After studying drama at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, she moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1990s to pursue acting. Her screen debut arrived in 1996 with the film Foxfire, where she played Maddy alongside Angelina Jolie and Peter Facinelli, and she later appeared in the short-lived NBC sitcom Boston Common and made numerous guest spots on series such as E.R., where she joined the final s…