Bio
Courtney Thorne-Smith is an American actress best known for her television roles as Allison Parker in Melrose Place (1992-1997), as Georgia Thomas in Ally McBeal (1997-2002) and as Cheryl in According To Jim, from 2001-2009.
Thorne-Smith was born in San Francisco, California, and grew up in Menlo Park, a suburb south of the city.
Her father, Walter Smith, was a computer market researcher and her mother was a therapist. They divorced when she was 7 and she lived with both at different stages.
Courtney attended Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, and graduated from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California, in 1985. She also performed with the Ensemble Theater Company in Mill Valley, California, while attending high school.
Courtney made her first film appearance in the 1986 feature film drama, Lucas alongside Winona Ryder, Corey Haim, and Charlie Sheen. She was also involved in a number of movies in the late 1980s, such as Summer School (1987), Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987), Side Out (1990), and Chairman of the Board (1998).
Courtney's celebrity, however, would come more from performing on television. She appeared on a few mid-80s television shows such as Fast Times and Growing Pains, as well as made-for-TV movies including The Thanksgiving Promise and Infidelity before landing a regular role in the short-lived sitcom Day by Day with Douglas Sheehan, Linda Kelsey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
In 1990, she was featured in 6 episodes of the popular legal drama L.A. Law, as Kimberly Dugan.
Her first notable television role was playing Alison Parker on the drama series Melrose Place, from 1992-1997. She also went on to play Georgia Thomas on Ally McBeal from 1997-2000.
Courtney left Ally McBeal because she felt pressured to be so thin that her health was in jeopardy, and also wanted to spend more time with then-new husband Andrew Conrad.
Since 2001, Courtney has starred as Cheryl on the sitcom According to Jim.
In June of 2000, Courtney married genetic scientist Andrew Conrad, but they divorced in January of 2001.
After meeting him on an airplane, she married Roger Fishman on January 1, 2007. They are expecting their first child in January 2008.