Dungey was born and raised in Sacramento, California, the younger daughter of Don Dungey, a general services manager and Judith Dungey. As a child she was active in ballet and dance as well as piano. Dungey was also an accomplished ice skater. Dungey graduated in 1989 from Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California. After high school Dungey earned a degree of Bachelor of Arts from UCLA in 1993. Dungey has a sister, Channing Dungey who was president of ABC Entertainment and is the CEO of Warner Bros. Television Studios.
Dungey had small roles in Hollywood films such as EDtv and Deep Impact and on television series such as Martin, before landing the recurring role of Kelly Palmer on the CBS television series The King of Queens, in which she starred from 1999 to 2007. She appeared in each season of the series except for the 2002–03 season. Dungey is also well known for her role as Francie Calfo on the drama series Alias from 2001 to 2003, as well as making an appearance on the 2006 series finale episode All the Time in the World. She also had a recurring role on the FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle as Stevie's mother, Kitty Kenarban. At one point in 2001 Dungey was appearing in all three shows (The King of Queens, Malcolm in the Middle, and Alias) at the same time. Dungey portrayed Susannah in the WB drama series Summerland from 2004 to 2005. She has also guest-starred on various TV series including Living Single, ER, Murphy Brown, Seinfeld, Friends, The West Wing, Babylon 5, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Dungey appeared in two episodes of Grey's Anatomy that served as a backdoor pilot for Private Practice, but was replaced by actress Audra McDonald for the series.
Dungey guest-starred on the ABC sitcoms Surviving Suburbia starring Bob Saget, Better Off Ted starring Portia de Rossi, Castle starring Nathan Fillion, and HBO's Hung starring Thomas Jane. She portrayed Ellie on the Nick at Nite television series Hollywood Heights in 2012 and had a recurring role as Alissa Barnes on ABC's Betrayal in 2013. In 2014 she appeared in a featured role opposite Pierce Brosnan in Some Kind of Beautiful. Also in 2014 she began portraying the recurring roles of Ursula on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Sharon Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Dungey played investigator Maxine Bohen on the ABC legal drama Conviction from October 2016 to May 2017. In September 2017, she joined the cast of the medical drama The Resident as Claire Thorpe. Dungey next appeared as C.J. Bernstein in the ABC legal drama The Fix.

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