Linder was born in Pasadena, California, and graduated with a BA in theatre arts from San Francisco State University. During that time, she also began working as a flight attendant for Transamerica Airlines. After graduation, Linder found work on television, including roles on Archie Bunker's Place and Bay City Blues.
In 1982, she was cast as Esther Valentine on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. It was originally supposed to be a one day role. Linder has been starring on The Young and the Restless for more than 40 years and is also one of two Daytime Governors at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, who present the Emmys. Linder is also the national spokesperson for The ALS Association and is active with TV Cares, ATAS's AIDS fundraising and awareness organization, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and national spokesperson for March of Dimes Canada's Conductive Education Program.
For her contributions in television, Linder earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 10, 2008. She is the third actor to earn a star on the Walk of Fame solely on the merits of acting on a soap opera, after Jeanne Cooper in 1993 and Susan Lucci in 2005.

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