Lauren Stamile

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lauren Stamile was the third of five children by her parents, Richard and Terry Stamile, both medical professionals. Stamile would later state in interviews that her status as the middle child required her to act in a more dramatic fashion than her siblings in order to be heard. She later found an outlet for that energy in performing, which she began with a school play at the age of four. She continued to pursue acting through high school and as a theater student at Northwestern University. After graduating in 1998, Stamile moved to New York for further training with the Actors' Center. She soon landed a role in an Off-Broadway production, which led to more stage work and her first screen appearance in an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (NBC, 1999-). Stamile's feature film debut came a year later as the lead in the little-seen independent film "Something Sweet" (2000), after which she relocated to Los Angeles to appear in "Off Centre" (The WB, 2001-02), a sitcom co-produced by filmmakers Chris and Paul Weitz. The show was canceled shortly after the launch of its second season, and Stamile supported herself by teaching while working a variety of guest roles on episodic television, as well as made-for-TV features like "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'" (NBC, 2004), which cast her as Kate Jackson. Stamile earned an impressive showcase for her talents on a 2007 episode of "Scrubs" as a hospital patient who preferred to end her life on her own terms rather than succumb to paralysis as a result of her medical condition. That same year, she was cast on "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005-) as Nurse Rose, who briefly became Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd's (Patrick Dempsey) rebound girlfriend after his breakup with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). The spotlight afforded by that series led to more recurring roles on series, including a statistics professor who became romantically involved with Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) on "Community," and as a CIA agent who aided Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) in clearing his name of murder charges on "Burn Notice." In 2013, Stamile booked a high-profile guest spot on the season premiere of "The Mentalist."