Actor Biography

Valerie Mahaffey is an Emmy Award®-winning actress who began her life raised in Indonesia, followed by Nigeria, England, Canada and then Texas.

Mahaffey began her acting career in New York City where she was in six Broadway plays, including "Dracula" opposite Raul Julia. The play "Romance Language" brought her to Los Angeles where she began to further her career in film and television.

Television credits include her Emmy-winning turn as the hypochondriacal Eve in "Northern Exposure," Norman Lear's political comedy "The Powers That Be," "Seinfeld," Wings," "Desperate Housewives" and most recently in the gangbuster critically acclaimed "Dead to Me" as Lorna, Christina Applegate's narcissistic mother-in-law. Mahaffey can be seen in films "Sully," "Jungle 2 Jungle," "Seabiscuit" and "Summer Eleven." To be released soon will be "French Exit" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges, in which she plays the ever-hopeful Madame Reynard.

She is married to the multitalented actor/director/musician/writer Joseph Kell. They have one daughter, Alice.