Wendy Worthington

Born in Memphis and raised in Philadelphia, Wendy started making student films in the summer of 1969 and began acting because she wanted to be able to write for and direct other actors. She discovered a love of acting that became a lifetime commitment, but only turned into a full-time pursuit when Jonathan Demme came to town to follow up his Academy Award with a groundbreaking drama about AIDS starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Although she ended up on the cutting room floor of the movie "Philadelphia," the experience gave her a SAG card and convinced her that it was time to leave behind her career as an arts administrator (co-founder of CineKyd, executive director of The Clay Studio, and various managerial jobs at People's Light and Theatre Company) and pursue acting full-time. Two weeks after arriving in Los Angeles, she was cast in a new musical, "Lulu," for which she received a Drama-Logue Award, the first of many awards to come. Within a year, she had landed her first TV job, an appearance on "Murphy Brown." She continued to work regularly in TV and in theatre. She helped to found Theatre Neo with Kathryn Joosten, Josh Schiowitz, and others; Theatre Neo evolved into Neo Ensemble Theatre, a membership company that produces monologue festivals and plays in small theatres in the city. She appeared on stage in such plays as "The Guardsman" at A Noise Within, "Man of La Mancha" with Jason Alexander's now-defunct company Reprise, and the world premiere of Charles Busch's "Die! Mommy! Die!" She joined the National Tour of "Wicked," playing Madame Morrible 509 times for more than 1.3 million audience members in 20 cities across the country over 65 weeks, before returning to Los Angeles. Her television work includes a wide range of roles, from the murderous Lunch Lady on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (which earned her an appearance on her own trading card) to a recurring role as the formidable Margaret Camaro on "Ally McBeal," "Foodzilla" on "Even Stevens," and Miss Westmore ("The Wicked Witch of the Westmore"), teacher to the Olsen Twins on their last TV series, "So Little Time." She has appeared in many skits on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and returned to the diner on "Bones" as a resident waitress five times. She also began to make her mark in feature films, including memorable turns as a lascivious casting director in "LA Twister" and a menacing nurse facing off against Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich in Clint Eastwood's powerful drama, "Changeling." Wendy is an experienced theatre director (her BA from Temple University, awarded summa cum laude, is in Radio-TV-Film) and a published writer. Her short stories have been included in several anthologies, including "Death on a Cold Night," "Death and a Cup of Tea," "Thoroughly Modern Monsters," and "Immanence." And, although she grew up there, she does not have a Philadelphia accent - but she can do one on request.