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Brenda Strong can be seen -- but mostly heard -- as Mary Alice Young, the recently departed narrator of "Desperate Housewives."

A native of Portland, OR, Strong left home to attend Arizona State University, where she earned a bachelors degree in Musical Theater. After graduation she moved to Los Angeles, where she soon began appearing in television and films.

A familiar face on television, Strong has guest starred on "C.S.I." and had recurring roles on the popular series "Nip/Tuck," "Everwood" and the critically-acclaimed "Sports Night." She is also recognizable to "Seinfeld" fans as "Sue Ellen Mishkie," better known as "The Braless Wonder."

Strong stars in the features "The Kid and I," opposite Tom Arnold, and in "The Work and the Glory." Previous feature film credits include "Starship Troopers" and the recently-released "Starship Troopers 2," "The Deep End of the Ocean," opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Treat Williams, "The Craft" and the Mel Brooks comedy "Spaceballs."

Strong is a certified yoga instructor with her own studio in Los Angeles and a line of videos designed to help infertile couples through yoga therapy. She has also taught at UCLA's Mind-Body Institute.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.
(courtesy of ABC)
Brenda Strong's offscreen name might not immediately register with Seinfeld fans, but they will immediately identify the character actress after learning that she played the grating Sue Ellen Mischke, one of Elaine Benes's thorn-in-the-flesh nemeses, on that seminal American sitcom. Actually, Strong's television-heavy resumé reads like a best-of prime-time series list -- including not only Seinfeld, but Ally McBeal, Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls, 7th Heaven, and others. Strong remains best known, however, for her pivotal contribution to Desperate Housewives as the ill-fated Mary Alice Young, a social-climbing hausfrau who commits suicide in the opening episode of the program, and then hangs around (in a regular voice-over) to offer acerbic observations from the afterlife about her backstabbing earthbound friends. In addition to her television work, Strong also landed bit parts in such features as Spaceballs (1987), The Craft (1996), and Starship Troopers 2 (2004). Strong hosted a series of exercise videos in the early 2000s as well, among them Yoga 4 Fertility (2001) and Yoga 4 Partners (2002). Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

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