Ellen D. Williams grew up Santa Monica, Ca. She started performing at a very young age in regional theatre and landed her first professional role in a cult musical that was produced by well known producer Cameron Mackintosh. She received her B.A. in theatre performance from California State University, Long Beach. After college, Williams lived in Seattle for a number of years and performed throughout the city and traveled around the Northwest performing in an educational theatre troupe. After returning to Los Angeles, Williams continued doing more theatre and in 2009 was nominated "Leading Female Performance" for her work in Ruby, Tragically Rotund by the LA Weekly. Most recently she has become known for her work as Patrice, Robin Scherbatsky's arch nemesis, in the hit CBS television show, How I Met Your Mother. She resides in Los Angeles.