Melora Walters

Melora Walters (born October 21, 1959) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. She is best known for her starring in Wanda Henrickson on HBO's Big Love (2006–2010) and Kathy Kone on Hulu's PEN15 (2019–2021). Walters has appeared in several Paul Thomas Anderson films, earning two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for her work in Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999). Her other film credits include Dead Poets Society (1989), Eraser (1996), Matchstick Men (2003), Cold Mountain (2003), The Butterfly Effect (2004), Shit Year (2010), Short Term 12 (2013), Cam (2018), Venom (2018), and Offseason (2021). Walters made her feature directorial debut with Waterlily Jaguar (2018), which she also wrote and co-produced. She followed this with Drowning (2019). Personal life Walters married cinematographer Alex Vendler on June 21, 2008. She filed for divorce in 2010. She has two children from her previous marriage with Dylan Walsh. Career Walters made her screen debut with a small role in the 1988 film Underground, which she followed with the more substantial part of Gloria in Peter Weir's critically acclaimed Dead Poets Society (1989). She appeared in various supporting roles throughout the early 1990s, in films such as Beethoven, Ed Wood, and Eraser. In 1996, Walters began a professional partnership with Paul Thomas Anderson when she appeared in his directorial debut, Hard Eight. Her other appearances in Anderson's work include Boogie Nights and Magnolia. In his review of the latter for Variety, critic Emanuel Levy described Walters' portrayal of drug-addicted Claudia as "superlative". For her performance in the 2018 film Doubting Thomas, Walters was named Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Door Film Festival. On television, Walters has appeared in guest roles on series' such as Roseanne, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Californication, The Mentalist, NCIS, Law & Order: SVU, and American Gigolo. She also starred as Felicity on L.A. Doctors (1998–1999), Wanda Henrickson on Big Love (2006–2010), and Kathy Kone on PEN15 (2019–2021).