Kate Walsh

This statuesque actress, who began her career as a model, donned a fat suit for her small-screen break in the recurring role of Drew Carey's weight-gaining girlfriend on The Drew Carey Show. Long before she landed the chuckle-inducing sitcom gig, she trained as a serious stage actress in Chicago, appearing in critically acclaimed productions with the Shakespeare Repertory. A move to New York created opportunities for short-lived appearances on television series like The Mike O'Malley Show and Mind of a Married Man. A more permanent television home opened its doors to her when she donned scrubs and entered Seattle Grace for a stint on ABC's medical drama Grey's Anatomy. As enigmatic surgeon Dr. Addison Montgomery, she staged a recoup of on-screen hubby Dr. Derek Shepherd, played by Patrick Dempsey, and unexpectedly won over a multitude of fans. The sudden surge in popularity propelled her to a spot as a series regular, and she eventually scored her own soapy spin-off, Private Practice. At the age of 40, with a career taking off in leaps and bounds, she took a daring jump in her personal life, swiftly wooing and wedding movie studio exec Alex Young in 2007. While her fast-tracked marriage prematurely stalled and ended in divorce, the momentum in her career never died out. She's maintained her loyal Private Practice fan base while courting new devotees in movie projects like 2010's Legion. ~ Rovi