But after several years of peripheral work, viewers earned a potent reminder of Cardellini's acting talent on "Mad Men," for which she played a lovelorn Catholic housewife who enters into a torrid relationship with Don Draper (Jon Hamm). When "ER" ran its course in 2009, Cardellini worked steadily in independent features, including a critically praised turn as a veteran in "Return" (2011), but could be heard more frequently than seen thanks to a string of voice-over roles for animated projects like Mike Judge's "The Goode Family" (ABC, 2009), "Gravity Falls" (Disney Television, 2012-2016), Cartoon Network's "Regular Show" (2010-17) and "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated" (Cartoon Network, 2010-13). Between these efforts, Cardellini also began a six-year run on "ER" as no-nonsense nurse and single mother Samantha Taggart, whose story arcs included a romance with doctors Goran Visnjic and John Stamos, a kidnapping (and her murder of the kidnapper) and the death of her estranged mother. She also joined fellow former teen favorites Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway in Ang Lee's Oscar-winning "Brokeback Mountain," for which she played a waitress who indulges in a brief fling with Ledger. But her true breakout came as Lindsay Weir, a suburban teenager whose soul-searching brings her in contact with a group of school outcasts in Judd Apatow's Emmy-winning "Freaks and Geeks." Though a consistent underdog in the ratings, the critical acclaim afforded to "Freaks" propelled its talented young cast, which included Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jason Segel, to greater fame for Cardellini, that translated into a successful run as a character player in features, including back-to-back appearances as brainy Velma Dinkley in a live-action take on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon "Scooby-Doo" (2002) and "Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed" (2004). Guest roles on primetime series like "Third Rock from the Sun" (NBC, 1996-2001) and occasional appearances in features like "Good Burger" (1997) led to recurring turns on "Guys Like Us" (UPN, 1998-1999) and "Boy Meets World" (ABC, 1993-2000) as a ski instructor who came between Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel's Topanga. Francis High School in Mountain View, California in 1993, Cardellini moved to Los Angeles, where she landed her first television role as a series regular on ABC's "Bone Chillers" (1996), a children's series about supernatural goings-on at a high school. She gained her first exposure to performing at the age of 10 when she was given a singing role in a school play, and was soon a regular in school and community theater productions. Born Linda Edna Cardellini on Jin Redwood City, California, she was the youngest of four children by businessman Wayne Cardellini and his wife, Lorraine. After gaining fame as "mathlete" turned rebel on the critical and cult favorite television series "Freaks and Geeks" (NBC, 1999-2000), actress Linda Cardellini moved successfully into more mature and dramatic roles, playing soulful and independent women on "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009), "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) and "Mad Men" (AMC, 2007-2015) and in features like "Brokeback Mountain" (2005) and "Green Book" (2018).
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