Beth Broderick

An actress known for playing a ditsy, loose or eccentric women on sitcoms, Beth Broderick may have found stability as Aunt Zelda on "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" (ABC, 1996-2000; the WB, 2000-03). Her first series role was as a straight-shooting newspaper editor opposite Brad Pitt in the short-lived Fox sitcom "Glory Days" (1990). She first appeared in the type of role that has earned her attention, a dizzy blonde secretary, during the 1992-93 season in "Hearts Afire" (CBS) and later appeared as the former cocktail waitress who became one of "The Five Mrs. Buchanans" (CBS, 1994-1995).

Born in Kentucky and raised in Long Beach and suburban Huntington Beach, CA, Broderick studied at the Pasadena branch of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduation, she moved to New York and spent several years of sporadic work Off-Broadway and in regional productions. When Broderick returned to Los Angeles, she made her film debut in the 1987 low-grade opus, "Slammer Girls." Her first role of consequence was as a neighbor who seduces Jonathan Silverman in "Stealing Home" (1988) and she also had a small role in the 1990 bomb "The Bonfire of the Vanities." (The latter led to a year-long romance with its director Brian De Palma.)

Broderick has fared somewhat better in TV-movies. She was a call girl opposite star Jane Seymour in "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (USA Network, 1992) and was one of the medical professional who were the objects of Delta Burke's wrath in "Maternal Instincts" (USA Network, 1996). In response to the paucity of good roles for female actors, Broderick founded her own production company, Regardless Films, and also has written screenplays, some of which have been optioned.