Megan Ward (born September 24, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her numerous credits in

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and horror

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series. In 2007, she joined the cast of the American daytime drama ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

'' as Kate Howard. She also appeared in the 1990s comedies '' Encino Man'', '' Freaked'', '' PCU'', '' The Brady Bunch Movie'', and '' Joe's Apartment''.

Early life

Ward, born on September 24, 1969, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, is the youngest of four siblings, and her parents were both professional actors and acting coaches. When Ward was four years old in 1973, her family moved to

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. At the age of nine in 1979, she began doing

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

for local

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

s. In her early teens, she went to Japan for modeling jobs and stayed for several years. Having previously learned to speak the language from her schooling in Hawaii, she landed a job hosting a Japanese television show, ''Science Q'', a science TV program broadcast in

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

from 1988 to February 1989.

Career

After graduating from Kaiser High School, Ward moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, and secured roles in science-fiction and comedy movies (including leading roles in

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

's classics '' Crash and Burn'', ''

Trancers II ''Trancers II'' (also released as ''Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth'') is a 1991 American direct-to-video science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Charles Band. It is a sequel to ''Trancers'' and is set six years after t ...

'' and '' Trancers III'' (as Jack Deth's future-wife), '' Arcade'', and the 1993 Tom Stern/ Alex Winter horror/comedy '' Freaked''). She is also well known for playing Robyn Sweeney, the teen crush of Dave (played by Sean Astin), in the 1992 comedy '' Encino Man''. In the mid-1990s, Ward had a recurring role on the show ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...

''. Following the exit of her ''Party of Five'' character, Ward took the lead role in the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

UFO thriller-series '' Dark Skies''. Since the cancellation of ''Dark Skies'', she was appearing in mainly

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

films such as ''Tick Tock'' and ''Mirror Man'' as well as TV series such as '' Summerland'', '' Sports Night'', '' Kevin Hill'', and ''

Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...

'', in which she had a substantial part. She later debuted as Kate Howard on ''

'' on May 4, 2007. Ward was taken off contract in March 2009 and remained on the series as a recurring character. In 2010, Ward was dropped completely from the cast of ''General Hospital''. She made a special guest appearance on the show in 2018. Ward has also made a guest appearance on '' CSI: NY.'' Most recently, Ward portrayed Michelle in the horror-

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

''The Invited'' under the direction of Ryan McKinney.

Personal life

In 1995, Ward married Michael Shore, whom she met in acting class. They have two children, a son named Oliver (born in 2001) and a daughter named Audrey (born in 2006). Issue of February 25, 2008.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Megan 1969 births Living people American television actresses American film actresses Actresses from Hawaii Actors from Honolulu American soap opera actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles