Dungey was born and raised in Sacramento, California, the younger daughter of Don Dungey, a general services manager and Judith Dungey. As a child, she was active in ballet and dance as well as piano. Dungey was also an accomplished ice skater. Dungey graduated in 1989 from Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California. After high school, Dungey earned a degree of Bachelor of Arts from UCLA in 1993. Dungey has one sister, Channing Dungey, who was named president of ABC Entertainment in February 2016.

Dungey had small roles in Hollywood films such as EDtv and Deep Impact and on television series such as Martin, before landing the recurring role of Kelly Palmer on the CBS television series The King of Queens, in which she starred from 1999 to 2007. She appeared in every season in the series except for the 2002-03 season. Dungey is also well known for her role as Francie Calfo on the drama series Alias, in which she starred from 2001 to 2003, as well as an appearance in the 2006 series finale episode All the Time in the World. She also had a recurring role on the FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle as Stevie’s mother, Kitty Kernaban. At one point in 2001, Dungey was appearing in all three shows (The King of Queens, Malcolm in the Middle, and Alias) at the same time. Dungey then portrayed Susannah in the WB drama series Summerland from 2004 to 2005. She has also guest-starred on various TV series including Living Single, ER, Murphy Brown, Seinfeld, Friends, The West Wing, Babylon 5, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Dungey appeared in two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy that served as a backdoor pilot for Private Practice, but was replaced by actress Audra McDonald for the actual series.

Dungey is married to Matthew Drake. They married in a Mariachi-style wedding ceremony in Cancun, Mexico, in May 2007. Dungey gave birth to their first daughter in June 2008, and a second daughter in 2011.

Most recently, Dungey guest-starred on the ABC sitcoms Surviving Suburbia starring Bob Saget, Better Off Ted starring Portia de Rossi, Castle starring Nathan Fillion and HBO’s Hung starring Thomas Jane. She portrayed Ellie on the Nick at Nite television series Hollywood Heights in 2012 and the recurring role of Alissa Barnes on ABC’s Betrayal in 2013. In 2014 she appeared in a featured role opposite Pierce Brosnan in Some Kind of Beautiful. Also in 2014 she began portraying the recurring roles of Ursula on ABC’s Once Upon a Time and Sharon Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Dungey played investigator Maxine Bohen on the ABC legal drama Conviction from October 2016 to May 2017. In September 2017, she joined the cast of the medical drama The Resident as Claire Thorpe. Dungey will next appear as C.J. Bernstein in the ABC legal drama The Fix.