Rhea Seehorn's Real Name: Rhea Seehorn

Quick answer: Rhea Seehorn is publicly known by her own name, Rhea Seehorn. She was born on May 12, 1972, in Norfolk, Virginia. She played lawyer Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul and won her first Emmy in September 2026 as Carol Sturka on Apple TV's Pluribus (Library of Congress; The Hollywood Reporter; Variety).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Seehorn, Rhea." Its citation describes her as an "American actress, born May 12, 1972, lives in Los Angeles, California." Rhea Seehorn is the name she uses professionally. The reliable sources cited here do not record a different first or middle name, so this page treats it as her full public name.

The Hollywood Reporter says she was born in Norfolk, Virginia. Her father was a Naval intelligence officer whose work moved the family often. She enrolled at George Mason University to pursue a fine arts degree and took her first acting class as a freshman. "I just fell in love with acting the first time I took a class," she told the magazine. Her father died at the end of that year, and she described a long period of depression afterward.

Career highlights

Seehorn worked in productions at George Mason and in non-union Washington, D.C., theaters. In late 2001 she made her Broadway debut as an understudy in Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway. The ABC sitcom I'm with Her, in which she played Teri Polo's sister, brought her to Los Angeles. A decade of short-lived pilots followed, along with Whitney (2011–13) and guest work on Franklin & Bash.

Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould cast her as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel. She told THR she was "bawling" when she learned she had the part. Variety notes that she earned supporting actress Emmy nominations in 2022 and 2023 but did not win; Saul finished with 53 nominations and no wins.

Gilligan then built Pluribus around her. She plays novelist Carol Sturka, one of the last people on Earth with independent thought. The series premiered in November 2025. The role won her the Golden Globe and the Critics' Choice Award, and on September 14, 2026, the Emmy for lead actress in a drama. Accepting the award, she thanked Gilligan "for giving me not only the role of a lifetime," the Los Angeles Times reported.

Name notes for searchers

Seehorn is her family surname. Some fan sites list a different first name, but no authoritative source cited here confirms it, so we do not repeat it.