Meredith Eaton

Eaton was born on Long Island, New York, to a clinical social worker mother and an administrative law judge father. She attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where she was an active member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority; she graduated in 1996 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies, minoring in theater. In June 2007, she was named by Hofstra University as their Alumnus of the Month.

File:Klebba & Eaton.JPG, May 2007. (Pictured with Martin Klebba.)]]

Eaton's acting career began in 1999 when she attended an open casting call for the comedy film Unconditional Love. Despite it being her first audition, she won out over 500 women from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom to be cast in the role of Maudey Beasley.{{cite web |url=http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/celebrity/becksmith.jsp?p=bsf_eaton_rstar |title=TV RISING STAR: Meredith Eaton Casting a Giant Shadow |accessdate=September 3, 2007 |last=DuBois |first=Stephanie |work=Netscape Celebrity |publisher=Netscape |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206024637/http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/celebrity/becksmith.jsp?p=bsf_eaton_rstar |archivedate=February 6, 2012}}

Unconditional Love was not released until 2002. Her performance was seen by Paul Haggis, who created the role of Emily Resnick for her on Family Law. Joining the cast in 2002, she continued with the series until its cancellation later that same year. She later had significant guest appearances on NYPD Blue, Dharma & Greg, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House and NCIS. She also appeared as herself in Standing Tall at Auschwitz, which was a History Channel documentary on the Ovitz family, and in No Bigger Than a Minute, an independent documentary on dwarfism which aired on the PBS program P.O.V.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/nobiggerthanaminute/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061023103449/http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/nobiggerthanaminute/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 23, 2006 |title=No Bigger Than a Minute |accessdate=September 3, 2007 |year=2006 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service}}

In 2006, she joined the cast of Boston Legal as Bethany Horowitz, a love interest to William Shatner's character Denny Crane. The role was written specifically for her by David E. Kelley.{{cite web |url=http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/celebrity/hollywoodexclusive.jsp?feature=ce_hol_10162006 |title=Just Getting Started |accessdate=September 3, 2007 |last=Beck |first=Marilyn |author2=Jenel Smith, Stacy |year=2007 |work=Netscape Celebrity |publisher=Netscape |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206024641/http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/celebrity/hollywoodexclusive.jsp?feature=ce_hol_10162006 |archivedate=February 6, 2012}}

Eaton has portrayed Carol Wilson, a recurring character on CBS' NCIS for over 6 seasons and its spin-off NCIS: New Orleans, an immunologist who works for the CDC and is a friend of forensic scientist Abby Sciuto. In 2013, Meredith starred opposite Christopher Walken and Bill Nighy in David Hare's Turks & Caicos. In 2016, Eaton became a series regular on the CBS show MacGyver. She plays Matilda "Matty" Webber, MacGyver's boss and the new director of operations at The Phoenix Foundation.

Eaton earned a master's degree in clinical psychology from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University, where she achieved a 4.0 grade point average. Between her roles in Family Law and Boston Legal, Eaton worked as a psychotherapist with patients in a locked unit for the criminally insane at a Los Angeles hospital.{{Cite web |title=Attention, Please |url=https://www.emmys.com/news/mix/attention-please |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=Television Academy |language=en}} She would later credit her training in psychology for giving her a better ability to understand character dynamics in preparing for acting roles.

Eaton married Brian Gordon on October 12, 2008. Gordon is a professional photographer. They have one child together, a daughter.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

Eaton was previously married to Michael Gilden from 2001 until his death in 2006.{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2006/scene/markets-festivals/actor-gilden-dies-at-44-1117955558/ |title=Actor Gilden dies at 44 |work=Variety |date=December 11, 2006 |accessdate=August 28, 2017}}

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• {{IMDb name|0247860}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061023152331/http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/nobiggerthanaminute/special_clips.html Clip] from the documentary No Bigger Than a Minute (video)

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Category:American women psychologists

Category:21st-century American psychologists

Category:Actresses from New York (state)

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actors with dwarfism

Category:American actors with disabilities

Category:Hofstra University alumni

Category:Adelphi University alumni

Category:People from Long Island

Category:1974 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:American scientists with disabilities