American actress Amy Louise Acker was born December 5, 1976 in Dallas, Texas. She is the oldest of the four children of Robert Acker and Sandra Bruyere. As a child she studied ballet, modern dance and jazz dance for about 13 years. After having a knee injury when she was in high school, she had to quit ballet and opted to start acting. In 1995 she attended Southern Methodist University and was involved in their recognized theatrical program.
While still in college she started doing some modeling and appeared in a clothing catalog for J Crew. While in college she won the Leon Rabin award for "Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role" for her performance in Therese Raquin. Amy graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1999.
Ackers television role as Winifred "Fred" Burkle and as Burkle/Illyria on the show Angel, allowed her to win the 2003 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television. She was also promoted from guest star to series regular on Alias halfway through the fifth season and was added to the opening credits of the show.
Shortly thereafter, Acker married fellow actor James Carpinello on April 25, 2003. In January of 2005, she had a son, Jackson James Carpinello, and in September of 2006 she had a daughter, Ava Grace. As a former "Angel" star and "Alias" villain, she also appeared on CBS' "How I Met Your Mother."
Amy will be playing Nathan Fillion's wife in the Fox TV show "Drive" which premieres April 15th. Angel trading cards are now on the market with her image and characters, Fred and Illyria. She is also featured on the Angel, Season 4 trading cards with her image and character, Fred and Angel Season 2 trading cards with her image and character, Fred, as well.