Actress

In response to the growing AIDS crisis of the 1980s, Edelstein wrote, composed and starred in an original musical called Positive Me which she performed at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City, receiving many accolades.^[7] She followed that with a short stint hosting MTV’s Awake on the Wild Side in 1990,^[8] then began working in earnest as an actress. She got her SAG card appearing as a backstage make-up artist in Oliver Stone's Jim Morrison biography The Doors,^[9] and then landed a quick series of guest roles on several popular comedies, including Mad About You,^[10] Wings,^[11] The Larry Sanders Show^[12] and Sports Night,^[13] where she played a sports reporter who claimed to be a former lover of Josh Charles' character whom he did not remember. Perhaps most famous from this time was her appearances on Seinfeld, where she played George Costanza's girlfriend in the episodes "The Mango”^[14] and "The Masseuse.”^[15]

Edelstein picketed during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, which halted the production of House.

Bigger roles in TV dramas soon followed, among them the lesbian sister on ABC's Relativity (1996); a high-priced call girl turned Rob Lowe's date on The West Wing (1999); a transgender woman on Ally McBeal (2000); and Ben Covington's (Scott Speedman) girlfriend on Felicity (2001). She also continued to land guest-star spots on such shows as ER, Frasier, Just Shoot Me!, Without a Trace, and Judging Amy, as well as small parts in the films What Women Want, Keeping the Faith, As Good as It Gets, and Daddy Day Care.

From 2004 to 2011, she portrayed her biggest and most notable role to date, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and frequent adversary, friend, and eventual girlfriend of title character Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) on Fox's TV series House. Edelstein has often spoken fondly of her experiences on the show and fellow cast and crew, especially her friendship and strong working relationship with Laurie.

In May 2011, Edelstein announced that she would not return for the eighth and final season of House.^[16] Starting in June 2011, she joined the cast of The Good Wife, where she played lawyer Celeste Serrano.^[17] She guest-starred in Scandal in 2013, and later three episodes of the ABC series Castle.

In 2014, Edelstein got her dream job landing the lead role of Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce,^[18] an hour-long dramedy loosely based on the book series by Vicki Iovine focusing on the lives of newly divorced, mid-life women.^[19] It ran for five seasons in which she got to expand her creative participation by becoming a producer,^[20] writer^[21] and director^[22] on the series.

In 2018, Edelstein joined the cast of ABC's The Good Doctor in season two as Dr. Marina Blaize in a recurring role.^[23] This reunited her with House creator David Shore as well as with Richard Schiff, who played her father on Relativity.^[24]

Edelstein then joined the award winning The Kominsky Method,^[25] a Netflix series that debuted in November 2018, playing the drug addled daughter of Alan Arkin and working alongside such actors such as Michael Douglas, Paul Reiser and Chuck Lorre. During that time she also reunited with Rob Lowe, playing his ex-wife Gwyneth Morgan, and mother of TK Strand (Ronen Rubenstein) on the ABC drama series, 9-1-1: Lone Star.^[26]

Throughout her career she has lent her voice to several animated programs, including King of the Hill, American Dad!, the DC Animated Universe, The Legend of Korra, and the first video game adaptation of Blade Runner.

Other appearances

Edelstein is a supporter of Best Friends Animal Society, of which she is an ambassador. She supports human rights organizations and is a patron of the arts. She has appeared in numerous magazines, including the September 2010 cover of H magazine.^[27] She posed for PETA in an ad promoting vegetarianism, a diet she has followed for most of her life.^[28]

Film

Television

Video games

Podcasts