Gretchen Egolf

Gretchen Egolf is an American actress born in 1973 or 1974 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Paula and Gary Egolf. She graduated from Hempfield High School in 1991 and subsequently trained at the Juilliard School, where she earned her degree in 1995. Upon graduating, she received the Michel St. Denis Award for an exceptional graduating drama student. Her brother was writer Tristan Egolf. Egolf is married to artist Adam Chodzko.

Egolf's Broadway career spanned 1997 to 1999 and included two productions at the Belasco Theatre. She appeared in Jackie: An American Life, directed by Gip Hoppe, which ran from 1997 to 1998 and subsequently transferred to the Queen's Theatre in London's West End in 1998. She then appeared in Jean Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon, playing Isabelle in the 1999 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts production directed by Gerald Gutierrez.

Her off-Broadway work includes Davey Holmes' More Lies About Jerzy at the Vineyard Theatre, directed by Darko Tresnjak, in which she played Georgia; Modern Orthodox at Dodger Stages, directed by James Lapine, in which she played Hannah; Getting into Heaven at The Flea Theater, written by Polly Draper, in which she played Rose; All This Intimacy at Second Stage Theatre, in which she played Jen; Speck's Last at the Atlantic Theater Company, directed by Michael Dowling; and Crocodiles in the Potomac at the Women's Project Theater, directed by Suzanne Bennett.

Egolf has accumulated an extensive regional theater record. She played Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, directed by John Miller-Stephany, and later wrote a blog documenting that rehearsal process. At the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, she played Emma in Betrayal, directed by Maria Aitken. She portrayed Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, directed by Kyle Donnelly, and played Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at Barrington Stage Company, directed by Julianne Boyd. At Pittsburgh Public Theater, she played both Rosalind in As You Like It and Candida in Candida, both directed by Ted Pappas. Additional regional credits include Design for Living at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., directed by Michael Kahn; Arcadia at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, directed by Carey Perloff; Resurrection Blues at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, directed by Jiri Ziska; and Hay Fever at the Berkshire Theater Festival, in which she played Sorel Bliss alongside Joanne Woodward. Egolf is an Artistic Associate of Barrington Stage Company, where she has appeared in multiple productions including Private Lives, A Picasso, and Going to St. Ives, all directed by either Julianne Boyd or Tyler Marchant.

On television, Egolf is known for her recurring roles as Katie Vasser in Journeyman on NBC in 2007, Vanessa Whitaker in Roswell on the WB in 2000, and ADA Kendra Gill in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC from 2009 to 2012. She appeared in the television movies Gleason on CBS in 2002, playing Genevieve Halford, and The Two Mr. Kissels on Lifetime in 2008, playing Haley Wolff. Additional television appearances include Cracker, Martial Law, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Law & Order, Without a Trace, Knight Rider, Medium, NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, Criminal Minds, Lie to Me, CSI: Miami, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Elementary, Doctor Who, and Hijack. Her film credits include Quiz Show, The Talented Mr. Ripley, in which she played Fran, The Namesake, in which she played Astrid, Gleason, The Two Mr. Kissels, The Hangover, and The Son.

Beyond performing, Egolf has worked as a director and producer. She created and directed the short film Sonnet 147 for the New York Shakespeare Exchange's Sonnet Project and co-produced and starred in the short film Speck's Last and the web series Selectmen. She has also participated in artist films and video installations, including Beth Campbell's Some Things Change in 2005 and Adam Chodzko's video installation Knots at Tate Britain in 2013, as well as Chodzko's radio and performance piece Rising, which she performed live in Newcastle, UK, at the Great North Run and British Science Festival, and at Manchester University at the Ways of Seeing Climate Change conference in October 2013. Egolf is additionally a teacher of the Michael Chekhov acting technique, having taught at the Guthrie Theater, Barrington Stage Company, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and in independent classes in New York City and London.