Ally Sheedy

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,^[1] and her father, John J. Sheedy, Jr., was a Manhattan-based advertising executive.^[2][3] Ally Sheedy's mother was Jewish and her father was of Irish Catholic descent.^[4] 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. 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.^[5] That same year, her mother brought suit against the owners of Zabar's delicatessen for failing to protect her from an attempted sexual assault.^[6]

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 has 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," but her run ended early amid bad reviews.^[7]

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," from 2003, where Johnny (Anthony Michael Hall) is reunited with two close friends from high school, the one of whom is awaiting a heart transplant and the other of whom (Sheedy) is the donor.

Sheedy has also appeared in the episode ""Leapin' Lizards" of C.S.I. in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriend's wife while mixed up in a cult. On March 3, 2008, Sheedy was introduced as the character Sarah, in the ABC Family show Kyle XY. In 2009 she played the role of the Yin Yang killer on the USA tv show Psych.

Personal life

On April 12, 1992, Sheedy married 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. As of May 2008 however, Sheedy is about to divorce Lansbury.^[8] Prior to her relationship with him, 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.^[9]

Filmography

• The Best Little Girl in the World (1981) as First Girl
• WarGames (1983) as Jennifer Katherine Mack
• Bad Boys (1983) as J.C. Walenski
• Deadly Lessons (1983) as Marita Armstrong
• Oxford Blues (1984) as Rona
• Twice in a Lifetime (1985) as Helen
• St. Elmo's Fire (1985) as Leslie Hunter
• The Breakfast Club (1985) as Allison Reynolds
• Short Circuit (1986) as Stephanie Speck
• Blue City (1986) as Annie Rayford
• Maid to Order (1987) as Jessie Montgomery
• Short Circuit 2 (1988) as Stephanie (voice cameo)
• Heart of Dixie (1989) as Maggie
• Fear (1990) as Cayce Bridges
• Betsy's Wedding (1990) as Connie Hopper
• Only the Lonely (1991) as Theresa Luna
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) as NY Ticket Agent (cameo)
• Man's Best Friend (1993) as Lori Tanner
• Buried Alive II (1997) as Laura Riskin
• Amnesia (1997) as Martha Keller
• Macon County Jail (1997) as Susan
• High Art (1998) as Lucy
• I'll Take You There (1999) as Bernice
• Shelter Island (2003) as Louise 'Lou' Delamere
• Day Zero (2006) as Dr. Reynolds
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2007) as Shannon Turner
• The Junior Defenders (2007) as Jill Fields
• Steam (2007) as Laurie
• Kyle XY (2008) as Sarah
• Harold (2008) as Maureen
• Psych (2009) as Mr. Yang

Books

• She Was Nice to Mice, McGraw-Hill, 1975, ISBN 0-440-47844-8
• Yesterday I Saw the Sun: Poems, 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)

References

External links

• Ally Sheedy at the Internet Movie Database
• Ally Sheedy at TV.com
• Salon Entertainment interview (June 25, 1998)
• New York Magazine interview (June 15, 1998)
• "Breakfast Club" cast interview at the Chicago Tribune (February 17, 1985)