Anne Dudek

Anne Louise Dudek is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Tiffany Wilson in the 2004 film White Chicks, Dr. Amber Volakis on American television show House, Clare Pettengill on British television show The Book Group, and Francine Hanson in the American television show Mad Men.

Early life
Dudek was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Northwestern University. Her surname is Slavic and means hoopoe (a type of bird).

Career
From the mid-1990s (while at Northwestern University) through 2001, Dudek appeared in various theater productions and on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in Wrong Mountain in 2000, and won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for outstanding performance in The Glass Menagerie.

After success on Broadway, she made the jump to television, with her first starring role coming on the British comedy drama The Book Group. She has since guest starred on other TV shows, including Desperate Housewives (as Karl Mayer's girlfriend in Season 1), How I Met Your Mother (as Ted's Krav Maga-trained ex-girlfriend), Friends (as 'Precious', Mike Hannigan's girlfriend), ER (as a mother who accidentally shot her son), Charmed, Bones (as Seeley Booth's lawyer girlfriend), Numb3rs and Six Feet Under. She also played Lucinda Barry in the pilot episode of Psych, and a teacher who has a sexual relationship with one of her students (based on the case of Debra Lafave) on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Dudek had a recurring role on House beginning in season 4, as Amber Volakis, one of forty physicians under consideration by Dr. House for permanent positions on his team. Her character - nicknamed "Cutthroat Bitch" by House - continued to the end of season but was killed in the two-part season 4 finale, "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart". She would later reappear as an hallucination by House in the season 5 episode "Saviors" and appear as such for the remainder of the season. Dudek later appeared in Mad Men as next-door neighbor Francine Hanson, and on Big Love as one of antagonist Alby Grant's wives, both recurring roles. In 2010, Dudek joined the cast of Covert Affairs, portraying Danielle Brooks, the sister of the central character. On film, she played the role of cruise line heir Tiffany Wilson in the 2004 comedy film White Chicks. She also played Anthony Hopkins' daughter in The Human Stain.

In 2012 Anne Dudek played a role of an ISS astronaut on the TV show Touch in Season 1 Episode 8. She also reprised her role as Amber Volakis for the House finale Everybody Dies.

Personal life
Dudek is married to artist Matthew Heller. They have a son, Akiva, born on December 14, 2008, and a daughter, Saskia, born in February 2012.