alexia anders

bio

Andrea Anders is an American actress best known for her work on television, notably through her main roles on five anticipated but short-lived sitcoms, Joey, The Class, Better Off Ted, Mr. Sunshine, and Mr. Mom. She has also appeared in numerous TV series, including Cruel Summer, Oz, Young Sheldon, Modern Family, Necessary Roughness, Ted Lasso, and That '90s Show.

Anders began her career in theatre in 2001, understudying for Mary-Louise Parker in the Broadway production of Proof and later playing Elaine Robinson in The Graduate. She also appeared in On the Jump at the Arena Stage, New Doors at the Guthrie Theater, Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, and two New York Stage & Film productions: Cold/Tender and New World Rhapsody.

In television and film, Anders made her first appearances on television in the 1990s and again around 2006. Her first acting credits came between 1998 and 2001 when she appeared on the soap operas One Life to Live and Guiding Light, respectively as Elaine, one of Starr Manning's nannies, and Ellie, an assistant to Olivia Spencer. In 2001, she appeared in the Law & Order episode "The Fire This Time" as teenager Emily Hoyt.

In 2003, she played the recurring role of Donna Degenhart for five episodes of the HBO drama series Oz. Anders was cast opposite Richard Ruccolo as the original female lead in the failed television pilot for the proposed series Spellbound, about a warlock who falls in love with a mortal woman. After the pilot was not picked up by NBC, Anders was replaced for the equally unsuccessful second pilot.

In 2004, Anders made her film debut with a minor role in The Stepford Wives, playing a secretary to Nicole Kidman's main character. She was cast as Emma Leeds, the female lead in News To Me, a proposed workplace sitcom inspired by Joel Stein's experiences as the youngest-ever columnist at Time magazine. Anders guest starred in one episode of the series Tru Calling.

In July 2004, Anders was cast in her breakthrough role as Alex Garrett, Joey Tribbiani's neighbor, landlady, friend, and eventual love interest on the Friends spin-off, Joey. NBC cancelled the series during its second season. In between seasons of Joey, Anders appeared as a "Christian Band Slut" in her older brother Sean's directorial debut film Never Been Thawed, marking the first of many collaborations between the pair.

In 2006, Anders signed as a series regular on the sitcom The Class, where she played Nicole, the unfulfilled wife of a former pro-football player. Despite steady ratings and winning the Favorite New TV Comedy Award at the 33rd People's Choice Awards, CBS did not renew the show for a second season.

In 2008, Anders guest starred on the episode "Power" of the crime drama Numb3rs and had a small role in her brother's film, Sex Drive. In May 2008, Anders was cast in the satirical workplace comedy Better Off Ted, after creator Victor Fresco impressed her work on The Class. The series premiered to low ratings in March 2009, but critical acclaim kept the show going and even renewed for a second season.

In April 2009, Anders joined the cast of The Big D, a sitcom project centered on a New York City couple who move to Dallas, where the wife consistently clashes with her southern belle mother-in-law. However, CBS did not pick up the series. In February 2010, Anders was cast in Mr. Sunshine, marking the return to comedy television for Friends star Matthew Perry. She played Alice, the tomboyish co-worker and friend with benefits who seeks more commitment from Perry's character.

After Mr. Sunshine's cancellation, Anders appeared in a four-episode story arc in the first season of USA Network's series Necessary Roughness. In the years following Mr. Sunshine, Anders starred as a lead in several sitcom pilots, none of which were picked up to series.

In 2012, Anders filmed a supporting part in the fact-based television film Return to Zero, which premiered on the Lifetime Network in 2014. She had recurring roles in the one season each of comedy series About a Boy and of Modern Family, appearing in the latter as the obnoxious new neighbor of the Dunphy family. In 2016, she was the main character in the comedy film Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?, where women in a small Texas town withhold sex until their partners dispose of their guns.

In 2019, Anders appeared as the aunt of Sophia Lillis' character in the film Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase and as the mother of Elizabeth Lail's character in the film Countdown. That same year, she played the starring role in the sitcom Mr. Mom, which was cancelled after 11 episodes.

Anders met actor Matt LeBlanc in 2004 and they had a relationship, which ended in 2006 after LeBlanc's split from his wife Melissa McKnight. In 2015, they broke up for several months. In 2016, Anders revealed she was pregnant, but never publicly discussed the child's birth, name, or father. She referred to the baby as "her." In 2016, Anders and her older brother Sean were inducted into their high school's hall of fame. The couple has never publicly discussed the baby's birth, name, or father.