Piper Lisa Perabo (/ˈpɛrəboʊ/ (listen); born October 31, 1976) is an American film and television actress. Since her breakthrough role in Coyote Ugly (2000), her films have included Lost and Delirious (2001), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), The Prestige (2006), Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008), and Looper (2012). She portrayed CIA Agent Annie Walker, a lead role on the USA Network spy drama series Covert Affairs (2010–14), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.
Perabo was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Mary Charlotte (née Ulland), a physical therapist, and George William Perabo, a lecturer in poetry at Ocean County College. She is of English, German, and Irish (father) and Norwegian (mother) descent; her surname is sometimes mistakenly described as Portuguese. She grew up in Toms River, New Jersey.
Perabo's parents named her after actress Piper Laurie. She is the eldest of three children with two brothers, Noah (born 1979) and Adam (born 1981). She graduated from Toms River High School North in 1994, and earned a bachelor's degree in theater from Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University in 1998. In 1996, she attended the Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Program. She also studied Latin, physics, and poetry in her final year.