Lisa Ann Walter

Lisa Ann Walter
Walter in February 2015
Occupation	Actress, comedian, producer, writer
Years active	1995–present
Children	4

Lisa Ann Walter is an American actress, comedian, writer and film producer. She has appeared in such films as the 1998 version of The Parent Trap, Bruce Almighty,Shall We Dance, and War of the Worlds. Walter also created and starred in the short-lived 1996–1997 sitcom, Life's Work. She was a judge on ABC's reality television series The Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?. She also won for her charity in a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link.

Walter was born and raised in suburban Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., where she remembers "always liking to show off" as a child. Her mother was of Italian descent and her father was from a family from Alsace, and had German ancestry. She was a high-achieving student and always the class clown. Walter's father worked at NASA and indulged his own love of performing after-hours in local community theater. Her mother was a teacher, later working at the local courthouse. Her parents, both native New Yorkers, divorced when Walter was in elementary school. She attended Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland, finally studying drama at the Catholic University of America under the tutelage of the renowned Father Gilbert Hartke. She began appearing in various regional and dinner theater productions, and met her future spouse, Sam Baum, while performing in "A Streetcar Named Desire". They married before moving to New York City, where both began various day jobs while raising their baby, shoehorning in frequent auditions and roles various off-Broadway venues. Walter performed at amateur night contests at some of the noted comedy clubs.