Beth Riesgraf

Beth Riesgraf is an American actress who is currently best known for playing Parker, the expert thief in the award-winning action crime drama series Leverage, which ran for five seasons on TNT and saw Riesgraf nominated for three Saturn Awards. She also starred in a 2021 revival series of the drama, which aired on IMDB TV in 2021 (with her directing three of the episodes) and saw her nominated for yet another Saturn Award. Her other recent acting accomplishments include roles in the Paramount military comedy 68 Whiskey and playing Billy’s mother in two episodes of Stranger Things.

Riesgraf made her screen acting debut in a 2001 episode of Spin City. She then won her first recurring role, playing Loretta in the fourth season of MTV’s Undressed. The following year, she made her big-screen debut in the science-fiction disaster movie, Scorcher. She continued to build her reputation with roles in the likes of My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, and Without a Trace, but her career took off when she was cast as Parker in Leverage, a show that would be voted Favourite Cable TV Drama at the 2013 People’s Choice Awards.

During and after Leverage, Riesgraf appeared as Dr Maeve Donovan in various episodes of Criminal Minds and played Samantha Ellison in the USA Network show Complications. Her recent Leverage revival saw her direct a TV series for the first time. She is popular on social media, with over 68,000 followers on Instagram.