Linda Cardellini's Real Name: Linda Edna Cardellini

Quick answer: Linda Cardellini's real name is Linda Edna Cardellini. She was born on June 25, 1975, in Redwood City, California.

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority records her as Cardellini, Linda, 1975-. Encyclopedia.com lists full name Linda Edna Cardellini, born June 25, 1975, in Redwood City, California. She grew up in the Bay Area, studied theater, and began booking television guest roles in the mid-1990s before a breakout as high-schooler Lindsay Weir on Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000).

Quick facts

• Real name: Linda Edna Cardellini
• Known as: Linda Cardellini
• Born: June 25, 1975, in Redwood City, California
• Known for: Actor
• Notable work: Freaks and Geeks, ER, Brokeback Mountain, Dead to Me
• Sources checked: Library of Congress Name Authority, Encyclopedia.com

Career highlights

After Freaks and Geeks, Cardellini joined ER as nurse Samantha Taggart (2003–2009). Film work includes Velma in the live-action Scooby-Doo movies, Legally Blonde (2001), Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Marvel appearances as Laura Barton in the Hawkeye-adjacent MCU titles and Avengers: Age of Ultron / Endgame era projects. She voiced Wendy Corduroy on Gravity Falls and starred opposite Christina Applegate in Netflix's Dead to Me (2019–2022), earning Emmy attention for the dark comedy.

Other credits span Bloodline, The Perfect Guy, Green Book (supporting), and ongoing film and streaming roles that keep her a familiar presence across comedy and drama. Later credits keep her a familiar presence across comedy, drama, and franchise work on both broadcast and streaming platforms. She has also appeared in independent dramas and studio comedies that show the same grounded comic timing she brought to Lindsay Weir and Samantha Taggart.

Name notes

Linda Edna Cardellini is her birth name; she has not used a stage surname. Searchers sometimes misspell Cardellini. Fan sites often copy names from one another, so we checked this page against the Library of Congress and Encyclopedia.com rather than guess middle names from fan wikis alone.