Kali Rocha

Kali Rocha is an American actress born on December 5, 1971, in Memphis, Tennessee, who grew up in Rhode Island. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in 1993 and went on to build a career spanning stage, film, and television.

Rocha's professional career began on stage, with her Broadway work running from 1993 to 2001. Her first Broadway credit came in August 1993 with the revival of Jane Bowles's In the Summer House at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. She also appeared on Broadway in Noises Off. Her stage work extended to Off-Broadway productions, including Nicky Silver's comedy The Altruists, in which she originated the role of Cybil.

Her screen career began with the 1996 film adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, in which she played Mercy Lewis. She appeared in the 2000 comedy Meet the Parents as an Atlantic American flight attendant who clashes with Ben Stiller's character at an airport, a role she returned to in the sequel Meet the Fockers. Additional film credits include The Object of My Affection, Autumn in New York, White Oleander, When Billie Beat Bobby, Ready? OK!, and the 2009 film TiMER, in which she appeared alongside fellow Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast member Emma Caulfield. She also appeared in Ron Maxwell's Gods and Generals, playing Anna, the wife of Stonewall Jackson.

On television, Rocha had a recurring role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, playing both Halfrek, a vengeance demon and friend of Anya, and Cecily, the love interest of William the Bloody. She appeared on Will & Grace in the episode "Strangers With Candice" as a straight woman who flirts with Will, and guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Cindy Marino, an aggressive television reporter. She also appeared in an episode of Bones as a victim's mother and portrayed Dr. Sydney Heron, a fourth-year resident surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital, in the ABC series Grey's Anatomy. In spring 2006, she joined the cast of the short-lived NBC sitcom Teachers.

Rocha is perhaps best known to television audiences for her role as Karen Rooney on the Disney Channel sitcom Liv and Maddie, where she played the mother of the four Rooney children and the school's vice principal. She also co-wrote four episodes of the series. In 2016, she was cast as the recurring character Marcy Burns on the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan and was elevated to series regular for the show's third season in 2018. She also starred in the Lifetime Network sitcom Sherri, opposite Sherri Shepherd, playing Summer, Sherri's boss and eventual friend.

Rocha has a son, Barlow Aix Krikorian, born August 4, 2008, and a daughter, Savria Dune Krikorian, born January 25, 2011.