Abigail Leigh Spencer, born August 4, 1981, is an American actress known for her recurring roles on Mad Men and Suits, and for starring in the series Rectify and Timeless.  She began her career on the ABC daytime television soap opera All My Children, playing Rebecca Tyree from 1999 to 2001, before going on to star in the short-lived Lifetime crime drama series Angela’s Eyes. Take a look below for 28 more interesting and fascinating facts about Abigail Spencer.

1. From 2013 to 2016, Spencer starred as Amantha Holden in the SundanceTV drama series Rectify, for which she received a Critic’s Choice Television Award nomination.

2. In 2016, Spencer began playing the leading role of history professor Lucy Preston in the NBC series Timeless.

3. She was born and raised in Gulf Breeze, Florida, the daughter of Lydia Ann and surfer Yancy Spencer III.

4. She has two brothers, Yancy Spencer IV and Sterling Spencer.

5. Spencer has stated that she is part Cherokee.

6. Spencer is close friends with One Tree Hill actress Bethany Joy Lenz.

7. She gave birth to her first child at the age of 27, a son named Roman Allen Pruett on September 19, 2008. The child’s father is her ex-husband, Andrew Pruett.

8. She was born on the same day as her Suits co-star Meghan Markle, which is August 4, 1981.

9. She attributes her professional career breakthrough to “fairy godmother” Kathie Lee Gifford who, as a teenager, was hopelessly in love with a 19 year old professional surfer Yancy Spencer, who is Abigail’s father. When Abigail turned 17, her dad called Kathie Lee asking if Abby and her mother Lydia could attend a broadcast of Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, a request that was immediately granted. After the broadcast, Abby and Lydia were invited backstage to meet Kathie Lee and when Lee learned that Abby wanted to be an actress, she made a call to ABC TV casting and a meeting was arranged for the young Abby who, soon after, landed the role of Rebecca on All My Children in June 1999. While still trying to get on her feet, Abby spent three months as a live in “nanny” for Kathie Lee at her New York residence.

10. One of her father’s brothers, John S. Spencer, is the pastor of a Christian church, Calvary Chapel Gulf Breeze. His other brother, J.B. Schluter Spencer, is a Gulf Breeze, a Florida City Council member.

11. Through her Spencer ancestry, she’s distantly related to Jersey Boys actor John Lloyd Young as well as Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Henry. They all descend from the same titled Spencer family.

12. She attended her friend Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Royal Wedding at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, England.

13. Spencer’s first major acting role was playing Rebecca “Becca” Tyree on ABC soap opera All My Children from June 3, 1999, to April 10, 2001.

14. She starred in Lifetime Television original series Angela’s Eyes, which was cancelled on December 1, 2006.

15. She played guest roles on television series such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, How I Met Your Mother, Private Practice and Castle.

16. Spencer played the role of a blogging enthusiast in Twix advertisements, and portrayed Miss Farrell, a love interest of Don Draper’s, on AMC’s Mad Men in 2009.

17. In 2011, she landed the lead role on ABC drama pilot Grace by Krista Vernoff.

18. Spencer appeared in a recurring role as Dr. Erin Jameson on the TNT series Hawthorne in 2010, and since 2011 has had a recurring role as Dana “Scottie” Scott, Gabriel Macht’s character’s old rival, on the USA Network legal drama Suits.

19. Spencer has appeared in several movies, including In My Sleep, Cowboys & Aliens, This Means War, and Chasing Mavericks.

20. She played the lead role in The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia.

21. In 2013, she appeared in the fantasy adventure movie Oz the Great and Powerful, directed by Sam Raimi.

22. She was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her performance in the Rectify series.

23. Spencer played the lead role in the indie drama A Beautiful Now, written by Daniela Amavia, about a passionate dancer who finds herself considering an extreme act when she reaches a crossroads in her life.

24. She was nominated for a Madrid International Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Beautiful Now.

25. In 2014, Spencer appeared opposite Jason Bateman in This Is Where I Leave You, an ensemble comedy directed by Shawn Levy, and starred with John Travolta and Christopher Plummer in The Forger.

26. In October 2014, Spencer joined the cast of the second season of the HBO crime drama series, True Detective.

27. In 2016, Spencer was cast as the lead character, Lucy Preston, in the NBC series Timeless, where she plays a history professor sent on time travel missions to different eras in an effort to prevent others from disrupting the U.S. related timestream.

28. Spencer married Andrew Pruett in 2004 and filed for divorce in February 2012.