1996–2009: Early roles and breakthrough Cardellini received her first big break role in 1996 as Sarah on
ABC's Saturday morning live-action children's series,
Bone Chillers. At the time, she worked at an
ice cream shop and was in college. Following this, she made guest appearances on prime-time programs including
Step by Step,
Clueless, and
3rd Rock from the Sun, and she played Lauren on
Boy Meets World, a girl that came between the show's star couple. Cardellini starred in the first season of the
AMC series
The Lot in 1999, Her other film work includes roles in
Dead Man on Campus,
Strangeland,
Good Burger,
Legally Blonde,
Brokeback Mountain (for which she was nominated for the ensemble
Gotham and
Screen Actors Guild awards), and a starring role in the
Happy Madison film ''
Grandma's Boy as Samantha. She was the voice of Ursula in the role-playing video game Gladius and played the voice of Bliss Goode on the ABC animated series The Goode Family. In 2007, Cardellini was chosen to play lovelorn Clara in the CBS miniseries Comanche Moon'', a prequel to 1989's
Lonesome Dove. From 2012 to 2016, she provided the voice of
Wendy Corduroy on the
Disney Channel animated series
Gravity Falls. Cardellini voice acted periodically on the podcast and live show
The Thrilling Adventure Hour, on the
Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars segments. In 2013, she was chosen to play Sylvia Rosen, a love interest of
Don Draper on
Mad Men. For her performance on
Mad Men, she received a nomination for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. In 2015, she played
Hawkeye's wife
Laura Barton in
Avengers: Age of Ultron, a role she reprised in the 2019 sequel
Avengers: Endgame. Starting in 2015, she joined
Kyle Chandler on a new
Netflix drama series
Bloodline, from the creators of
Damages. The show was canceled in 2016, and ended after its third season. That same year, she also had a starring role as Sara Whitaker in the comedy film ''
Daddy's Home. In 2017, she reprised her role in the sequel film Daddy's Home 2''. In August 2018, Cardellini was cast to co-star with
Christina Applegate in
Netflix's dark comedy series
Dead to Me. It premiered on May 3, 2019. For her performance, she received critical acclaim and a nomination for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. That same year, she co-starred with
Viggo Mortensen and
Mahershala Ali in the film
Green Book, which won the
Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2019, she starred in the
horror film The Curse of La Llorona.
2020–present: Horror roles and others In 2020, Cardellini appeared in the biographical drama film
Capone as
Mae Capone, the wife of
the title character. In 2021, she reprised her role of Laura Barton in the
Marvel Studios show
Hawkeye, which premiered on
Disney+ in November 2021. She starred in the
Netflix series
No Good Deed, which was released on December 12, 2024. In 2024, Cardellini joined the cast of
Way of the Warrior Kid to play Marc's mom and Jake's older sister, Sarah. On March 24, 2025, it was announced that Cardellini would be appearing as
Pamela Voorhees, mother of
Jason Voorhees, in the upcoming
Peacock series
Crystal Lake; which will be a prequel to the
Friday the 13th film series. ==Personal life==