Happy Women’s History Month! Help JWA continue to lift up Jewish women’s stories, this month and every month, by making a gift today!
Close [x]

Show [+]

Lisa Edelstein

b. May 21, 1966

by JWA Staff
Our work to expand the Encyclopedia is ongoing. We are providing this brief biography for Lisa Edelstein until we are able to commission a full entry.

Lisa Edelstein, on Septermber 9, 2007, at Fashion Week.


Courtesy of Christopher Peterson/Wikimedia Commons.

An actress with a long history of activism, House star Lisa Edelstein organized her first protest at age sixteen as a cheerleader for Donald Trump’s New Jersey Generals, outraged that the cheerleaders were forced to flirt in bars. Edelstein studied theater at NYU and wrote, composed, and starred in the musical Positive Me based on her experiences as a hospital volunteer for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis during the 1980s. After popular guest appearances on ER in 1997, Frasier in 1998, West Wing in 1999, and Ally McBeal in 2000, as well as film roles in 1997’s As Good as It Gets and 2000’s What Women Want, Edelstein landed the role of dean of medicine on the hit show House from 2004–2011. Since the show’s end, she has continued to play guest roles, most notably on The Good Wife in 2011, on Elementary in 2012, and on Scandal in 2013, as well as a recurring role on Legend of Korra in 2013. She is an ambassador of the Best Friends Animal Society and supporter of PETA, among other worthy causes.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Lisa Edelstein." (Viewed on March 18, 2024) <http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/edelstein-lisa>.