Nicole Forester

Nicole Forester (born November 19, 1972) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as "Maggie Zajac" on the Starz original series Boss and as "Cassie Winslow" on Guiding Light. She currently appears as "Christie" on NBC's Chicago Fire. --- Forester was born Nicole Theresa Schmidt in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She began dance training at the age of five and began working locally in professional musical theatre at the age of twelve. She majored in drama at the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Livonia, Michigan (fellow alumni include actress Judy Greer and musician Rosie Thomas) and majored in Musical Theatre Performance at Western Michigan University before moving to Los Angeles at 19. She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1993, when she took Forester, her grandmother's maiden name, as her professional name. Her early work in Los Angeles included roles in the television series Two and a Half Men, Monk, Will & Grace, The Single Guy,  Beverly Hills 90210, and Mister Sterling, among others. Forester guest starred in two of the Star Trek spin-offs, playing a dabo girl in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Distant Voices", and Nora in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Horizon". Her all-American classic beauty landed her in numerous national commercials, including The Olive Garden, Miller Lite, Claritin, and American Airlines. Forester has also appeared in many pilots, including playing the wife of Saturday Night Live's Chris Kattan in the sitcom Enough About Me for ABC. --- She is married to Paul Brown and they have two children: Frances Eleanor, born on February 11, 2009, and Paul Walker III, born on October 14, 2010. Of French and German descent, Forester spent three years studying German at UCLA and, in 2006, a term at the Goethe Institut in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany.