Talia Balsam

Talia Balsam was born in New York City in 1959, to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten. Her ancestry is Russian Jewish (father) and Italian, Dutch, and English (mother). She is the niece of actor Dick Van Patten, actress Pat Van Patten, and actor/director Tim Van Patten, and the cousin of actress Grace Van Patten.

Balsam began her career appearing in a recurring role on the ABC sitcom Happy Days and later appeared in a number of shows, including Dallas, Taxi, Hill Street Blues, Family Ties, The Larry Sanders Show, and Magnum, P.I. Balsam also played leading roles in films Crawlspace (1986) and In the Mood (1987). She also appeared in a number of made-for-television movies, including Kent State (1981), Nadia (1984), and Consenting Adult (1985). Balsam continued playing supporting film roles and guest starred on television through 1990s and 2000s, include The Cake Eaters (2007), L.A. Doctors (1998–99) and Without a Trace (2003–04). From 2007 to 2014, Balsam had a recurring role as Mona Sterling in the AMC period drama series Mad Men. In 2012, she also had a recurring role in the Showtime thriller Homeland as Cynthia Walden. From 2016 to 2019, she starred opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in the HBO comedy series, Divorce.

Balsam married actor George Clooney in Las Vegas in 1989; they were divorced in 1993. In an interview with Vanity Fair after their divorce, Clooney stated, "I probably (definitely) wasn't someone who should have been married at that point. I just don't feel like I gave Talia a fair shot." Since 1998, Balsam has been married to John Slattery, with whom she has a son. They married in Kauaʻi, Hawaii. They played husband and wife Roger and Mona Sterling in Mad Men. As of 2015, Balsam was living with her family in SoHo, Manhattan.