Brooke D’Orsay is a Canadian actress, who rose to prominence for her work in the American television series’ “Two and Half Men” and “Royal Pains”, as well as for providing the voice for the Canadian cartoon series, “6teen.”
Early Life and Education
Brooke D’Orsay was born on 17 February 1982, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the only child to parents William D’Orsay, a university professor, and Jackie D’Orsay, a chemical lab assistant at the University where her father is working. She grew up training to be a gymnast from the age of five up to 17, but never liked to be yelled at by the coaching staff as it removed the fun of doing the sport.
Education
She matriculated from a local high school in Toronto, but didn’t attend a university, instead pursuing her acting dreams.
Career
After high school she already knew what she wanted to be, and went to many auditions. Finally, in 2001, she debuted with a minor role in the Canadian movie, “Why Can’t I Be a Movie Star,” followed by appearing in the short film, “Truths of Insanity.”
The following year, Brooke made her television debut in the American series, “Doc,” with Billy Ray Cyrus; the series’ setting was New York City, but it was all filmed around Toronto and Ontario.
It was followed by another American TV series, “Soul Food,” which was largely credited as the first hit drama featuring an African-American cast, shown in a primetime slot.
From then on she became busy with Canadian television, with a recurring role in “Ace Lightning” in 2004, and became a series regular in “Happy Hour” from 2006-2008. She was also the voice of Caitlin Cooke, one of the main cast of the animated series, “6teen,” for 93 episodes from 2004 to 2010.
As her popularity started to soar in Canada, Brooke was also given roles in popular American TV series such as “Two and a Half Men” (2007), “The Big Bang Theory” (2007), and “How I Met Your Mother” (2009).
She also completed a couple of movie-for-television projects, “Five Year Plan” and “Single White Millionaire”, for major TV networks CBS and NBC.
Her movie career in Hollywood also started to take shape, with roles in 2004’s “The Skulls III,” the third installment from the “The Skulls” franchise movie series with Clare Kramer and Barry Bostwick; 2004’s “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” with John Cho and Kumar Patel; and 2006’s “Room 10” with Robin Wright and Kris Kristofferson.
From 2009 to 2016, instead of making guest appearances, she landed main roles on television including in “Gary Unmarried” in the role of Sasha for the entire second season (2009-10) aired on ABC, “Drop Dead Diva” in which she played the role of the original Deb Dobkins for the first three seasons (2009-11), and “Royal Pains” (2010-16), in the recurring role of Paige Lawson for two seasons, elevated to series regular in the next four seasons until the show was cancelled.
She was seen again in “Two and a Half Men”, but didn’t reprise her role as Charlie’s former lover due to Charlie Sheen’s removal from the show. This time she had a recurring role from 2012 to 2014 as the love interest of Walden, played by Ashton Kutcher, who replaced Charlie Sheen.
Brooke also did a couple of romantic Hallmark movies, including 2012’s “How to Fall in Love” with Eric Mabius, and 2014’s “June in January” with Wes Brown. She also became a regular face in the popular yearly Hallmark Christmas movies such as “Miss Christmas” in 2017 with Marc Blucas, “Christmas in Love” (2018) with Daniel Lissing, and “Nostalgic Christmas” in 2019 with Trevor Donovan.
She was last seen in the sixth season of the web series “Grace and Frankie,” with the recurring role of Chelsea, released in January of 2020.
Personal Life
Brooke is currently single – there is no information as to whether she’s been engaged or married. She is quite private when it comes to her personal life – even her Instagram account only has seven posts. She was very good at keeping secrets for a long time until she blurted out in a 2012 interview that her boyfriend during that time was actor, writer and filmmaker Greg Coolidge.
Since then there’s been no information about the relationship, but it was believed that they had broken-up by 2014.
Posted by Brooke D'Orsay on Sunday, September 27, 2009
Interesting Facts and Rumors
- She reportedly put the Hollywood house she shared with former boyfriend Greg Coolidge up for sale in 2014 for over $2 million. It was only then that it was confirmed that they had been in a serious relationship. The house apparently was bought by Greg in 2006.
- Everyone thought that the house was put-up for sale because they transferred to a new home and a marriage announcement would follow soon. However, after a year Greg posted photos on Twitter with his new girlfriend.
- She prefers using fake Christmas trees during the holidays, because she doesn’t like the idea of real trees being thrown at the side of the road after the holidays.
- She landed her first commercial due to her gymnastics ability. She was required to do back flips, which were easy for her to execute. The 10-minute commercial was for Canada’s biggest department store.
- Brooke was also the girl in one of the long-running Nestea Plunge advertising campaigns and was called the “Nestea Girl.”
Appearance
She is 5ft 5in (1.65m) tall, weighs 114lbs (52kg), and has a fit, well-toned body shape. Brooke is Caucasian, and has blonde hair and green eyes.
Net worth
Authoritative sources estimate Brooke’s net worth as of June 2020 at $3 million, which she has earned doing movies and television both in the US and Canada.
