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Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962 in Marlborough, Massachusetts) is an American actress best known for her television roles as Bree Van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives and Dr. Kimberly Shaw on Melrose Place.

Marcia Cross was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the daughter of Janet, a teacher, and Mark Cross, a personnel manager.

She was the long time companion of actor Richard Jordan. Jordan was twenty-five years older than Cross. Jordan died from a brain tumor in 1993. Cross and Tom Mahoney (b. 1958), a stock broker whom she had been dating for six months, were married on June 24, 2006.

On September 6, 2006, she announced that she was pregnant. On January 11, 2007, Cross was placed on precautionary bedrest until their delivery, requiring her to suspend her Desperate Housewives acting duties. Cross did not want to give up working, even bringing the entire cast and crew to her home to shoot some scenes in her very own bedroom. Cross's bedroom was painted to look like Bree's. On February 20, 2007, she gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Eden and Savannah.

Cross graduated from the Juilliard School in New York, and earned a master's degree in psychology at Antioch University Los Angeles. She began her television career in 1984 on the soap opera The Edge of Night.

In 1992, she was cast as Dr. Kimberly Shaw Melrose Place. Initially cast for one season, she so impressed the producers that they kept bringing her back for more episodes. She left the show in 1997, after five seasons.

After leaving Melrose Place, Cross guest-starred on series such as Seinfeld and Cheers. She also appeared on the comedies Ally McBeal, Spin City and King of Queens. Her dramatic roles include appearances on CSI, Profiler, Everwood and Touched by an Angel.

In 2003, she spent a season starring as Linda Abbott on WB's critically-acclaimed series, Everwood. In 2004, Marcia Cross landed the role of Bree Van de Kamp on the ABC dramedy series Desperate Housewives.

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