Lauren Stamile

Actress Lauren Stamile proved to be a dependable presence on television thanks to a string of recurring roles on such critical and viewer hits as "Grey's Anatomy (ABC, 2005- ), "Community" (NBC, 2009-15; Yahoo!, 2015) and "Burn Notice" (USA Network, 2007-13). The Oklahoma native began her career on the New York stage before making the journey west to Los Angeles, where she found semi-regular work as a guest performer on various series. Stamile earned excellent notices as a terminal patient on an episode of "Scrubs" (NBC, 2001-08; ABC, 2009-10), which led to recurring work on the aforementioned series. She played similar roles on both "Grey's Anatomy" and "Community" - a speed bump on the romantic paths of Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo in the former, and Joel McHale and Gillian Jacobs in the latter - though Stamile's talent allowed her to imbue these roles with distinctly different personalities. The flintiness of her "Community" role may have informed her casting on "Burn Notice" as a tough CIA agent, which further increased her profile. Though not a well-known star, Stamile's performances and impressive c.v. marked her as a talent to watch on the television landscape.

Born September 12, 1976 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lauren Stamile was the third of five children by her parents, Richard and Terry Stamile, both medical professionals. Stamile would later state in interviews that her status as the middle child required her to act in a more dramatic fashion than her siblings in order to be heard. She later found an outlet for that energy in performing, which she began with a school play at the age of four. She continued to pursue acting through high school and as a theater student at Northwestern University. After graduating in 1998, Stamile moved to New York for further training with the Actors' Center. She soon landed a role in an Off-Broadway production, which led to more stage work and her first screen appearance in an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999- ). Stamile's feature film debut came a year later as the lead in the little-seen independent film "Something Sweet" (2000), after which she relocated to Los Angeles to appear in "Off Centre" (The WB, 2001-02), a sitcom co-produced by filmmakers Chris and Paul Weitz. The show was canceled shortly after the launch of its second season, and Stamile supported herself by teaching while working a variety of guest roles on episodic television, as well as made-for-TV features like "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'" (NBC, 2004), which cast her as Kate Jackson. Stamile earned an impressive showcase for her talents on a 2007 episode of "Scrubs" as a hospital patient who preferred to end her life on her own terms rather than succumb to paralysis as a result of her medical condition. That same year, she was cast on "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005- ) as Nurse Rose, who briefly became Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd's (Patrick Dempsey) rebound girlfriend after his breakup with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). The spotlight afforded by that series led to more recurring roles on series, including a statistics professor who became romantically involved with Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) on "Community," and as a CIA agent who aided Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) in clearing his name of murder charges on "Burn Notice." In 2013, Stamile booked a high-profile guest spot on the season premiere of "The Mentalist."