Valerie Mahaffey, born on June 16, 1953, in Sumatra, Indonesia, is an American character actress and producer. Her parents, a Canadian mother and a Texan father, met in New Brunswick, Canada, and later moved to Austin, Texas, when Valerie was 16.

She graduated from Austin High School and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975. She made her Broadway debut in the musical "Rex" and began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera "The Doctors" from 1979 to 1981, earning a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1980.

Her career took off in the late 1980s when she started appearing in television comedies like "Cheers," "Newhart," and "Seinfeld." She won critical acclaim and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1992 for her role as the hypochondriac Eve in the CBS series "Northern Exposure."

She continued to build her reputation with performances in television shows such as "Wings," "Desperate Housewives," "Devious Maids," and "Big Sky." She also appeared in movies like "Senior Trip" (1995), "Jungle 2 Jungle" (1997), "Jack and Jill" (2011), "Sully" (2016), and "French Exit" (2020), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Valerie Mahaffey is married to Canadian actor Joseph Kell, and they have one daughter. Valerie enjoys singing and traveling, with Dubai and Switzerland being her favorite destinations. Her favorite food is pizza.