Monica Potter (born Monica Gregg Brokaw; June 30, 1971) is an American film and television actress.

Early Life
Potter, one of four daughters, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Irish American Roman Catholic family. Her father, Paul Brokaw, was the inventor of the first flame-resistant car wax, and her mother, Nancy, was a secretary. During her childhood, she was a part of the St. Jerome Parish in Cleveland, and attended the local elementary school, as well as Villa Angela Catholic School for Girls, before graduating from Euclid High School. She also spent part of her early years in Arab, Alabama. Potter had wanted to be an actress since childhood, as well as a nun.

Career

At the age of twelve, Potter started modeling and appearing in commercials in Chicago and Miami, before deciding to pursue an acting career. Her very first role on television was as a “Dalina” in the English version of the Peruvian TV show Nubeluz. Then she found a role on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless as Sharon Newman in 1994.

She has since appeared in several feature films, including Con Air (playing the wife of Nicolas Cage’s character) and starring opposite Robin Williams in Patch Adams. In 1998, she also played the love interest of doomed distance runner Steve Prefontaine in the movie Without Limits.

In 2001, she had two major roles, co-starring with Freddie Prinze Jr. in Head Over Heels, and with Morgan Freeman in the thriller Along Came a Spider based on the James Patterson best-seller. She was a cast member of the television series Boston Legal but left during the second season. In 2004, Potter played the role Alison Gordon in the first Saw film. In 2009, Potter became a cast member of the new TNT series Trust Me which was cancelled after the first season due to low ratings. Potter currently plays the role of Kristina Braverman in NBC’s comedy-drama Parenthood.

Personal life
Potter was married to Tom Potter from 1990 to 1998, and they have two sons.

The song “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” by Counting Crows was inspired by Monica. Adam Duritz saw her in a movie and wrote the song in response.

She married Daniel Christopher Allison, an orthopedic surgeon, in June 2005. Potter and Allison had their first child, a daughter named Molly Brigid Allison, on August 3, 2005.

Potter was named “Best Movie Star Loyal to Cleveland” by ClevelandScene.com for her insistence on keeping her family in the Ohio city even after Hollywood success. “It’s a great place to raise kids. I had a very happy childhood there, growing up on a special street where everyone knew everyone,” said Potter in an interview with Maxim magazine in March 2001.

Today she lives in the Los Angeles area with her family.

1) Her height is 5′ 7″ (1.70 m).

2) Monica was honored as “Best Movie Star Loyal to Cleveland” by ClevelandScene.com for her insistence on keeping her family in the Ohio city even after becoming a successful Hollywood celebrity.

3) Monica is from Cleveland, Ohio and still lives there because it is a great place to raise children. She lives right down the street from the house where she grew up.

4) While filming Con Air, Monica was the only girl in the cast so she had to hang out with the guys, including visiting a strip club.

5) Monica started her acting career on the daytime soap opera, The Young And The Restless.

6) Monica modeled in both Chicago and Miami before she decided to try out acting.

7) Monica’s most embarrassing moment was when she was invited to a Hollywood soiree and since she has never been invited to a soiree before, she tried hard to look cool and did some pretty silly things. She crept up behind people’s backs and made funny faces.

8 ) Monica has a Shamrock tattoo on her left ankle.

9) Thought she had good fashion sense, until she met her supermodel co-stars Tomiko Fraser and Sarah O’Hare.

10) Monica is pregnant at 18, and marries her boyfriend.

11) Many among the Monica fans believe she looks a great deal like Julia Roberts.

12) She puts castor oil on her eyelashes and eyebrows to make them thicker.

13) Her real last name is not Potter but Monica Gregg Brokaw. Potter was her first husband’s name.

14) Her claim to fame is portraying Sharon Collins on The Young and the Restless (1973).

15) Education: Villa Angela Catholic School for girls.

16) Her Nicknames are Mon and Mocky.

17) She’s married with Daniel Christopher Allison (June 2005 – present) 1 child .

18) During the 2003 TV development season, she appeared in the CBS comedy “The Lunchbox Chronicles,” which failed to get picked up. Early 2004, she was cast opposite Chris O’Donnell and Jay Harrington in the unsuccessful comedy pilot “The Amazing Westermans,” also at CBS.

19) Monica gave birth to a girl, Molly Brigid Allison, on August 3, 2005 weighing in at 7 lb. 3 oz.

20) On March 2005, Monica got engaged to an orthopedic surgeon, Chris.

21) The song “Mrs.Potter’s Lullaby” by Counting Crows was written about her.

1) Monica Potter: (Interview, April 2001) If something strikes me as really funny, very intriguing or really touching, then I just go and do it. It’s never about managing my career in a way that this would be a good move. I have enough people telling me what to do, so I think that when I read something, if I admire the writing and who’s directing it, I just go for it.

2) Monica Potter: (on Cleveland where she grew up) It’s a great place to raise kids. I had a very happy childhood there, growing up on a special street where everyone knew everyone.

3) Monica Potter: The perfect man is quiet and exudes that man thing but still has feelings. I want someone to be relaxed and trusting, laid–back but not lazy, a hard worker but not so hard that I don’t get the attention I need.

4) Monica Potter: I love acting, and I see it as a way to achieve what I really want to do. I want to help children. One way to do that is to be a successful actress.

5) Monica Potter:People figure because I’m blonde and was a model, I just waltzed into Los Angeles and got major roles in major films. [edit]