Born and raised in Reno, NV, Mädchen Amick was encouraged by her parents to follow her own creative instincts. Consequently, she learned to play the piano, bass, violin and guitar as well as to do tap, ballet, jazz and modern dancing. In 1987, at the age of 16, she traveled to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. She got her first break when director David Lynch chose her to play waitress "Shelly Johnson" on the TV series Twin Peaks. She had roles in a number of films, including Don't Tell Her It's Me (1990), The Borrower (1991), Sleepwalkers (1992), Dream Lover (1994), French Exit (1995), Wounded (1997), The List (2000), and Face to Face (2001).
In 1995 Amick returned to network TV in the much-publicized CBS dramatic series Central Park West, but the show only lasted one year. Since then, she has gone on to land recurring roles in a number of TV series, including ER, Freddie, Gossip Girl,Californication and My Own Worst Enemy.
Career Highlights: Twin Peaks, Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story, Twin Peaks
First Major Screen Credit: Twin Peaks (1989)
Biography
A student of dance, music and art as a child in Reno, Nevada, Madchen Amick decided to focus on acting as a teenager, and shortly thereafter, she got her major break in David Lynch's innovative TV series Twin Peaks (1990). After moving to L.A. at 16, Amick appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Baywatch, and mounted a small role in The Borrower (1991), John McNaughton's ill-fated gorefest about a roving alien of ere-shifting appearance who rips heads from his victims and uses them as his own. Amick became famous, however, as waitress Shelly Johnson, one of several beautiful young small-town women harboring terrible secrets, on the much-praised and memorably-eccentric Twin Peaks. More a succès d'estime than a long-running hit, Twin Peaks still seemed poised to jump-start the careers of the principal actors, including Amick. Alas, this expectation failed to materialize. Her performance in Lynch's feature/prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), however, became a de facto cameo. Although Amick followed Twin Peaks with starring roles in the Stephen King horror fest Sleepwalkers (1992), and as the femme fatale in the neo-noir Dream Lover (1994), she worked more consistently in B-films, including the romantic comedy French Exit (1995), sci-fi thriller Bombshell (1996) and TV movies such as Love, Cheat and Steal (1993). Amick returned to 1990s series TV twice in two high-profile failures, CBS' Central Park West (1995) and ABC's 1998 edition of Fantasy Island - not exactly high-prestige assignments.
Nevertheless, by the early 2000s, the actress began her ascension to greater prestige and recognition with a few guest appearances on the prime-time dramedy The Gilmore Girls (as Sherry Tinsdale). Circa fall 2007, Amick also landed second billing in the prime-time series drama Viva Laughlin. In that program, the actress plays Natalie Holden, the wife of a young entrepreneur (Lloyd Owen) trying to realize his dream of opening up a casino in Laughlin, Nevada. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
