Marcia Cross

Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on daytime soap operas such as The Edge of Night, Another World, and One Life to Live before moving to primetime television with a recurring role on Knots Landing. From 1992 to 1997, she starred as Dr. Kimberly Shaw on Melrose Place. Cross played the role of the conservative housewife Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives (2004–12), for which she was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, and a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also recurred as President Claire Haas on the ABC series Quantico.\n', ' Cross was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts and is of English and Irish descent. She is one of three daughters of Janet, a teacher, and Mark Cross, a personnel manager. Cross was raised Catholic, and attended Marlborough High School, from which she graduated in 1980. Upon graduating from high school, Cross received a half-scholarship to Juilliard, and graduated in 1984 with a B.F.A. in Acting. Cross returned to school in 1997 to earn a master\'s degree in psychology, which she received from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2003.\n', ' Cross began her television career in 1984 on the soap opera The Edge of Night, playing the recurring role of Liz Correll. Afterwards, she relocated from New York to Los Angeles, and soon landed roles in television movies such as The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James, co-starring with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. In 1986, she joined the cast of the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live, where she played the role of Kate Sanders, until 1987. She followed this with guest-starring roles on primetime shows such as Who\'s the Boss?, Quantum Leap, Knots Landing and Cheers.\n', '