Amanda Righetti

Biography

Amanda Righetti (born April 4, 1983, in St. George, Utah, United States) is an American actress, producer, and former fashion model. She is best known for portraying Grace Van Pelt in the CBS crime drama television series The Mentalist (2008–2015). She has also gained recognition for her performances in The O.C., North Shore, Reunion, Friday the 13th (2009), and Colony. She grew up in Utah and Nevada as the youngest of eight children and developed an interest in performing arts at an early age.

Righetti began her professional career as a fashion model at the age of 14. After gaining experience in modelling, she moved to Los Angeles at 18 to pursue acting. She made her early television appearances in programmes such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Entourage. Her career gained momentum when she was cast as Hailey Nichol in the popular teen drama The O.C. (2003–2005). She later played Tessa Lewis in North Shore (2004) and Jenna Moretti in the television series Reunion (2005).

In addition to television, Righetti developed a career in films. She appeared in Angel Blade (2002), Pipeline (2007), and Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007), in which she played Ariel Wolfe. In 2008, she was cast as Whitney Miller, the female lead in the horror film Friday the 13th (2009), directed by Marcus Nispel. The film introduced her to a wider international audience and became one of her notable movie appearances.

One of the most important roles of her career came in 2008 when she joined the cast of The Mentalist as Grace Van Pelt, a member of the California Bureau of Investigation team. She appeared as a series regular for six seasons and returned for the seventh-season finale. Her character became an important part of the show's storyline and helped establish her as a familiar face among television audiences.

Her other film credits include Role Models (2008), Wandering Eye (2011), The Chateau Meroux (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), in which she portrayed a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She also appeared in Cats Dancing on Jupiter (2015), Showdown at the Grand (2023), and Reagan (2024), portraying Nelle Reagan in the biographical drama about former US President Ronald Reagan.

From 2016 to 2017, Righetti portrayed Maddie Kenner in the science-fiction drama series Colony, which explored a world under alien occupation. She subsequently appeared in television productions such as Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Love at the Shore (2017), Deranged Granny (2020), Christmas at the Ranch (2021), and Far Haven (2023). She also worked as a producer through her production company, Cottonwood Lane Productions, with credits including Pipeline and Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room.

In 2026, she appeared in the television series Scarpetta, playing the younger version of Dorothy Farinelli alongside Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis. The project marked another significant addition to her television career.