Ellen Muth

Ellen Muth is a retired American actress best known for starring as Georgia "George" Lass in the Showtime television series Dead Like Me, as well as its follow-up film. Before pursuing a full-time acting career, she briefly worked as a model with Ford Models and Rascal's Agency.

Muth was born on March 6, 1981, in Milford, Connecticut, to parents Eric and Rachel Muth. Outside of her creative endeavors, she attended the Skip Barber Racing School and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. As of 2004, Muth was a member of the high-IQ societies Intertel and Mensa.

After studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City, Muth began gaining professional experience by appearing in commercials in 1993. She secured her first major role in the 1995 feature film Dolores Claiborne, which she followed with an appearance in the eighth-season premiere of Law & Order. In 1999, she appeared as the daughter in the film The Young Girl and the Monsoon. Her performance drew praise from Stephen Holden of The New York Times, who highlighted her range and her on-screen chemistry with co-star Terry Kinney.

In 2000, Muth appeared in episodes of the television series The Beat and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. That same year, she had a role in "Cora Unashamed," an adaptation of a Langston Hughes short story from his 1934 collection The Ways of White Folks, produced for The American Collection. She also filmed a guest role in "Don't Ask," the original unaired pilot for the series Normal, Ohio, though her character was removed when the show was revamped. Additionally, Muth starred as the lead character in the 2000 Lifetime Original Movie The Truth About Jane, playing a high school girl navigating sexuality and acceptance.

Muth achieved her most prominent role from 2003 to 2004, starring as protagonist Georgia "George" Lass, a member of a team of grim reapers, in the Showtime series Dead Like Me. Following the series, she took on lower-profile projects. In 2007, she appeared in the MFA thesis film Jack 'n' Jill, voiced the character Addie Vost in the animated short Tofu the Vegan Zombie, and voiced a character in the audio dramatization Anne Manx in the Empress Blair Project. In September 2008, she participated in a reading of the musical comedy Fleece the Flock at the Theatre Artist Workshop in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Muth returned to her most famous role in March 2009 with the direct-to-video release of Dead Like Me: Life After Death, a film directed by Stephen Herek that reunited several original cast members. In 2012, she appeared in the romantic comedy Margarine Wars alongside Robert Loggia and Doris Roberts, which debuted in Los Angeles on March 29, 2012. The following year, she guest-starred in two episodes of the first season of Hannibal, a television series produced by Dead Like Me creator Bryan Fuller.

In a 2015 interview, Muth confirmed that she had put a pause on the acting portion of her life. However, she later returned to screen work in 2022 to portray the character Natalie in the film Exorcism of Fleete Marish.