Meredith Salenger

Meredith Salenger pursued a career as a child and teen actress before pursuing a career in legal mediation, before coming back into the public eye when she became engaged to comedian Patton Oswalt. Born on March 14, 1970 in Malibu, California, Salenger began acting when she was eight years old. She made her onscreen debut as a background actress in John Huston's adaptation of the classic musical "Annie" (1982). Salenger's first starring role came alongside John Cusack and Ray Wise in the Disney period piece "The Journey of Natty Gann" (1985), before taking roles in teen fare such as "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon" (1988), "The Kiss" (1988) and her highest profile role in the teen comedy "Dream a Little Dream" (1989). Salinger then made the surprising decision to put her acting career on hold and go back to school. From 1988 until 1992, she attended Harvard University, eventually graduating cum laude with a degree in psychology. In the late 90s, Salenger once again caught the acting bug, and landed roles in a 1998 episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (The WB/UPN, 1997-2003), as well as the horror comedy "Lake Placid" (1999) and the romantic comedy "The Third Wheel" (2002). For the next few years, Salenger mostly worked in television, including episodes of "Dawson's Creek" (The WB, 1997-2003) and "Cold Case" (CBS, 2003-2010), before she decided to once again go back to school, eventually earning certificates in Court-Based Mediation of Family Law Matters and Mediating the Litigated Case from Pepperdine University; Salenger worked as a mediator for the Agency for Dispute Resolution in Beverly Hills. In July of 2017, Salenger made waves when she announced her engagement to comedian and actor Patton Oswalt. The news was largely met with happiness for the couple, though some social media troublemakers raised eyebrows over the fact that Oswalt was remarrying so soon after the untimely death of his first wife, true crime writer Michelle McNamara, who died in April of 2016. Salenger and Oswalt wed on November 4, 2017.