Piper Perabo

Piper Perabo
Perabo at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Piper Lisa Perabo (1976-10-31) October 31, 1976 (age 40) Dallas, Texas, United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Stephen Kay (m. 2014)

Piper Lisa Perabo (born October 31, 1976) is an American film and television actress. She may be best known for playing CIA Agent Annie Walker on the spy drama series Covert Affairs, which ran on the USA Network for five seasons between 2010 and 2014. Since her breakthrough starring role in Coyote Ugly (2000), Perabo has appeared in films such as Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), The Prestige (2006), and Looper (2012).

Perabo was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Mary Charlotte (née Ulland), a physical therapist, and George William Perabo, a professor of poetry at Ocean County College. She is of English, German, Irish (father) and Norwegian (mother) descent; while her surname is sometimes mistakenly described as Portuguese, it originates in Italy and was first recorded in 1491 in Milan. For prominent members of the original Italian family Perabò see the Villa Perabò in Varese. Members of the Italian Perabo family emigrated to Germany, where Piper Perabo's paternal grandfather's family came from. She grew up in Toms River, New Jersey.

Perabo's parents named her after actress Piper Laurie, but "Piper" was Laurie's stage name. She is the eldest of three children with two brothers, Noah (born 1979) and Adam (born 1981). She graduated from Toms River High School North in 1994, and earned a bachelor's degree in theater from Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University in 1998. She also studied Latin, physics, and poetry in her final year.