ALLY SHEEDY Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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ALLY SHEEDY

Born June 13, 1962, in New York City to her ad exec father and   
literary agent mother, twelve-year-old Ally Sheedy published a   
children's book, "She Was Nice to Mice", that earned her         
notice in New York City's publishing world. Aside from getting   
offers to pen reviews and articles for "The New York Times,"     
"The Village Voice"and "Ms. Magazine," the pint-size scribe     
was spotted by an agent on a TV appearance to promote her       
book, thereby landing representation and her first experiences   
with showbiz: casting calls for commercials. Aside from         
commercials, Sheedy also appeared off-Broadway and in           
after-school specials.                                           
                                                                 
Surprisingly, acting was not Sheedy's first love. It was         
ballet. But Sheedy found the stringent ballerina diet was not   
to her taste. Fittingly, upon graduating high school, Ally       
Sheedy packed her bags for Hollywood and the University of       
Southern California. She promptly landed roles in such TV       
movies as "Splendor in the Grass" and "Homeroom" and made her   
big-screen debut in the gritty teen prison drama Bad Boys       
(1983) with Sean Penn. That same year, she starred with         
Matthew Broderick in War Games, and the actress followed this   
up with the Rob Lowe vehicle Oxford Blues (1984). 1985 saw       
Sheedy's star shine brightest. She co-starred in both The       
Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire alongside Emilio Estevez,     
Molly Ringwald and others. These films launched the Brat Pack   
phenomenon that would cast a long shadow over all those         
associated with this young crop of actors.                       
                                                                 
Unfortunately, Sheedy's subsequent films proved uneven: Maid     
to Order (1987), The Heart of Dixie (1989) and Man's Best       
Friend (1983) among the least celebrated. In the midst of her   
career slide, Sheedy battled an addiction to prescription       
sleeping pills. Undoubtedly the actress used her life           
experience to nail her part of a drug-addicted New York City     
photographer in 1998's acclaimed High Art. Since 1998 Sheedy     
has put forth lauded performances in several independent         
films. She also starred as the androgynous lead in the           
off-Broadway hit "Hedgewidge and the Angry Inch."