Heather Graham Biography

Blue-eyed and angelic, with delicate doll-like features and long wavy mermaid blonde hair, actress Heather Graham has often played the bad girl who steals the audience’s heart, her innocent looks in juxtaposition with her onscreen antics helping to make her an unpredictable and especially compelling presence. After debuting with a strong performance as a drunken dream girl in 1988′s silly “License to Drive” (a vehicle for the Coreys—Feldman and Haim), Graham was hired by director Gus Van Sant for his gripping “Drugstore Cowboy” (1989). Her performance as a young and doomed addict won praise and notice for this veteran of small TV parts (e.g., two 1987 episodes of the ABC sitcom “Growing Pains”) as well as a Best Actress nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards. The following year saw Graham take on the recurring role of Annie, an ex-nun who becomes the love interest of Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper, in David Lynch’s always strange series “Twin Peaks” (ABC). In 1991, she took on a more conventional role as a college student with parental difficulties in the unimpressive 1950s set musical drama “Shout”. She returned to television that year with a starring role alongside Josh Hamilton and Anne Heche, as the young version of Jessica Lange’s character in “O Pioneers!” for CBS. After reprising her role of Annie in the incoherent “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” (1992) the actress appeared in “Diggstown” (also 1992) and “Six Degrees of Separation” (1993), both roles playing up Graham’s fresh-faced innocence. She went on to bide her time in features like the poorly received “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and the little-seen independent drama “Desert Winds” (both 1994).

Graham had a small part in the acclaimed “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” (also 1994), and took the starring role in the direct-to-video release “Toughguy/Terrified” (1995), before offering a memorable supporting turn as Lorraine, a swing dancing beauty who is able to pull Jon Favreau’s heartbroken Mike out of his funk in 1996′s “Swingers”. This role helped to re-establish Graham, who was next seen in 1997′s celebrated “Boogie Nights” as Rollergirl, a young porn star who is never without her skates. Graham’s energetic portrayal of Rollergirl, the ‘daughter’ of the film’s surrogate family setup, conveyed a surprising and touching innocence and humor, with her uncharacteristic brutal attack on a high school tormentor near the film’s end serving as a particularly well-acted dramatic highlight. She followed this attention-grabbing performance with a cameo in “Scream 2″, playing Drew Barrymore’s character from the original in “Stab”, the slasher film-within-a-slasher film. Also in 1997, Graham co-starred with Natasha Gregson Wagner and Robert Downey Jr. in “Two Girls and a Guy”, a real-time look at a wandering boyfriend, and the confrontation between him and two of his misled lovers. She was a shining part of the otherwise disappointing film, and the eye-flashing ferocity unleashed in her scenes with Downey proved her more than just a pretty face.

After the overt sexuality of her last two starring efforts, Graham went studious as Dr. Judy Robinson in the feature adaptation of “Lost in Space” (1998), spurning the advances of Matt LeBlanc and outfitted from wrist to ankle in modest astro-jumpsuits. In 1999 she reached her largest audience, co-starring as Felicity Shagwell, 1960s CIA agent in the blockbuster sequel “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”. Decked out in risqué mod-meets-flower child gear and purring memorably cheeky lines such as “Shagwell by name, shag very well by reputation”, Graham’s sweet and sultry presence was the perfect swinging counterpart to Mike Myers’ Powers. She followed up with a role in the comedy “Bowfinger” (also 1999), starring alongside Steve Martin (who also penned the script) and Eddie Murphy as a young Hollywood hopeful, fresh from Ohio who dates her way to the top, only to break the heart of her last conquest (Martin) when she leaves him to cash in on the precarious lesbian chic with a powerful Tinseltown woman. Her character’s similarity to Graham’s previous co-star (and Martin’s former love interest) Anne Heche sparked much speculation. In 2000, Graham starred opposite Luke Wilson as an abandoned wife on a mission to keep her vows, seeking out her husband on a whirlwind road trip in “Committed”, a film featuring a cast with dozens of young up and coming actors and hip musicians.

Graham proved to be solid in 2001, starring in the indie romantic comedy “Sidewalks of New York” opposite Ed Burns. Also in 2001, perhaps unwisely, Graham jumped on the teen gross-out train with the gigantic flop “Say It Isn’t So.” While the movie was produced by the legendary Farrelly brothers, it lacked any kind of a comic spark and was one of a few disasters signaling the end of the repulsive comedy genre. Graham’s reputation, however, remained intact after this small misstep, and she was cast as Whitechapel prostitute Mary Kelly in the Hughes brothers’ film adaptation of the Jack the Ripper comic book “From Hell” (2001) opposite Johnny Deep. The actress equated herself well, although saddled with a faux British accent and improbably ravishing for a destitute whore in 1880s London.

She next starred in the middling erotic thriller “Killing Me Softly” (2002)opposite Joseph Fiennes, baring much of her body as a woman involved in a kinky affair with a mysterious man; and co-starred in the Indian-themed romantic comedy “The Guru” (2003), with up-and-coming actor Jimi Mistry, where she was cast again as a porn star—although this role was much lighter in tone. She then played a nice, normal girl caught in a romantic triangle between Colin Firth and Minnie Driver in “Hope Springs” (2003) and played a bar patron with a surprising private side caught up in the battle of wills between Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler in an uncredited turn in “Anger Management” (2003). Graham next starred in the Bollywood-esque romantic comedy, “The Guru” (2003), playing an adult film star whose affections are sought by an Indian dance teacher (Jimi Mistry) seeking his fame and fortune in America.

Graham was able to reheat her career when she signed for an eight episode stint on NBC’s cult hit sit-com “Scrubs” in 2004. Appearing as the charmingly off-kilter, fast-talking psychologist Molly Clock, she reminded viewers of her comedic abilities and willingness to whatever it takes to sell a joke. After appearing in an episode of the perpetually uncertain “Arrested Development” (Fox, 2003-2006), Graham landed her own sitcom, “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” (ABC, 2005-2006), playing a book publisher with a string of disastrous relationships who develops a technique to determine suitable men, but is incapable of following her own advice. The network promoted the series relentlessly, running television commercials and hoisting billboard ads as if it were the only show on their slate. The show, however, was canceled its the first episode because of poor ratings. Adding embarrassment to failure, Graham was featured in a cover story of Life magazine calling her “TV’s sexiest star” and touting her new show just days after the cancellation announcement—too late to change once the magazine had already gone to print.

• Born:
  on 01/29/1970 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Job Titles:
  Actor, File clerk, Usher (at the Hollywood Bowl)

Family

• Sister: Aimee Graham. younger; appeared in “Jackie Brown” (1997)

Significant Others

• Companion: Chris Weitz. dating as of January 2003
• Companion: Edward Burns. dated from 1998 to June 2000
• Companion: Elias Koteas.
• Companion: Elijah Blue Allman. born in 1976; reported to be dating as of fall 2001
• Companion: Heath Ledger. dated from October 2000 to June 2001
• Companion: James Woods. dated for six-months after they met on the set of “Diggstown” (1992)
• Companion: Jason Falkner.
• Companion: Kyle MacLachlan. dated when they worked together on “Twin Peaks”
• Companion: Stephen Hopkins. met during the filming of “Lost in Space”; broke up in 1998

Education

• University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, English

Milestones

• 1974 Moved with her family from Wisconsin to Virginia at age four (date approximate)
• 1979 Moved with her family from Virginia to Southern California (date approximate)
• 1987 Guest starred on two episodes of “Growing Pains” (ABC)
• 1988 Starred in the teen comedy “License to Drive”
• 1989 Gave an acclaimed co-starring performance in Gus Van Sant’s “Drugstore Cowboy”
• 1990 Had regular role of Annie, a former nun involved with Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper, on the ABC series “Twin Peaks”
• 1991 Had a featured role in the 1950s set musical “Shout”
• 1992 Appeared in the CBS TV-movie “O Pioneers!” as a young version of Jessica Lange’s character Alexandra Bergson
• 1992 Co-starred in “Diggstown”, a film starring James Woods and Louis Gossett Jr billed as “Rocky” meets “The Sting”
• 1992 Played a parole officer in “Guilty as Charged”
• 1992 Reprised role of Annie in the feature “Twin Peaks; Fire Walk with Me”
• 1993 Was featured as half of a Midwestern couple taken in by con man Will Smith in “Six Degrees of Separation”
• 1994 Appeared in “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle”
• 1994 Reteamed with Van Sant for the poorly received “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”
• 1994 Starred in the independent drama “Desert Winds”
• 1995 Starred in the direct-to-video release “Toughguy/Terrified”
• 1996 Offered memorable supporting turn as Jon Favreau’s dream girl in “Swingers”
• 1997 Cast as Rollergirl, a teenaged member of the extended family of adult film actors, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s celebrated “Boogie Nights”
• 1997 Had leading role opposite Robert Downey Jr and Natasha Gregson Wagner in “Two Girls and a Guy”
• 1997 Played Drew Barrymore’s character in “Stab”, the film-within-a-film featured in “Scream 2″
• 1998 Cast as Judy Robinson in the feature version of “Lost in Space”
• 1999 Co-starred as 1960s CIA agent Felicity Shagwell in the sequel “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”
• 1999 Was featured as an ambitious starlet in “Bowfinger”, a Hollywood satire starring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy
• 2000 Starred as an abandoned wife on a mission to find and reclaim her husband in the road movie “Committed”
• 2001 Cast as a slightly dizzy blonde who falls in love with a man she later comes to think is her long-lost brother in the oddball comedy “Say It Isn’t So”
• 2001 Co-starred with Johnny Depp in “From Hell”, playing an Irish prostitute targeted by Jack the Ripper
• 2001 Had romantic lead opposite one-time boyfriend Edward Burns in “Sidewalks of New York”
• 2002 Appeared opposite Joseph Fiennes in the erotically charged romance “Killing Me Softly”
• 2003 Co-starred in the romantic comedy “The Guru”
• 2004 Will star as an attending psychiatrist in an eight-episode guest-starring role on NBC’s “Scrubs”
• 2006 Made her television series debut in the short-lived “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” (ABC); show aired only one episode