Natalie Zea (born March 17, 1975) is an American actress known for her role as Gwen Hotchkiss on the NBC daytime soap Passions, and for portraying Donald Sutherland's middle child and divorced daughter, Karen Darling, on Dirty Sexy Money on ABC.

Biography

Zea was born in Harris County, Texas, and attended Monahans High School, graduating in 1993. She then graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

Career

Zea had a few small film roles before joining the cast of Passions in 2000 as Gwen Hotchkiss, replacing exiting actress Liza Huber. Zea left the show in 2002, and was replaced by Huber.

She has made several different guest appearances in primetime, guest starring on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2001. In 2004 she made several guest stints on FX's tough cop drama The Shield playing a love interest to Michael Chiklis's Det. Vic Mackey.

In 2005, Zea debuted as Trish Agermeyer, the sexy surveillance technician on the short-lived ABC show Eyes. More recently, she made a guest appearance on the 2005-06 season finale of Without a Trace.

Personal life

It was widely speculated that Zea and former Passions co-star, Travis Schuldt, began dating after they had both left the show in 2002 and that they were engaged by early 2007. However, when asked in interviews Zea denied the engagement and has not confirmed a romantic relationship between the two.

Notable roles

* Boys Don't Cry (Lana Tisdel - 1995)
* Macbeth in Manhattan (Samantha/First Witch - 1999)
* Lucid Days in Hell (Naomi - 1999)
* Boys Don't Cry (film) (uncredited - 1999)
* D.C. (2000)
* Passions (Gwen Hotchkiss #2 - 2000-2002)
* CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Needra Fenway - 2001)
* MDs (Ghost - 2002)
* The Shield (Lauren Riley - 2004)
* Two and a Half Men (Colleen - 2005)
* Eyes (TV series) (Trish Agermeyer - 2005)
* Freddie (Sally - 2006)
* Without a Trace (Jennifer Nichols - 2006)
* Just Legal (2006)
* Dirty Sexy Money (Karen Darling - 2007)
* From a Place of Darkness (Brenda - 2007)