Biography
Following in the footsteps of her three older actor brothers, Alanna Masterson became a small screen regular when she was cast as zombie survivor Tara Chambler in the comic book adaptation "The Walking Dead" (AMC, 2010- ). Born in Long Island, New York in 1988 but raised in Los Angeles, Masterson became inspired to pursue a career in acting after watching her siblings Jordan, Danny and Christopher on the sets of their respective TV shows, and first appeared on screen as a young Colleen Carlton in daytime soap opera "The Young and the Restless" (CBS, 1973- ) at the age of six. After landing the lead role in "Definitely Maybe," a Peter Krause-scripted comedy which failed to make it past the pilot stage, Masterson appeared alongside Christopher and Jordan in single episodes of sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox, 2000-06) and frat house comedy drama "Greek" (ABC Family, 2007-2011) respectively, before playing George McCarthy's daughter Zoe in sci-fi spin-off "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (Fox, 2008-09) and a teen who falls off a roof while on mushrooms in the long-running "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005- ). Following a seven-episode stint as Abby in high school web series "First Day" (2010), Masterson made her film debut playing Dora Bell Hutchison, a small-town girl who teaches a stranded city boy various life lessons, in indie drama "Peach Plum Pear" (2011), and added to her list of family affairs when she joined Danny in his sitcom "Men at Work" (TBS, 2012-14) as Mopey Hipster Girl. But Masterson's big break arrived in 2013 when she joined the fourth season of horror drama phenomenon "The Walking Dead" (AMC, 2010- ) as Tara Chambler, the former police academy student who joins Rick's group of survivors after defecting from the Governor's murderous crew; Tara was also the show's first-ever openly gay character.
