Kelly Rutherford is an American actress best known for starring in the long-running series, "Melrose Place" as an ex-prostitute who tried to build a better future. Her more recent projects included recurring roles on "The District" and "The Fugitive," as well as a regular role on "Threat Matrix" and "E-Ring."

Rutherford's other television credits include regular roles on a trio of series, including the vampire drama "The Kindred," the comic western series "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.," and the legal drama, "The Great Defender." In 1993, she made a strong impression on the World War II drama series "Homefront," followed by the legal series “Courthouse."

Rutherford has made guest appearances on the series "Davis Rules," "Private Sector," "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Get Real."

On the big screen, Rutherford has starred in Wes Cravens’ "Scream 3" and Charles Shyer's "I Love Trouble," with Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts

It was on television, though, that Rutherford continued to find greatest success. Beginning in the early 2000s, the actress garnered prominent roles in a series of programs, starting with a recurring role as Deputy Mayor Melinda Lockhart on The District. She next played Special Agent Frankie Ellroy Kilmer on the counterterrorism thriller Threat Matrix, followed by a role as Samantha "Sonny" Liston on the similarly themed political drama E-Ring. Despite Rutherford's impressive ability to make it into the casts of highly-touted prime-time series, those programs also tended to be disappointingly short-lived. That all changed in 2007, when she was cast as Lily van der Woodsen, mother of the troubled Serena (Blake Lively, on Gossip Girl, a teen-oriented prime-time soap on the fledgling CW network. Taking a cue from previous rich-kid drama The O.C., Gossip Girl devoted a portion of its storyline to the main characters' parents, and Lily had no shortage of drama and relationship issues.