Born: 30th January 1963 (as Daphne Lee Ashbrook)
Episodes Broadcast: 1996

Daphne Ashbrook was born in Long Beach, California. Both of her parents were actors, and she and her siblings followed in their footsteps from an early age; her brother, Dana, would star in the groundbreaking supernatural drama Twin Peaks. A stage performer since she was six years old, Ashbrook decided to drop out of college in order to establish herself as an actress. Sometimes working as a singing telegram between jobs, she moved into television in the early Eighties with guest appearances on shows like Knight Rider and The A-Team. Ashbrook soon enjoyed recurring roles in Our Family Honor, Falcon Crest and Hooperman, while 1984's Gimme An ‘F’ was the first of a handful of movies. A relationship with actor Lorenzo Lamas resulted in a daughter, Paton Ashbrook, born in 1988.

During the early Nineties, Ashbrook could be seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Diagnosis Murder, and as no fewer than three characters in Murder, She Wrote. She then starred as Dr Grace Holloway alongside Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who (1996), a failed attempt to revive the programme as a British-American co-production. Ashbrook's appearances during the latter part of the decade included Pacific Palisades and JAG.

Following the turn of the century, Ashbrook had a recurring role in The OC and guest-starred on programmes like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case and Without A Trace. In 2004, she was reunited with McGann for the Eighth Doctor audio drama The Next Life from Big Finish Productions. Although rights issues prevented Ashbrook from reprising the role of Grace, she continued to make occasional appearances for Big Finish over the following years. Ashbrook released an album called Grace Notes in 2010, covering songs from artists such as Joni Mitchell. The next year, she published a memoir entitled Dead Woman Laughing: An Actor's ‘Take’ From Both Sides Of The Camera. Latter television credits have included Law & Order: Los Angeles, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service and a prominent role in the teen drama Hollywood Heights.