Farr was born in New York City. She is of Irish and Italian descent. She modeled as an adolescent, and at the age of 19, became the youngest person to be crowned "Miss New York". Farr studied drama at
New York's Stony Brook University, with semesters at
Loughborough University in England, graduating
magna cum laude was published in 2001 and has been translated into seven languages. It discusses the secret language of single women. Her second book,
Kissing Outside the Lines, was published in May 2011 and is a comical memoir of her path to an interracial marriage. Farr also writes for a number of American magazines and has an internationally syndicated newspaper column for the
International Herald Tribune. Farr was a co-host for 200 episodes of the advice program
Loveline on
MTV and made guest appearances on
The Drew Carey Show,
Arli$$, and
CSI. She portrayed the recurring role of Amy DeLuca, mother to the series co-star
Majandra Delfino's character Maria, on
The WB's and later
UPN's
Roswell. She also played Maddie Hudson on The WB's
Like Family. Later, she played Detective Jan Fendrich on the
ABC series
The Job, co-created by and starring
Denis Leary. Following the end of that series, she appeared in the cast of
Rescue Me (also co-created by and starring Leary), playing a firefighter for two seasons. She left
Rescue Me to star as
FBI agent Megan Reeves on the
CBS crime drama Numb3rs. Farr opted not to renew her contract and left
Numb3rs following the show's fourth season. She starred in her final episode on May 18, 2008. Farr then joined the
Showtime series
Californication for a 10-episode run in autumn 2009. In April 2010, Farr had a role as Barbara, a mother whose negative influence led her son Eddie to become a serial killer, in a flashback episode of
Desperate Housewives. When Barbara discovered Eddie's collection of newspaper articles about the women he hurt or murdered, he strangled her to death. She guest-starred in
White Collar as a waitress named Gina De Stefano. Farr guest-starred in season seven of ''
Grey's Anatomy'', where in episode 130, she played the role of a patient with
Huntington's disease under the care of Meredith, played by the series star
Ellen Pompeo. She also had a recurring role in the final season (2012–13) of the ''Grey's Anatomy
spin-off series, Private Practice'', as Miranda, a terminal cancer patient and the love interest of Dr. Sheldon Wallace (
Brian Benben). For several years starting in 2010, Farr wrote, directed, and presented a reality comedy series for
Funny or Die called
AssCastles. In
Adam Carolla's 2015 film
Road Hard, Farr starred as his character's love interest. Currently, Farr stars as Sharon Leone, Cal Fire Division Chief and mother of lead character Bode Donovan, in
Jerry Bruckheimer's 2022 American
drama television series,
Fire Country. ==Personal life==