Cynthia Ettinger

Cynthia Ettinger is a character actress who has persevered through numerous bit roles in film and on television to achieve the occasional minor glory. Her inauspicious debut as "Dr. Jane's Patient" in the Randy Quaid-starring sci-fi film comedy, "Martians Go Home," was somewhat prophetic in its anonymity. In 1991, she had a bit part in the thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" and another on the sitcom "Seinfeld," her TV debut. Through the late '90s and into 2000, Ettinger's film roles included such characters as "Pretty Woman," "Ticket Agent," and "Crying Neighbor." In 1994, she played a tour guide on an episode of the comic book series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," while in 2001, she was cast as Martha Kent in the pilot episode of another Superman incarnation, "Smallville"; the episode went unaired, and, alas, it was Annette O'Toole who filled the part that would go on to have a decade-long run. But that same year, Ettinger was cast in a relatively significant supporting part in the crime thriller "Frailty," playing the first victim of Bill Paxton's Dad Meiks (Paxton also directed the film). After several more brief TV spots, in 2003, Ettinger was cast as Rita Sue Dreifuss, one of the main ensemble characters on HBO's Dust Bowl-era mystery, "Carnivàle," which lasted 24 episodes over two seasons. In 2006, Ettinger continued the momentum, landing a ten-episode run on another HBO series: the gritty, irreverent historical drama "Deadwood," where she played Claudia.