Born in San Jose, California and raised both there and in Tucson, Arizona, Kate Walsh began her career in Chicago, studying at the renowned Piven Theatre Workshop. She then starred in theatrical productions of the critically acclaimed "Born Guilty," "Moon Under Miami" and "Troilus and Cressida" at the Shakespeare Repertory.
In Chicago Walsh was cast in her first two independent films, "Normal Life," directed by John McNaughton, and "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer II."
The actress' career quickly took off with a move to New York for comedy and improvisation training. Walsh landed series regular roles on "The Mike O'Malley Show" (ABC), "Mind of a Married Man" (HBO) and "The Drew Carey Show" (ABC). In 2005 she joined the ABC series "Grey's Anatomy," in which she portrayed Addison Forbes Montgomery for three seasons. She and her fellow cast members received the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Walsh was most recently seen in the supernatural thriller "Legion," and also recently finished production on the independent film "Waska," opposite Thomas Dekker and Mira Sorvino. This summer she returned to her theatre roots and appeared in an off-Broadway production of "Dusk Rings a Bell," alongside Paul Sparks and directed by Sam Gold. The play opened to rave reviews at New York's Atlantic Stage 2.
Other feature credits include "Kicking and Screaming," "Under the Tuscan Sun," "After the Sunset," "Inside Out" and "The Family Man."