Sara Rue

Sara Rue is an American actress who was born Sara Schlackman on January 26, 1979. She is best known for her television roles, including Carmen Ferrara on Popular, Claude Casey on Less than Perfect, and the Attorney General in the film Idiocracy. She has appeared across a broad range of television series, films, and stage productions.

Rue was born and raised in New York City as the elder of two daughters. Her parents were involved in Broadway theatre, and she is Jewish. She began her acting career at age nine, making her debut in the 1988 movie Rocket Gibraltar as the daughter of Kevin Spacey's character. Early in her career, she also portrayed a young Roseanne Conner on the television sitcom Roseanne.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Rue built a steady television career with appearances and recurring roles in shows such as Grand, Phenom, Minor Adjustments, Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane, ER, and The Division. She achieved widespread recognition starring as Carmen Ferrara in Popular, and later as the lead character Claude Casey in the ABC sitcom Less than Perfect from 2002 to 2006. In 2006, she also performed on stage in the musical Little Egypt at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles.

In film, Rue appeared in titles such as Can't Hardly Wait, A Map of the World, A Slipping Down Life, Gypsy 83, and Gore Verbinski's adaptation of The Ring. Her work impressed director Michael Bay, who had a role written for her in the movie Pearl Harbor. She later appeared in Mike Judge's 2006 film Idiocracy, as well as the feature films Man Maid, For Christ's Sake, and Dorfman in Love, taking the title role of Deb Dorfman in the latter.

Rue continued to work heavily in television through guest and recurring roles. She appeared in Two and a Half Men, played Dr. Stephanie Barnett in three episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and joined the cast of Eastwick in 2009. In December 2009, she became a spokesperson for the weight loss company Jenny Craig. She went on to host the reality series Shedding for the Wedding on The CW in 2011, and joined Rules of Engagement in a recurring role as Brenda.

In subsequent years, Rue joined the main cast of Malibu Country as Kim Sallinger and starred as Dora in the TV Land comedy series Impastor. Her recurring television credits also include playing Candace on Mom, Nancy Granville on American Housewife, Olivia Caliban in the second season of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Nell Forester on The Rookie.

In her personal life, Rue was married to filmmaker Mischa Livingstone from 2001 until their divorce in 2007. She married teacher Kevin Price in a traditional Jewish wedding on May 21, 2011. The couple has two daughters, one born in February 2013 and a second adopted in November 2016.