Anna Chlumsky

Anna Maria Chlumsky is an American actress who began her career as a child performer. She first gained wide recognition for playing Vada Sultenfuss in the feature film My Girl (1991) and its sequel, My Girl 2 (1994). She later earned critical acclaim for her role as Amy Brookheimer on the HBO television comedy series Veep, which aired from 2012 to 2019.

Chlumsky was born on December 3, 1980, in Chicago, Illinois. She was raised in a Catholic family of Czech and Croatian descent by her parents, Nancy, a singer, actress, and former flight attendant, and Frank Chlumsky Jr., a chef and saxophonist. She grew up with one half-brother and attended Grace Lutheran School in River Forest, Illinois, before graduating from Walther Lutheran High School in Melrose Park.

Chlumsky entered show business at an early age by modeling alongside her mother in an advertising campaign. She made her initial film appearance in a bit part in the family comedy Uncle Buck (1989), starring John Candy and Macaulay Culkin. Following her breakthrough in My Girl and My Girl 2, she starred in Trading Mom (1994) with Sissy Spacek and Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995) with Christina Ricci. Throughout the 1990s, she appeared in various films and television series.

In 1999, Chlumsky took a break from acting to attend the University of Chicago, graduating in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies. After moving to New York City, she worked as a fact-checker for the Zagat Survey and as an editorial assistant for a science fiction-fantasy imprint at HarperCollins. Finding her publishing career unsatisfying, she completed formal training at the Atlantic Acting School in Manhattan and returned to acting in 2005.

Upon her return, Chlumsky performed in independent films, including Blood Car (2007) and Armando Iannucci's political satire In the Loop (2009), playing State Department assistant Liza. Her stage performances included Balm in Gilead in 2005, Unconditional in 2008 at The Public Theater, and 3C in 2012. Her early television credits included guest roles on Law & Order, 30 Rock, Cupid, and the 2009 television film 12 Men of Christmas.

From 2012 to 2019, Chlumsky played Amy Brookheimer, an aide to Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character, on HBO's Veep. Her role on the series earned her six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Between 2011 and 2013, she also appeared in episodes of White Collar, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Hannibal.

Chlumsky subsequently appeared on Broadway in You Can't Take It with You and joined the cast of Living on Love in 2015 as editor Iris Peabody. In 2017, she played Dr. Katie Herman in the fourth season of Halt and Catch Fire. She later starred alongside Julia Garner in Shonda Rhimes' Netflix drama series Inventing Anna and voiced Charlotte Pickles in the 2021 Paramount+ revival of Rugrats.

In her personal life, Chlumsky met Shaun So, an Army Reserve member who served in Afghanistan, while studying at the University of Chicago in 2000. They announced their engagement in October 2007 and married in Brooklyn on March 8, 2008. The couple has two daughters, born in July 2013 and August 2016.