Joelle Carter plays Laura Nagel, the State's Attorney Investigator in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, on the NBC drama "Chicago Justice."

For six years, Carter had a wild ride portraying the sassy and unpredictable Southern belle Ava Crowder on FX's award-winning drama "Justified." It's a role that earned her a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Throughout her versatile career, she has appeared in landmark television shows such as "Grey's Anatomy," as well as "Third Watch" and the controversial series "Wonderland," created by Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights"). Her most recent guest-starring roles include work on "Scandal," "Prime Suspect" and "Body of Proof."

Carter's feature film credits include starring roles in Kevin Greutert's 2014 horror film "Jessabelle"; "The Living," alongside Kenny Wormald; the romantic comedy feature "It's Not You, It's Me," opposite Ross McCall; Phedon Papamichael's "Lost Angeles"; and "To Be Friends," directed by Jim Eckhart and executive produced by Aaron Eckhart. Prior to that, she starred in such cult favorites as "High Fidelity" and "American Pie 2."

In addition to acting, Carter took her turn behind the camera as a co-producer of the award-winning documentary "Altered by Elvis," about lives changed by the king of rock 'n roll. Carter went on to co-produce and star in the short "A Girl and a Gun," which won Best Original Short at the 2008 Washougal (Wash.) International Film Festival. She was honored to attend the 2008 Cannes Film Festival with the short film "Jumping In," in which she starred.

A native of Georgia, Carter currently resides in Los Angeles.