Kathryn Joosten

Kathryn Joosten was an American actress who began performing later in life. Born in Chicago, she first worked as a psychiatric nurse and started in community theater in 1982, when she was 42. She moved to Hollywood in 1995 and took guest parts on many television series, including Roseanne, Seinfeld, Frasier, ER, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. From 1999 to 2002 she played Delores Landingham, the president's secretary, on The West Wing, and she returned in flashback appearances. In 2005 she began playing Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives, a role she held through 2012. For that comedy role she received a pair of Primetime Emmy Awards, one in 2005 and another in 2008, and she was nominated again in 2010 and 2012. Her screen credits also included Wedding Crashers in 2005 and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in 2009, where she played Aunt Jackie.