Wendie Malick

Following college, this tall and slim character actress put her prominent features to work as a fashion model for the Wilhelmina modeling agency in the '70s before leaving to work for her native Buffalo congressman Jack Kemp in Washington, D.C. After a brief stay, she turned to acting and appeared in a number of stage productions in New York.  Relocating to Hollywood, aided by her husky voice and crack comic timing, Malick found her niche in sitcoms. Her six seasons as Brian Benben's neurotic but endearing ex-wife on Dream On earned her four CableACE awards, and during her tenure, she popped up on other series, notably in a harrowing dramatic turn as a battered socialite on NYPD Blue. In 1997 Malick graduated to regular network prime-time player on Just Shoot Me, portraying a bitchy ex-model turned fashion editor, a role that earned her two Emmy nods. Although she made occasional forays onto the big screen, Malick remained a formidable small-screen presence, elevating subpar material (Jake in Progress) and holding her own on classic shows (her stint as a lounge singer on Frasier). In 2010, she took on the role of a former soap opera diva in TV Land's Hot in Cleveland. Off screen, Malick leads a much more down-to-earth life, devoting much of her downtime to humanitarian causes and animal rights. ~ Rovi