Stephanie Zimbalist is the daughter of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and his second wife, Stephanie Spaulding. Her grandparents were the violinist Efrem Zimbalist Sr. (born in Russia in 1889) and the opera singer Alma Gluck. Her brother, Efrem Zimbalist III, is a publishing executive.

Stephanie was raised on a ranch in Encino, California, but attended Foxcroft High, a prep school in Middleburg, Virginia. From there, she studied music and acting at Juillard, New York, for one year, but to her shock and distress Juillard would not let her stay on for the second year of the course. She drifted for a while, then enrolled at the Strasberg Institute and the Dance Center West, both in Los Angeles, and a variety of roles began to come her way.

Stephanie is best known as Laura Holt in Remington Steele, but in the past decade she has done most of her acting in the theater. In a tour of Sylvia, she played the title role - a dog. In February 2001, she won a Robby Award as Best Actress in Drama for her role as Lizzy Curry in The Rainmaker.

Her theater includes:

The Tempest - Mark Taper Forum

Sylvia - Sylvia - tour, 1996-97

Varya - The Cherry Orchard - Odyssey Theater, Los Angeles, 2002

Summer and Smoke - Williamstown Theatre Festival

Barbarians - Williamstown Theatre Festival

George Sand - Romantique - Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August, 2003

Stephanie is fond of reading and gardening, loves peace and quiet, hates arguments and confrontations, is left-handed and a vegetarian. In the late 1970s she was reported to be dating the actor Gregory Harrison, but since then she has succeeded in keeping her private life to herself.

Stephanie Zimbalist is the daughter of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and his second wife, Stephanie Spaulding. Her grandparents were the violinist Efrem Zimbalist Sr. (born in Russia in 1889) and the opera singer Alma Gluck. Her brother, Efrem Zimbalist III, is a publishing executive.

Stephanie was raised on a ranch in Encino, California,...