Marcia Anne Cross is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp

Bree Van De Kamp

Bree Van de Kamp is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, played by Marcia Cross. Actress Marcia Cross was nominated from 2005 to 2007 for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy...

 on the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

, and as Dr. Kimberly Shaw

Kimberly Shaw

Dr. Kimberly Shaw is a character from the hit television series Melrose Place. She was portrayed by Emmy-nominated actress Marcia Cross from 1992 to 1997 -Season 1:...

 on the Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 soap opera Melrose Place.
Cross is of English descent and was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts

Marlborough, Massachusetts

Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 38,499 at the 2010 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in the late 20th century after the construction of the...

, the daughter of Janet, a teacher, and Mark Cross, a personnel manager. Her parents raised her in the Roman Catholic religion.
She grew up with two sisters, Susan and Ellen.