Elisabeth Röhm

Elisabeth Röhm is a German-born American actress best known for her work in television crime drama and genre series. She was born in Düsseldorf, West Germany, on 28 April 1973 and grew up in the United States. Public biographies and film databases identify her early career with a series of television roles before she became widely recognized for playing Detective Kate Lockley on Angel and Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on Law & Order.

Röhm's first major screen visibility came in the late 1990s. She appeared in the soap opera One Life to Live and then joined the cast of Angel, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. As Kate Lockley, she played a Los Angeles police detective whose contact with Angel drew her into the series' supernatural crime world. The role made Röhm familiar to genre television audiences and gave her a regular place in a major network fantasy franchise.

Her best-known television role followed on Law & Order, where she played Serena Southerlyn, an assistant district attorney in the long-running legal drama. Röhm joined the series in 2001 and remained through the mid-2000s, appearing during a period when Law & Order was one of American television's most durable procedural franchises. Southerlyn's work in the courtroom half of the series placed Röhm in stories centered on criminal prosecution, legal ethics and the show's signature case-of-the-week structure.

After Law & Order, Röhm continued to work steadily across television movies, independent films and guest appearances. Her credits include Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, Heroes, The Mentalist, Big Shots, The Client List, Stalker and Jane the Virgin, along with many made-for-television thrillers and dramas. Film and television databases also list roles in projects such as Transit, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, Wish Upon, Trafficked, Blood on Her Name, Sleeping with Danger and Notorious Nick.