Australian actress Poppy Montgomery

Poppy Montgomery is another wonder from Down Under. :-)

Born Poppy Donahue (Montgomery is her mother's name) in Sydney, Australia, she arrived in the United States in 1993 and went to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.  Her determination paid off when she was cast opposite fellow Australian Anthony LaPaglia in "Without a Trace," a CBS drama about the FBI missing persons squad in New York City.  Ms. Montgomery played agent Samantha Spade, her character obviously named in homage to an earlier fictional detective.

  

In 2011 Ms. Montgomery premiered in another CBS show, "Unforgettable," in which she plays detective Carrie Wells, a woman with hyperthymesia, an ability to visually remember everything.  Despite its success, averaging twelve million regular viewers weekly, and despite the presence of actress and real-life hyperthymesiac Marilu Henner as a series consultant, the show was canceled in May 2012.  Its ratings, while the kind of ratings NBC would kill for these days, weren't good enough for first-place CBS.  But a public outcry over the cancellation - and interest from basic cable networks in picking it up - caused CBS to renew "Unforgettable" for a second season in June 2012.  It won't return, though, until the summer (that's right, the summer) of 2013. 

But fans of the show will likely think it's worth the wait.

Fun facts: Poppy Montgomery's father is named Phil - Phil Donahue.  And  if that weren't interesting enough, she has sisters all named for flowers like herself (just like the sisters on the BBC sitcom "Keeping Up Appearances") and a brother named after the rock band Jethro Tull.  Jethro Tull Donahue? You can't make this stuff up. :-D