Everything about Ally Sheedy totally explained
Alexandra Elizabeth "Ally" Sheedy (born
June 13,
1962) is an
American screen and
stage actress, as well as the author of two books. She is known for her roles in the "
Brat Pack" films
The Breakfast Club and
St. Elmo's Fire.
Biography
Early life
Sheedy was born in
New York City and has two siblings, Patrick and Meghan. Her mother, Charlotte (
née Baum), was a writer and press agent who was involved in
women's and
civil rights movements, and her father, John J. Sheedy, Jr., was a
Manhattan-based advertising executive. Ally Sheedy's mother was
Jewish and her father was of
Irish Catholic descent. Her parents divorced in 1971.
Sheedy attended
Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City, graduating in 1980. She started dancing with the
American Ballet Theatre at the age of six, and was planning on making it a full-time career. However, she became anorexic and after she developed breasts, she gave up dance in favor of acting full-time. At twelve years old, she wrote a children's book,
She Was Nice to Mice; the book was published by
McGraw-Hill and became a best-seller. On June 19, 1975 she appeared on the game show
To Tell the Truth in her role as young writer. That same year, her mother brought suit against the owners of
Zabar's delicatessen for failing to protect her from an attempted sexual assault.
Career
Sheedy started acting in local stage productions as a teenager. After appearing in several
made-for-television films in
1981, as well as three episodes of the television series
Hill Street Blues, she made her feature film debut in
Bad Boys (
1983), starring
Sean Penn, where she played the humiliated
rape victim girlfriend of Penn's character. The
1980s were her most active period, with roles in popular films such as
WarGames,
The Breakfast Club,
St. Elmo's Fire,
Short Circuit, and
Maid to Order.
Throughout most of the
1990s, Sheedy appeared in many television films.
1998's
High Art, a well-reviewed
independent film about a romance between two women, was an important film in her career. She identified with the character of photographer "Lucy Berliner" so much that she took a plane at her own expense to participate in an audition and has said that this character is the closest one she's played to herself.
In 1999, Sheedy took over the lead role in the
off-Broadway production of
Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She was the first female to play the part of the German
transsexual "Hedwig". Her run was terminated early amid bad reviews.
She was reunited with
Breakfast Club co-star
Anthony Michael Hall when she became a special guest star on his television show
The Dead Zone, in the second-season episode "Playing God" (
2003) where Johnny (Anthony Michael Hall) is reunited with two close friends from high school, one of whom is awaiting a heart transplant and the other (Ally Sheedy) is the donor.
Sheedy has also appeared in the episode
Leaping Lizards of in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriend's wife while mixed up in an estranged cult. On
March 3,
2008, Sheedy was introduced as the character Sarah, in the
ABC Family show
Kyle XY.
Personal life
Sheedy is married to actor
David Lansbury, the nephew of actress
Angela Lansbury and son of Edgar Lansbury, the producer of the original production of
Godspell. The couple have a daughter, Rebecca, born in 1994. Prior to her relationship with Lansbury, Sheedy had dated actor
Eric Stoltz and guitarist
Richie Sambora.
In 1985 Sheedy was admitted to
Hazelden, and in the
1990s was treated for
sleeping pill addiction, an experience on which she drew for her role as a drug-addicted photographer in
High Art.
Filmography
Books
She Was Nice to Mice, McGraw-Hill, 1975, ISBN 0-440-47844-8
, Summit Books, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73130-0
Awards
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Actress (1998) for High Art
Independent Spirit Award: Best Female Lead (1999) for High Art
National Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Actress (1999) for High Art
MTV Movie Awards: Silver Bucket of Excellence Award (2005) for The Breakfast Club (shared with Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall)Further Information
Get more info on 'Ally Sheedy'.
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