Lisa Ann Walter’s career spans television, film and the stage. She
is currently starring as Melissa Schemmenti in ABC’s No. 1 show, the
Emmy® Award-nominated, SAG Award-winning Best Comedy Ensemble
“Abbott Elementary,” Quinta Brunson’s homage to hardworking
teachers/staff of our nation’s teachers – which includes
Walter’s mother, a former DC public school teacher.

Walter’s film highlights include stand-out performances as Chessy in
“The Parent Trap” with Dennis Quaid, and Bobbie in “Shall We
Dance” opposite Richard Gere. Other blockbuster films include
“Bruce Almighty” with Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston, Steven
Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” with Tom Cruise, and the
Lionsgate action comedy “Killers” with Ashton Kutcher. Other films
include “Drillbit Taylor” with Owen Wilson, “Eddie” with
Whoopi Goldberg, and “The Trouble with Dee Dee,” which garnered
her six Festival Best Actress Awards.

Based on her years as a national touring standup comedy headliner,
Walter co-created, produced, and starred in several network sitcoms:
Fox’s “My Wildest Dreams” and ABC’s “Life’s Work,” the
highest-rated new show on ABC for the season averaging 19 million
viewers per week. She was also the creator/writer and EP of her own
half-hour single-camera series, “Bitter.” She’s very proud of
co-starring in “The More Things Change,” an everyday trans woman
half-hour comedy, where she also served as executive producer –
debuted at Outfest 2019. She recently directed and starred in the
comedic short “Jersey.”

Walter was honored to appear on the Netflix special “Laugh In: The
Stars Celebrate,” as Lily Tomlin and cast formed her early love of
comedy. She is recurring in the longest-running medical drama on TV,
“Grey’s Anatomy,” and has enjoyed many guest and recurring TV
roles over the years including 20th Television’s “9-1-1,” and
Netflix’s “GLOW” as Betty Gilpin’s mother as well as numerous
independent feature films.

On the other side of the camera, Walter has worked as creative
executive producer and showrunner on innovative formats with top
factual companies 495 Productions, Magical Elves, Esquire TV (formerly
HDNET) and Propagate. Her hit dance/weight-loss competition series,
“Dance Your Ass Off,” where she served as creator, EP and head
judge, originally had the highest-rated premiere for any Oxygen series
and was produced in 15 foreign formats.

She also executive produced and wrote the stand-up special, “The
Naughty Show,” as well as co-created, executive produced and
directed “Gonzo Girlz” in 2005, a groundbreaking female
stunt/comedy web series which aired on Time Warner, Comcast and
Adelphia on-demand networks, garnering 6 million unique views per
episode and was the No. 1 show on the Sprint Network. She co-created
“Tour Dates,” which celebrates the world of a female national
touring stand-up comedians currently in development at a major cable
network.

As an author, Walter’s comedic memoir, “The Best Thing About My
Ass Is That It’s Behind Me” (Harper Collins/Harper One) is a
comedic look at a chronic self-loather and former “chubby” girl
trying to make it in the glamorous world of “size 0” Hollywood was
No. 13 on both Amazon and the New York Times Comedic Essays Bestseller
List.

Walter is most proud of being a working mom of four with “One foot
on the red carpet … the other at Costco” — and that her stomach
is still reasonably flat after being the clown car from which they all
emerged.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
HOMETOWN: Silver Spring, Maryland
BIRTHDATE: August 3
