She was not cast, but when Fitzgerald found out that she did not have any representation, she made phone calls on Perabo's behalf and found her an agent. Casting director Denise Fitzgerald spotted her and asked her to read for a part. She was in New York City, visiting her then-boyfriend, and accompanied him to an audition. Perabo was first noticed a year before she graduated from college. She also studied Latin, physics, and poetry in her final year. In 1996, she attended the Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Program. 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. She is the eldest of three children with two brothers, Noah and Adam. Perabo's parents named her after actress Piper Laurie. She is of English, German, and Irish (father) and Norwegian (mother) descent her surname is sometimes mistakenly described as Portuguese.

Perabo is the daughter of Mary Charlotte (née Ulland), a physical therapist, and George William Perabo, a lecturer in poetry at Ocean County College. Following her breakthrough in the comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly (2000), she starred in The Prestige (2006), Angel Has Fallen (2019), and as CIA agent Annie Walker in the USA Network spy drama series Covert Affairs (2010–2014), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Piper Lisa Perabo ( / ˈ p ɛr ə b oʊ/ ( listen) born October 31, 1976) is an American actress.

Your Voice, Your Vote by Leah Henderson