IMDB

Actor

1953-07-11 · Paterson, New Jersey, USA · Female

49 series in the catalog

Mindy Lee Sterling (born July 11, 1953) is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress who has amassed multiple live action and voice-over credits across film and television. Her accolades include nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

In film, Sterling played Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers series (1997–2002) and appeared in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), All About Nina (2018), and Bobcat Moretti (2023). On television, she played Francine Briggs on the Nickelodeon series iCarly (2007–2012), Mitzi Kinsky on the ABC series Desperate Housewives (2010–2011), Susan Skidmore on the Disney Channel series A.N.T. Farm (2011–2013), Bobbie on the Vimeo series Con Man (2015–2017), and Linda Schwartz on the ABC series The Goldbergs (2017–2023).

Sterling provided the voice of Miss Endive on the Cartoon Network series Chowder (2007–2010), Lin Beifong on the Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra (2012–2014), and Morgana in the Nickelodeon version of Winx Club (2012). She has also done voice-over work for Alpha and Omega (2010), Monsters University (2013), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and The Grinch (2018).

Early life and education

Sterling was born into a Jewish family in Paterson, New Jersey, on July 11, 1953. Her father Dick Sterling was an actor and nightclub comedian who collaborated with Shecky Greene and Sammy Shore, and her mother Florence Adele "Bookie" Sterling (née Pushkin) was a dancer. She has one brother, Mark Sterling. Sterling grew up in Miami.

As a child, she was terribly shy so she took drama in high school to "get out of my insecurity and my shell". She was in several plays throughout high school. She graduated from Miami Norland Senior High School in 1972 and earned a degree in acting at Miami Dade College.

Career

Around 1973, Sterling landed a recurring role on the syndicated children's series Dusty's Treehouse. She later joined the L.A.-based comedy troupe The Groundlings in the 1980s. From 1990 to 1991, she was one of the comedians in the satirical show On the Television. Despite having starred in numerous films in the 1980s and 1990s, it was her character Frau Farbissina, the diminutive and domineering Germanic cohort of Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), that brought Sterling high praise for her work in films. In 1999, she starred in the sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and also appeared in Drop Dead Gorgeous. She later reprised the character Frau Farbissina in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) for the third and final time.

Sterling played one of the townspeople in the 2000 live-action adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and also provided additional voices in the 2018 CGI version, The Grinch. Also in 2000, Sterling appeared as a celebrity guest on Hollywood Squares; she returned to the show in 2002. Between 2002 and 2004, Sterling made guest appearances on the Donny Osmond version of the game show Pyramid. In 2004, she was the casting director on the episode "Joey and the Big Audition" of Joey. In 2005, she played Judge Foodie on the Disney show That's So Raven and a volleyball coach on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2006. In 2008, Sterling played Christian Slater's secretary Arlene Scott in the show My Own Worst Enemy.

From 2007 to 2010, Sterling voiced Miss Endive, the main antagonist to Mung Daal in Chowder. She voiced the character Lin Beifong, the second Police Chief of Republic City and daughter of original chief Toph Beifong, in The Legend of Korra. She also had a recurring voice role as Morgana on the Nickelodeon version of Winx Club in 2012. Her many other voice-over credits include guest roles on The Wild Thornberrys, Invader Zim, Ice Age: The Meltdown, American Dragon: Jake Long, Higglytown Heroes, Robot Chicken, Mars Needs Moms, The Looney Tunes Show, Justice League Unlimited, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

Sterling has achieved success in teen sitcoms, playing Ms. Francine Briggs on iCarly, and in A.N.T. Farm as Principal Susan Skidmore. In 2010, she had a recurring role as bitter neighbour Mitzi Kinsky in Desperate Housewives. In 2012, she appeared in a book trailer for a parody of The Hunger Games entitled The Hunger Pains. In 2013, she starred as Janice Nugent in the comedy series Legit. In 2018, she appeared in Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events. From 2017 to 2023, she appeared on the sitcom The Goldbergs as Linda Schwartz, the mother of Geoff Schwartz. In 2024, Sterling guest starred on the series premiere of St. Denis Medical.

Personal life

Sterling has a son from her previous marriage to Brian Gadson.

In 1998, Sterling was diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram. After a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation treatment and tamoxifen, she has remained cancer-free.