Here's What You Need to Know About Resident Alien's Edi Patterson: Actor, Comedian & More
Here's where you may have seen Heather, a Blue Avian alien, before (in human form, of course).
Harry Vanderspeigle is not the only alien in Patience, Colorado — and Alan Tudyk is not the only funny actor on Resident Alien. In Season 3 of the show, which airs on USA Network and SYFY, Heather, a Blue Avian alien, entered through a portal and instantly became the object of Harry's affections. Season 4 sees her return in Episode 3, in which she reunites with a powerless Harry and reveals their six chittering, big-eyed children.
Surprise, Harry, you are the father! Even if Heather is no longer your cup of cow's milk...
Avian appearance aside, Heather fits seamlessly into the series, and so does the actress who plays her, Edi Patterson. Patterson, who continues to appear on Resident Alien, has been acting in TV and movies for years but has become much more prominent in the past decade, having featured in two hit HBO comedies and a couple notable films. Now that Heather is back for Season 4, here's everything you need to know about the actress who plays her.
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Edi Patterson's Early Life & Career
Edi Patterson was born on September 19, 1974, in Texas City, Texas, to Jeanne and Dennis Patterson. Her parents were a teacher and a plumber, respectively. In 1997, Patterson graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a B.A. in theater, and shortly after, she began doing improv for Theatresports in Austin. She also worked with the famous improv troupe The Groundlings.
While getting her start in comedy, Patterson was also beginning to take acting roles. In the late '90s, she did a bit of dubbing for English-language releases of a few anime films, and in 2001, she made her onscreen debut in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Edi Patterson's TV Career
Edi Patterson's first notable role came in 2006 when she appeared in the raunchy Showtime sketch comedy show The Underground, which ran for 11 episodes. After that, she spent the next several years popping up here or there for an episode of shows like Weeds, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 2 Broke Girls, and Californication. Her next big role was in Partners, a sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence as two Chicago lawyers that aired on FX for one season in 2014. Patterson played Veronica, an investigator for the firm.
Patterson had big breakthroughs shortly after. She was a writer on the Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears, and she also provided a bunch of voices to the animated show. In 2016, she was cast in Vice Principals, Danny McBride's foul-mouthed follow-up to his HBO comedy series Eastbound and Down. As Jen Abbott, a civics teacher with a crush on McBride's character, Patterson is hilarious and deranged, and the experience working together for the show's two seasons helped Patterson get a leading role in McBride's next HBO show, The Righteous Gemstones. Patterson played Judy Gemstone for all four seasons of the show, doing some tour-de-force comedy acting as the middle child and only daughter of televangelist and megachurch pastor Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). Patterson also served as a writer on the series.
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Other recent TV roles of Patterson's include voice roles in The Simpsons, Fairfax, The Great North, and Harley Quinn. She made her debut in Resident Alien in 2024 (and, yes, that is really her wearing Blue Avian prosthetics).
Edi Patterson's Movie Career
Although primarily known for her TV roles thanks to the two HBO comedies and her many voice acting gigs, Patterson has been in a bunch of movies, too. Most notably, Patterson appeared in Rian Johnson's whodunit Knives Out in 2019, playing Fran, Harlan Thrombey's ill-fated housekeeper.
Some of Patterson's other film credits include Between Two Ferns: The Movie, Plan B, Violent Night, Thelma the Unicorn, and Nutcrackers.
Season 4 of Resident Alien drops new episodes on Fridays on USA Network and SYFY. All episodes will be available to stream exclusively on Peacock one week after they air.
