Kari Samantha Wuhrer (born April 28, 1967) is an American actress and singer. Wuhrer began her career as a teenager and is best known for her roles as Maggie Beckett in the television series Sliders and as Sheriff Samantha Parker in the horror comedy film Eight Legged Freaks.
Wuhrer was born in Brookfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Karin (née Noble), a payroll accountant, and German American Andrew Wuhrer, a police officer and car salesman. She has three siblings. As a teenager, she sang in nightclubs, sneaking out of the family home to perform. She studied acting from the age of 13 at the Wooster School, then studied drama at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, Columbia University, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts with famed teacher Uta Hagen.