Background
Clarke was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carolyn, a homemaker, and Ernest Clarke, an engineer
Clarke was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carolyn, a homemaker, and Ernest Clarke, an engineer
She attended John Burroughs School in Saint Louis, Missouri (along with Mad Men star Jon Hamm, who was her prom date), and Indiana University, where she studied Fine Arts and Italian.
She currently stars as Eleanor Wish in Amazon Studios" police procedural drama Bosch. During that time she also dated fellow actor Paul Rudd for a short time. She was initiated into the Beta chapter in 1990.
Clarke first became interested in acting while studying abroad during her senior year in Bologna, Italy.
Upon returning to the United States, she began studying architectural photography. She received free acting lessons in return for taking photographs of a cultural arts center, and she studied acting at Circle in the Square Theatre School, Axis Theater Company, and The Willow Cabin Theatre Company.
Clarke began her acting career with an appearance in a 1999 award-winning commercial for Volkswagen. Clarke"s career soon blossomed with minor roles, including films All About George in 2000 and The Accident in 2001, as well as television shows such as Editor and Sex and the City.
In 2001, Clarke auditioned for the role of CTU agent Nina Myers on 24.
The wardrobe department didn"t have time to fit her, so she had to wear her own outfit for the entire season of filming. In her three seasons with the show, Clarke was featured in a total of 36 episodes. Clarke also lent her voice to 24: The Game, as her 24 character, Nina Myers.
She has guest-starred on House and Life.
She played Renée Dwyer, Bella Swan"s mother, in Twilight. She accepted a leading role on new TNT series entitled Trust Maine, opposite Eric McCormack and Thomas Cavanagh.
The series premiered on January 26, 2009 to positive reviews, though it was cancelled after one season due to declining ratings. In 2010, Clarke reprised her role as Renée Dwyer in Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series.
In 2013, she was cast as Marla Jameson in the United States version of The Tomorrow People.
While a student at Indiana University, Clarke became a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.