American actress Maggie Siff is best known for her work on the television shows “Sons of Anarchy,” “Mad Men,” and “Billions.” Before going on to movies and television, she started her acting career in the theater.
She had acclaimed performances in plays including “Ruby Sunrise,” “Frank’s Home,” “Ghosts,” the Chicago version of “Dollhouse,” and others.
She appeared in many movies from the mid-2000s, including “Michael Clayton” and “Then She Found Me,” in which she co-starred in with Helen Hunt in 2007. (2007, opposite George Clooney).
She also made appearances in Push (2009) as Teresa Stowe and Leaves of Grass (2009) as Rabbi Renannah Zimmerman (2009).
Siff is well-known for playing the Jewish department store heiress Rachel Menken Katz in the AMC drama Mad Men, and Tara Knowles in the FX drama Sons of Anarchy (for which she was nominated twice for the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series), and Wendy Rhoades in the Showtime drama “Billions.”
She currently serves as the TV spokeswoman for the Betterment Robo-advisor business.
Maggie Siff’s Date of Birth and Parents
On June 21, 1974, Maggie Siff was born in The Bronx, New York. Her mother is Irish-Swedish Protestant and her father is a Russian Jew. Given that she was raised among her father’s family, Siff describes herself as “culturally Jewish.”
Maggie Siff’s Education
Maggie Siff, attended “The Bronx High School of Science” and “Bryn Mawr College,” where she earned her degree with a major in English in 1996.
At the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she also earned an MFA in acting. Maggie Siff worked as a temporary employee for a barrier fund soon after earning his degree from “New York University.”
Maggie Siff’s Career
Maggie Siff had a long career in theater before moving into movies and television. Her role in Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts” in 1998 was her most famous theatrical performance.
In the 2004 episode of the American crime thriller “Third Watch” (1999-2005), titled “Obsession,” Siff played the character “Cindy.”
The storyline focused on the lives of police officers from the “New York Police Department” and firemen and paramedics from the “New York City Fire Department,” who were both employed by the fictional boundaries during the “Third Watch” shift, which ran from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Siff had an appearance in the 2005 episode titled “Twat” of the American comedy-drama series “Rescue Me” (2004-2011). The lives of a group of New York City firemen were the subject of the television series.
Siff had two TV appearances in 2006: in the drama “3 lbs” (as “Lisa Kutchem” in the episode “The God Spot”) and the crime-drama series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (as “Emily McCooper” in the episode “Gone” of season 20). Due to low ratings, the latter was discontinued after three weeks.
Siff had a cameo appearance on the leading medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2007. (2005–present). In “The Heart of the Matter,” one of its episodes, she made an appearance as “Ruthie Sales.”
Additionally, she had a guest role as “Rachel Ben Natan” in three episodes of the medical drama “Nip/Tuck” (2003-2010). She made her acting debut in the same year, playing an attorney alongside George Clooney in the film “Michael Clayton.”
She also played the character of “Lily” in the comedy-drama movie “Then She Found Me.” Helen Hunt served as the director.
But Siff’s big break came when she was cast in the series “Mad Men” as a Jewish department store heiress called “Rachel Menken” (2007–2015). Nine episodes of the show featured her.
Siff portrays “Attorney Mahaffey” in the 2008 episode of the police procedural and court drama “Law & Order” (1990-2010), “Executor.” In the same year, she made 79 episodes throughout six seasons of the crime-drama series “Sons of Anarchy” (2008-2013) as “Tara Knowles.”
Siff appeared in three episodes as “Maria Belanger” as a guest star in the science fiction criminal drama series “Life on Mars” (2008-2009) 2009.
She performed the roles of Teresa Stowe, Rabbi Renannah Zimmerman, and Rachel in the films Push, Leaves of Grass, and Funny People that same year.
Siff played the part of “Lily” in the episode “In Case of Letting Go” of the TV show “A Gifted Man” in 2011. She starred as “Sam Bennet” in the autobiographical drama movie “Concussion” in 2013.
Another significant television part came Siff’s way in 2016: “Wendy Rhoades” in the drama series “Billions” (2016–present). So far, she has featured in 36 episodes of the show.
She acted as Lisa Sullivan in the science fiction/action movie “The 5th Wave,” Anna Baskin in the independent drama movie “A Woman, A Part,” and Ava in the comedy-drama movie “The Sweet Life” all in the same year.
Siff played “Lisette” in the drama movie “One Percent More Humid” in 2017. The movie focused on a couple of childhood friends who reconnect during their summer off from college and deal with a stressful incident from their past.
Siff played the role of “Cheryl” in the drama movie “The Short History of the Long Road” in 2019. Siff now serves as the TV spokeswoman for the Betterment Robo-advisor service. It is a New York City-based internet investing firm.