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Bess Rous is an American actress from Short Hills, New Jersey, best known for her series regular roles in Murder in the First (TNT, 2014) and Other Space (Yahoo! Screen, 2015), and for portraying the ghost Gertrude Aldridge in Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016). A former competitive ice dancer, she holds a BFA from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts and a certificate from the London Academy of Theatre.
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Rous was born and raised in Short Hills, New Jersey. She began ice skating at age 4 and trained as a competitive ice dancer from age 15 to 18 at the Ice Skating Science Development Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.1 After retiring from competitive skating she turned to acting, earning a BFA in Acting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and a certificate from the London Academy of Theatre.1
Early in her stage career she originated roles opposite Mercedes Ruehl at The McCarter Theatre and opposite Ed Harris at The Geffen Playhouse.1
Rous made her first onscreen appearance in 2004 with a guest role on Third Watch, and her feature film debut in the 2008 satirical Hollywood comedy-drama What Just Happened? opposite Robert De Niro.2 She subsequently appeared in The Hungry Ghosts, Darkroom, and Welcome to Happiness.
On television she built a broad resume of guest appearances across network drama and comedy, including Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mad Men, Gossip Girl, Army Wives, The Mentalist, Blue Bloods, Emily Owens M.D., Southland, Castle, Under the Dome (CBS, 3 episodes, 2015), Rosewood, Grey's Anatomy, Chicago Med, Proven Innocent, Deputy, New Amsterdam, and FBI.3
She landed her first series regular role as Ivana West in the TNT mystery-crime drama Murder in the First (2014, 10 episodes, season 1).2 In 2015 she joined Other Space, the short-lived Paul Feig-produced science-fiction comedy series on Yahoo! Screen, as series regular Karen Lipinski.2
Later film and television credits include the horror-comedy Renfield (Universal Pictures, 2023), in which she played Caitlyn,1 and recurring appearances as Sherry Davis in the Max medical drama The Pitt (2025).4
In Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016), Rous portrayed Gertrude Aldridge, the ghost of a former resident of the Aldridge Mansion who murdered the household staff and was subsequently confined to the basement by her family, whose spirit haunts the Aldridge Mansion Museum at the opening of the film.5 To portray the levitating apparition, she wore an LED light suit and was suspended in a rigging system that moved her up and down.6 During one take she unexpectedly screamed, startling Kristen Wiig and others on set.
Rous had a pre-existing working relationship with director Paul Feig through Other Space (2015).2 Several other actors from that production, including Neil Casey, Eugene Cordero, Karan Soni, and Milana Vayntrub, also joined the Ghostbusters cast.7
The Gertrude Aldridge character has continued in Ghostbusters tie-in media. She appears as the boss of the Aldridge Manor level in the Ghostbusters Activision video game (2016 movie tie-in),8 and the character's likeness features on Cover B of IDW Publishing's Ghostbusters: Crossing Over #49 and on the IDW Convention Variant Cover of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Answer the Call.
Rous is certified through the Alzheimer's Association Speaker's Bureau and volunteers educating patients and families affected by Alzheimer's disease.1
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
IMDb, "Bess Rous: Biography," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1581597/bio/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
"Bess Rous," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_Rous ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
TV Guide, "Bess Rous: Credits," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bess-rous/credits/3000904691/ ↩
IMDb, "Bess Rous as Sherry Davis in The Pitt," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31938062/characters/nm1581597/ ↩
Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (Sony Pictures, 2016). Dir. Paul Feig. ↩
The Hollywood Reporter, "Ghostbusters: How the Visual Effects Team Brought Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Back to Life" (2016), https://hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ghostbusters-how-visual-effects-team-911727/ Pete Travers (VFX Supervisor): "This way we had the light reacting to the environment and the actors and the ghost herself. And the Ghostbusters could react to the ghost and not act against a tennis ball." ↩
"Ghostbusters (2016 film)," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(2016_film) ↩
Ghostbusters (Activision, 2016). Aldridge Manor level. ↩
Ghostbusters: Crossing Over #4 (IDW Publishing, June 27, 2018). Cover B. ↩
