Abigail Spencer Biography

Abigail Leigh Spencer (born August 4, 1981) is an American actress known for her roles in several television series.

A native of Florida, she began her career on the ABC daytime television soap opera All My Children playing Rebecca Tyree from 1999 to 2001, before going on to star in the short-lived Lifetime crime drama series Angela's Eyes (2006).

Spencer has appeared in films such as In My Sleep (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), This Means War (2012), Chasing Mavericks (2012), The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and This Is Where I Leave You (2014). On television, she has had recurring roles on Mad Men, Hawthorne, and Suits. From 2013 to 2016, Spencer starred as Amantha Holden in the SundanceTV drama series Rectify, for which she received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination. In 2016, Spencer began playing the leading role of history professor Lucy Preston in the NBC series Timeless.

Early life

Spencer was born and raised in Gulf Breeze, Florida, the daughter of Lydia Ann (Brown) and surfer Yancy Spencer III (1950-2011). She has two brothers, Yancy Spencer IV (born 1973) and Sterling Spencer (born 1986).

Spencer has stated that she is part Cherokee.

Career

Spencer's first major acting role was playing Rebecca "Becca" Tyree on ABC soap opera All My Children from June 3, 1999 to April 10, 2001. She later starred in Lifetime Television original series Angela's Eyes, which was cancelled on December 1, 2006. In the following years she began playing guest roles on television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, How I Met Your Mother, Private Practice and Castle.

Spencer played the role of a blogging enthusiast in Twix advertisements, and portrayed Miss Farrell, a love interest of Don Draper's, on AMC's Mad Men in 2009. In early 2011, she landed the lead role on ABC drama pilot Grace by Krista Vernoff. Spencer had previously played the title character in another Krista Vernoff drama pilot, Introducing Lennie Rose, in 2005. Spencer appeared in a recurring role as Dr. Erin Jameson on the TNT series Hawthorne in 2010, and since 2011 has had a recurring role as Dana "Scottie" Scott, Gabriel Macht's character's old rival, on the USA Network legal drama Suits.

Spencer has appeared in several films, including In My Sleep (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), This Means War (2012), and Chasing Mavericks (2012), and she played the lead role in The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013). She appeared in fantasy adventure film Oz the Great and Powerful, directed by Sam Raimi, in 2013.

As of 2013, Spencer has starred as Amantha Holden in the Sundance Channel original drama series Rectify. She was nominated for Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama for her performance in the series.

Spencer played the lead role in the indie drama A Beautiful Now, written by Daniela Amavia, about a passionate dancer who finds herself considering an extreme act when she reaches a crossroads in her life. She was nominated for a Madrid International Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in film. In 2014, Spencer appeared opposite Jason Bateman in This Is Where I Leave You, an ensemble comedy directed by Shawn Levy, and starred with John Travolta and Christopher Plummer in The Forger.

In October 2014, Spencer joined the cast of the second season of HBO crime drama series, True Detective.

In 2016, Spencer was cast as lead character Lucy Preston in the NBC series Timeless, where she plays a history professor sent on time travel missions to different eras in an effort to prevent others from disrupting the U.S.-related timestream. A review of the series in Variety called Spencer "prodigiously talented" and that she played "a character whose major personality traits are 'smart' and 'plucky.'" A review in Deadline.com said that the show was a waste of Spencer's talents. The New York Times wrote that "Abigail Spencer is good as Lucy, the spunky historian who is the show's central character."

Personal life

Spencer married Andrew Pruett in 2004 and filed for divorce in February 2012. The couple has a son named Roman.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Campfire Stories	Melissa
2003	Truth and Dare	Skye
2005	Fathers and Sons	Clarissa
2005	A Coat of Snow	Sandy
2006	Hooked	Wendy	Short film
2007	Passing the Time	Jessica	Short film
2007	Jekyll	Talia Carew
2010	In My Sleep	Gwen
2011	Cowboys & Aliens	Alice
2012	This Means War	Katie
2012	Chasing Mavericks	Brenda Hesson
2013	The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia	Lisa Wyrick
2013	Oz the Great and Powerful	May
2013	Kilimanjaro	Yvonne
2013	Here and Now	Woman	Short film
2014	Beautiful Now	Romy	Nominated - Madrid International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
2014	This Is Where I Leave You	Quinn Altman
2014	The Pieces	Vanessa	Short film
2014	The Forger	Agent Paisley
2015	H8RZ	Laura Sedgewick
2016	The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards	Abigail
2016	The Sweet Life	Lolita

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999-2001	All My Children	Rebecca 'Becca' Tyree	Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Female Newcomer (2000)
2005	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Becky Lester	Episode: "Bite Me"
2005	Introducing Lennie Rose	Lennie Rose	TV pilot
2006	Killer Instinct	Violet Summers	Episode: "Love Hurts"
2006	Gilmore Girls	Megan	Episode: "Bridesmaids Revisited"
2006	Angela's Eyes	Angela Henson	Lead role, 13 episodes
2007	Ghost Whisperer	Cindy Brown	Episode: "Speed Demon"
2007, 2014	How I Met Your Mother	Blah Blah (Carol)	Episodes: "How I Met Everyone Else" and "Gary Blauman"
2008	Welcome to the Captain	Claire Tanner	Episode: "The Letter"
2008	Bones	Phillipa Fitz	Episode: "The Man in the Mud"
2008	Moonlight	Simone Walker	Episode: "Sonata"
2009	Rex Is Not Your Lawyer	Lindsey Steers	TV pilot
2009	Private Practice	Rachel	Episode: "Ex-Life"
2009	Mad Men	Suzanne Farrell	Recurring Role, 6 episodes
2009	Castle	Sarah Reed	Episode: "One Man's Treasure"
2010	The Glades	Ashley Carter	Episode: "The Girlfriend Experience"
2010	Hawthorne	Dr. Erin Jameson	Recurring Role, 8 episodes
2011	Grace	Sarah Grace	TV pilot
2011-16	Suits	Dana 'Scottie' Scott	Recurring role, 12 episodes
2012-13	Burning Love	Annie	16 episodes
2013	NTSF:SD:SUV	Abigail	Episode: "Comic Con-Air"
2013-16	Rectify	Amantha Holden	Series regular Nominated - Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2013) Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama (2014)
2015	True Detective	Gena Brune	Recurring role, 6 episodes
2016	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Vanna	Episode: "Zach Galifianakis Wears Rolled Khakis and Shoes With Brown Laces"
2016-present	Timeless	Lucy Preston	Main Role