A tall, poised blonde actress with prior credits in independent film, Joelle Carter made her breakthrough in the spring of 2000, with a supporting turn in Stephen Frears' comedy "High Fidelity" and a regular role on the gritty ABC psychiatric hospital-set drama "Wonderland". Her fresh-faced, all-American good looks and leggy athletic physique combined with her ability to evince confident grace and shy awkwardness with equal aplomb made her an onscreen asset. After a 1996 guest stint on an episode of the New York City-filmed crime drama series "Law & Order", Carter made her feature debut with a bit part in the drama "The Horse Whisperer" (1998). Next she had a starring role in the independent romantic comedy "Just One Time" (also 1998), playing a soon-to-be wed woman who seeks along with her fiance to make their respective menage-a-trois fantasies come to life before the wedding. She brought an unassuming charm to the role, playing a most unlikely sexual adventuress. Carter was featured the following year in the advertising industry satire "Suits", and made a splash as a mysterious stranger who comes to a seaside resort town and enchants everyone she meets in the 2000 Slamdance-screened coming-of-age feature "Swimming". Later that year, the ingenue had her most visible role to that point, with a supporting part alongside such notables as Lili Taylor and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the romantic comedy "High Fidelity", playing one of record store owner Rob Gordon (John Cusack)'s "Top Five All Time Breakups". She played Penny, Rob's remarkably nice high school girlfriend who shuns the teenage boy's advances only to quickly succumb to her next suitor when Rob breaks her heart. As the scarred but successful former golden girl, Carter gave a sweetly funny and memorable performance. Soon after "High Fidelity" bowed in theaters, the actress made her regular series debut, starring as Heather Miles, a neophyte doctor with a unique perspective working in the trenches of a New York City psychiatric hospital in Peter Berg's edgy medical drama "Wonderland" (2000).
Profession(s):
Actor, model
Sometimes Credited As:
2004 Starred opposite Neve Campbell in "When Will I Be Loved?"
2000 Co-starred in the Slamdance screened coming-of-age drama "Swimming"
2000 Played John Cusack's high school ex-girlfriend in the comedy feature "High Fidelity"
2000 Co-starred on the ABC drama "Wonderland" as psychiatric intern Heather Miles
2000 Acted in Griffin Dunne's digital video mockumentary feature "Famous"
1999 Featured in the independent satire feature "Suits"
1998 Made feature debut in bit part in the Robert Redford romance "The Horse Whisperer"
1998 Played a bride-to-be whose fiance wants her to engage in sex with another woman in the festival-screened independent short "Just One Time"; reprised role in 1999 feature version of the same name
1996 Had early acting credit as guest star on NBC's "Law & Order"
Left a full scholarship at Georgia's Augusta College in her sophomore year to pursue modeling in New York
