TV.com

Brenda was raised in Portland. She started her stage career in Oregon at the age of 15, in a production of "Years Ago" at the Sunset Theater, Portland, followed by appearances in "Joan of Arc", "The Children's Hour", "The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". Brenda left Oregon at the age of eighteen, and went on to study for three years at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Her first screen appearance was in "Last Resort" in 1986.