Clea Lewis (born July 19, 1965) is an American actress, best known for her television role as Ellen's annoying friend Audrey in the sitcom Ellen. Lewis also played Margaret Redding on Royal Pains and Deirdre Kemp on The Americans. She guest-starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the pilot episode of Friends, and was a series regular on Flying Blind and Andy Barker, P.I. Additionally, she appeared in movies like The Rich Man's Wife, Diabolique, and Perfect Stranger, and is also known for her theatre roles, including on Broadway in Absurd Person Singular, and her voiceover work, such as in the movie Ice Age: The Meltdown and voicing Nicky Little in the Disney cartoon Pepper Ann.

Personal life

Lewis was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to a writer mother and a former vaudeville performer and lawyer father. Lewis graduated from Brown University in 1987. She has two sons with her husband, playwright and children's book author Peter Ackerman: Stanley, born in 2002, and Alvin, born in 2005.

Career

As well as playing Audrey on Ellen, Lewis appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and was a series regular on Flying Blind. She also appeared in the pilot episode of Friends, in which she played Frannie. She has appeared in numerous films, including Scotch & Milk, The Rich Man's Wife, and Diabolique. In 2000, she performed the voice of Amy Lawrence in Tom Sawyer. Lewis played Gina, a chatty ad agency worker, in 2007's Perfect Stranger. She played Margaret Redding on Royal Pains and Deirdre Kemp on The Americans. She also appeared on the short-lived Andy Barker, P.I. as Jenny Barker, the wife of the title character. Her somewhat nasal, squeaky voice has meant a great deal of animation voice-over work for Lewis, including in both television (ABC's Saturday morning cartoon, Pepper Ann) as Nicky Little and film (Ice Age: The Meltdown). She also recorded the book-on-CD for books 4-10 of The Princess Diaries book series.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre