Marisa Coughlan

Coughlan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated from Breck School, a small private school in Golden Valley, Minnesota.[3] When she moved to Los Angeles with her father Daniel Merritt Coughlan, she enrolled at the University of Southern California. She studied abroad in Paris in 1995, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French in 1996.

Coughlan's first film appearance to gain mainstream attention was in Kevin Williamson's directorial debut Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), in which she co-starred alongside Katie Holmes and Helen Mirren. She was cast in the role after reportedly having been rejected for a role on Williamson's series Dawson's Creek.[4] She followed this with a recurring role on the series Wasteland in 1999.[5]

Other films she appeared in included Pumpkin (co-starring with Christina Ricci), a drama about sorority girls; New Suit, a satirical comedy about the inner workings of Hollywood; Super Troopers, playing Officer Ursula Hanson; and Freddy Got Fingered as Betty.

She had a recurring role on the television series Boston Legal as secretary Melissa Hughes in seasons two and three.[2] In 2007, she starred as Jenny McIntyre in Lifetime Television's original series Side Order of Life. In 2008–2009, she appeared on three episodes of the TV show Bones.

Coughlan began writing while she was pregnant and taking time off from acting. She wrote and produced her first pilot, Lost & Found for ABC in 2011. In 2014, she completed writing a comedy based on Peter and Wendy for NBC.[6] In 2016, it was reported by Variety that Fox was developing a comedy series titled Pushing, written by Coughlan and produced by Greg Berlanti.[7]

Coughlan married Stephen Wallack, whom she had known since they were teenagers in Minneapolis, at a private estate in Pasadena, California on November 1, 2008. They have four children together. Today, she lives in Deephaven, Minnesota. Coughlan resided in Studio City, California until 2015.[8]

• Marisa Coughlan at IMDb