As Joyce Summers, mother to the heroine in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kristine Sutherland was more familiar with doling out maternal advice than spells and curses. But the show wasn’t her first foray into the supernatural: She got her start playing Pegora the witch for the local children’s theatre company while in high school.

After attending university, Kristine traveled to London to study acting at The Drama Studio. New York City beckoned, and Kristine soon got her professional start Off-Broadway and in regional theater. Since then, she has appeared in a number of pilots for television, guest starred on many popular television shows, and appeared in countless commercials and voiceovers. Many children of the 1980s remember her as the next-door neighbor, Mae Thompson, in the hit Disney film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

In 1993, Kristine and her husband, actor John Pankow (cousin Ira, Mad About You), moved to Los Angeles. In 1997, she kicked off a seven-year run as the ever-motherly Joyce Summers on the WB’s cult hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

When her role on Buffy began to wind down, Kristine seized the opportunity to stretch her talents beyond acting and attended the photography program at Santa Monica College. She is currently working on a book documenting rural mountain life in Italy.

Kristine and her family moved back home to New York in 2004 and enjoy taking advantage of everything New York City has to offer. She continues to enjoy guest staring in the many episodic television shows that are shooting in the New York area and working as a portrait photographer. She recently co-starred in the independent film The Perfect Wedding, with James Rebhorn.