Lauren Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American-Canadian actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series Picket Fences, NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series NCIS, Dr. Betty Rogers on Motive, Mary Swanson in Dumb and Dumber, Bruce Lee's wife Linda Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Darian Smalls in Beautiful Girls, and Gigi in What Women Want.
Holly was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Michael Ann Holly, is an art historian and the Starr Director of Research and Academic Program at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and former professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her father, Grant Holly, is a screenwriter and professor of literature at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has two younger brothers: Nick and Alexander Innes Holly (1977–1992). Holly was raised in Geneva, New York, and is a 1981 graduate of Geneva High School, where she was a cheerleader. In 1985, she earned an undergraduate degree in English from Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
Holly's acting career began at the age of 20 when she appeared as Carla Walicki in two episodes of Hill Street Blues. At age 23, she joined the cast of the ABC television soap opera All My Children as Julie Rand Chandler (1986–1989). She portrayed the comic book character Betty Cooper in the TV movie Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again in 1990.

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