Brenda Strong

Brenda Strong earned two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2011 and 2012 for her iconic role as Mary Alice Young, the narrator of the hit ABC series ‘Desperate Housewives’. Her work on the show spanned eight seasons, from 2004 to 2012, and also contributed to two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2005 and 2006. Prior to this, Strong established her acting career with early television appearances in the mid-1980s on popular shows such as ‘St. Elsewhere’ (1985), ‘MacGyver’ (1986), and ‘Cheers’ (1987).

Following her tenure on ‘Desperate Housewives’, Strong took on the role of Ann Ewing in the ‘Dallas’ revival for TNT, appearing from 2012 to 2014. From 2012 to 2015, she hosted the Investigation Discovery series ‘Blood Relatives’. Her recurring television roles continued with Queen Nia in ‘The 100’ (2015, 2016, 2019), Ilene Stowe in ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ (2016–2017), and Lillian Luthor in ‘Supergirl’ (2016–2021). She also joined the cast of Netflix’s ’13 Reasons Why’ in a recurring role as Nora Walker from 2018 to 2020, becoming a series regular in 2018.

Strong expanded her career into directing, making her directorial debut with the multi-award-winning short film ‘#3 Normandy Lane’ in 2019, which earned her the Best First Time Filmmaker Award at the GI Film Festival San Diego. In 2020, she directed two episodes of Netflix’s ’13 Reasons Why’. An alumna of Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Music degree, graduated magna cum laude, Strong also holds certifications as a yoga instructor and fertility expert, and is currently developing a series of books for women.