Biography

Andrea Alexis Parker learned to walk on the sand in Newport Beach, California. Andrea's natural grace led her beloved mother Karen Macaulay to enroll Andrea in ballet lessons at 5 years old, soon turning to serious classical training by the age of 8. By the time she was 11, Andrea's passion for dance was so strong that she began to leave home each summer to continue her formal ballet training in NYC and San Francisco. At 15, it was the thrill of her very young life to be invited to train full time with the San Francisco Ballet School and perform year-round with The San Francisco Ballet Company. Moving away from home to dance at The War Memorial Opera House while also touring with SFB was a dream come true, but life had other plans for Andrea.

Forced to retire from ballet at 18 when her 5'10" height (6'3" on point!) proved problematic for the lesser stature of the male ballet dancers, Andrea moved home to Los Angeles, where she studied and transitioned to contemporary dance. Andrea found herself a dance agent and began to book countless commercials, industrials, videos and dance gigs including MARRIED WITH CHILDREN. Her talent took her from LA to New York to Europe as a professional dancer, until she returned to Hollywood to study acting.

While continuing her studies, Andrea performed in several plays in Los Angeles where her talent was recognized by the legendary Susan Smith, eponymous head of what was then the hottest boutique talent agency in town. Andrea soon had her very first acting audition, and booked the role in what would become the classic Emmy-award winning SEINFELD episode "The Contest" and she never looked back as her acting took center stage.

Andrea's acting career took off when she was cast as George Clooney's love interest for the first two seasons of the global phenomenon hit series E.R. Next, she was set as the co-lead opposite David James Elliott in J.A.G. but faced a devastating disappointment when the network decided to go in another direction, replacing her after the pilot episode. Never one to quit anything, Andrea faced down those same network executives the very next season, landing her iconic starring role as Miss Parker in THE PRETENDER.

Andrea took the opportunity to learn fight choreography from some of the world's best stunt women, and learned how to handle firearms and shoot by the LAPD, bringing maximum authenticity to the boss lady roles she so often plays. She trained in stunt driving with world renowned stunt driving coach Bobby Ore, and held her own in the Toyota Celebrity Long Beach Grand Prix.

Andrea showed her incredible versatility as an actress when she shifted from drama to comedy, starring for 4 seasons as the gorgeous Lydia Weston in the underrated ABC ensemble comedy LESS THAN PERFECT, alongside such stars as Zachary Levi, Eric Roberts, Patrick Warburton, Sherry Shepherd, Will Sasso and Andy Dick.

Andrea was thrilled to join the cast of long running hit series DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES in its final season, and most recently held dual roles as twin sisters Mary Drake and Jessica DiLaurentis in the wildly popular Freeform series PRETTY LITTLE LIARS.

Andrea lives in Los Angeles and is married to the man of her dreams, film producer Michael Birnbaum.

- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous