Traylor Elizabeth Howard (born June 14, 1966) is an American actress. Her roles include Sharon Carter on the television series Two Guys and a Girl, and Natalie Teeger on the USA Network series Monk.
Early life
Howard was born in Orlando, Florida to Peggy (née Traylor) and Robert M. Howard, Jr. She is the middle of three children, and has an older brother, John R. Howard, and a younger brother. She attended Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, then graduated from Florida State University with a degree in communications, advertising, and English. She worked at SeaWorld in Orlando as a teenager.
Career
While in middle school, Howard appeared in a Juicy Fruit chewing gum commercial. Howard started her career in 1994 when she appeared in one of the "You Will" series of television commercials for AT&T Corporation.
Howard's first major role in television was the two-season sitcom Boston Common as Joy Byrnes, a doctoral student love interest of Anthony Clark's Boyd Pritchett. Howard's hometown newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, panned the show as "magna cum lousy."
Howard then starred as Sharon Carter, the titular "girl" of the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (titled Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place for the first two seasons) along side Ryan Reynolds, from 1998 to 2001. Like Boston Common, Two Guys and a Girl was set in Boston, Massachusetts. After the third season of Two Guys and a Girl aired, Traylor featured as Jim Carrey's adulterous bride in the full-length movie Me, Myself & Irene.
In 1999 she appeared in the Foo Fighters' music video "Breakout". During the third season of The West Wing, Howard made a guest appearance. She was the romantic lead in the Norm Macdonald film Dirty Work.
In July 2000, Howard appeared in the play How I Fell in Love by playwright Joel Field at the Williamstown Theater Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts. It was reported that actor George Clooney visited Howard during her time at the festival.
In 2002, she starred in the short-lived sitcom Bram & Alice alongside actor Alfred Molina.
Howard's next major role was from 2005 to 2009 as Natalie Teeger, assistant to Tony Shalhoub's Adrian Monk on the USA Network television series Monk.
In March 2023, Traylor was announced as a cast member in an scheduled full-length movie for Peacock, Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, reprising her role as Natalie Teeger. The movie is set to release on December 8, 2023.
Personal life
In 1991, Howard married Cameron B. Hall in Orlando, Florida.The couple then lived in Beverly Hills, California.
In April 2003, Howard married Christian Navarro, a wine merchant. The couple divorced in 2005. In November 2006, Howard gave birth to a son, Sabu.
In 2011, Howard married Jarel Portman (son of John C. Portman Jr.). They have a son, Julien.
In July 2019, Howard was interviewed by Jane Mayer for a New Yorker piece detailing sexual misconduct allegations against former United States Senator Al Franken, with whom she performed on a USO tour in 2005. She defended Franken against misconduct allegations, saying, in part, "I get the whole #MeToo thing, and a whole lot of horrible stuff has happened, and it needed to change. But that's not what was happening here. Franken is a good man."
