Patty Karp | 8 episodes |
| 1995 | Partners | Cindy Wolfe | Episode: "Who's Afraid of Ron and Cindy Wolfe?" |
| 1995 | Mercy Graves (voice) | 7 episodes A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. | |
| 1996–97 | Relativity | Rhonda Roth | Main role |
| 1997 | ER | Aggi Orton | Episode: "Ambush" |
| 1998 | Frasier | Caitlin | Episode: "Frasier Gotta Have It" |
| 1998 | Just Shoot Me! | Erin Simons | Episode: "Sewer!" |
| 1998 | Indiscreet | Beth Sussman | Television film |
| 1998 | Nothing Sacred | Rabbi Judith Fisher | Episode: "Holy Words" |
| 1999 | Sports Night | Bobbi Bernstein | 2 episodes |
| 1999–2000 | The West Wing | Laurie "Brittany" Rollins | 5 episodes |
| 2000 | Grosse Pointe | Shawn Shapiro | Episode: "Satisfaction" |
| 2000–01 | Ally McBeal | Cindy McCauliff | 5 episodes |
| 2001 | Black River | Laura | Television film |
| 2001 | The Zeta Project | Gwen Evans (voice) | Episode: "Ro's Reunion" |
| 2001–02 | Felicity | Lauren | 6 episodes |
| 2002 | Obsessed | Charlotte | Television film |
| 2002 | Leap of Faith | Patty | Main |
| 2003 | Maeve Fox | Television film | |
| 2003 | Without a Trace | Dr. Lianna Sardo | Episode: "Moving On" |
| 2003 | The Practice | Diane Ward | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | Justice League | Mercy Graves (voice) | Episode: "Tabula Rasa" |
| 2004 | Judging Amy | Sylvia Danforth | Episode: "The Quick and the Dead" |
| 2005 | Justice League Unlimited | Mercy Graves (voice) | Episode: "Clash" |
| 2005 | Fathers and Sons | Irene | Television film |
| 2004–11 | House | Dr. Lisa Cuddy | Main: Seasons 1–7 People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Drama Actress Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |
| 2007 | King of the Hill | Alexis (voice) | Episode: "The Powder Puff Boys" |
| 2007–11 | American Dad! | Sharri Rothberg (voice) | 6 episodes |
| 2008 | Special Delivery | Maxine Carter | Television film |
| 2011 | Childrens Hospital | Herself/Lisa Cuddy | Episode: "Run, Dr. Lola Spratt, Run!" |
| 2011 | The Good Wife | Celeste Serano | 3 episodes |
| 2011 | Paul The Male Matchmaker | Jillian | Episode: "Know When You Are Not Ready" |
| 2012 | Blue-Eyed Butcher | Kelly Siegler | Television film |
| 2012 | Elementary | Heather Van Owen | Episode: "The Long Fuse" |
| 2013 | House of Lies | Brynn | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | Scandal | Sarah Stanner | Episode: "Top of the Hour" |
| 2013 | Castle | Rachel McCord | 3 episodes |
| 2013–14 | The Legend of Korra | Kya (voice) | 14 episodes |
| 2014–18 | Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce | Abby McCarthy | Main Women's Image Network Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (2015, 2016) |
| 2018–19 | The Good Doctor | Dr. Marina Blaize | 6 episodes |
| 2018–19, 2021 | The Kominsky Method | Phoebe | Recurring role Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series |
| 2021–22 | Gwyneth Morgan | Recurring (season 2); guest (season 3) | |
| 2023 | Little Bird | Golda Rosenblum | TV Limited Series |
| 2025 | Going Dutch | Nina Quinn | Episode: "The Exes of Evil" |
| 2025 | Long Story Short | Naomi Schwartz | Main cast |
| 1997 | Blade Runner | Crystal Steele |
| 2020 | Borrasca | Leah Dixon |
In 2011, she won the People's Choice Award for Best Drama Actress in a TV Series for her portrayal of Dr. Lisa Cuddy on House.
Edelstein has won the Women's Image Network Awards for the following performances:
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