Biografia
Wendle was born at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles to a mother who was an artist and art educator, and a father who was a pediatrician. Raised in Denver, Colorado, she studied theater at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She then earned her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the Professional Theatre Training Program at Southern Methodist University. After moving to Los Angeles, Wendle appeared onstage as Touchstone in As You Like It, Mary the Maid in The Bald Soprano, and Jaquenetta in Love's Labor's Lost at The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. During the run of The Bald Soprano, she unexpectedly auditioned for a TNT remake directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who cast her in her first on-camera role as an Assistant Director, acting alongside Kris Kristofferson, Dyan Cannon, and Tony Curtis. Shortly after, John McTiernan cast her in a scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero, and Rob Reiner selected her to play a humorous airline agent opposite Elijah Wood in North, written by Alan Zweibel. Wendle also appeared at the Sundance Film Festival with The Party Favor, a short film by writer/director Lisa Udelson, where she worked with Heidi Swedberg and David Schwimmer. The film garnered critical acclaim and won multiple festival awards.
For many years, Wendle has delighted in portraying memorable character roles. Some of her favorites include storm-chaser Haynes in Twister, break-dancing artist Rita alongside Matthew McConaughey in Ron Howard’s EDtv, George Clooney’s secretary in the Coen Brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty, and the assistant director in Jake Kasdan’s The TV Set, where she worked with David Duchovny, Willie Garson, and Sigourney Weaver. She portrayed a passionate and comedic eco-warrior on Weeds and an irritatingly indifferent gadgets expert opposite Jennifer Garner on Alias, collaborating with J.J. Abrams. Wendle had the honor of working with Robin Williams, Nastassja Kinski, and Steve Valentine on Ivan Reitman’s Father’s Day, experiencing for the first time her scene being cut. She also played a snobby saleswoman on Ellen and an upset wife on The Drew Carey Show. Wendle appeared as a no-nonsense nurse alongside Bernie Mac and enjoyed portraying Susie, the officious assistant to lawyer Jackie Chiles, in the Seinfeld finale. Her guest roles include a skilled fashion photographer on Glee and an environmentally conscious artist in the web series Whole Day Down, starring Patrick Breen and Willie Garson. On George Lopez's TV Land series Lopez, she appeared as his next-door landlady in three episodes.
Wendle has filmed over two dozen humorous national commercials for brands such as Dr. Scholl’s, EA Sports with Wayne Gretzky, Toyota, Hulu, Telezapper, Target, IBM, Korbel, Equifax, and Progressive Auto Insurance, collaborating with top commercial directors. She is also a voiceover artist, lending her voice to animation characters and commercials, including PSAs for the U.S. Department of Energy, the American Lung Association, and the Regional Water Authority.
