Actress Andrea Anders was born on May 10, 1975 in Madison, Wisconsin. She spent her childhood in the nearby town of DeForest, and eventually graduated with a fine arts degree from the University of Wisconsin’s Stevens Point campus in 1997. After a short stint on the daytime soap One Life to Live, as well as a handful of television commercials, she pursued an MFA degree from Rutgers University, graduating there in 2001.
Upon graduation, Anders kicked off her career in both theater and screen. While becoming a regular in the Broadway circuit, with appearances in Proof, The Graduate and On the Jump, she began taking minor roles on television, beginning with a guest role on an episode of Law & Order. She took a five-episode story arc on the acclaimed HBO prison drama Oz, before appearing in perhaps her best known role, in the sitcom Joey. She appeared as Alex Garrett in the Friends spin-off—a slightly ditzy lawyer who falls for the title character, played by Matt LeBlanc. (The two eventually started dating off-screen.)
When Joey was cancelled in 2006, Anders took a role in another comedy series, The Class. There, she appeared as Nicole Allen, a popular girl in high school and now the unfulfilled trophy wife of football player Yonk (David Keith). The series was not renewed for a second season, and she moved on to take roles in different films, such as Stepford Wives and Sex Drive.