Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American screen and stage actress, possibly best 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 to John J. Sheedy, Jr.,[1] a Manhattan-based advertising executive, and Charlotte Baum, a notable press agent who was involved in women's and civil rights movements.[2] Her parents divorced in 1971. She has two siblings, Patrick and Meghan.
Sheedy, who is Jewish,[3] 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.[4] That same year, her mother brought suit against the owners of Zabar's delicatessen for failing to protect her from an attempted sexual assault.[5]

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. 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". Her run was terminated early amid bad reviews.[6]
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 an episode of C.S.I. in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriend's wife while mixed up in an estranged cult. (Leaping Lizards).

Personal life

In 1985 Sheedy was admitted to Hazelden. In the 1990s, Sheedy was treated for sleeping pill addiction, an experience on which she drew for her role as a drug-addicted photographer in High Art.[7]
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.
Sheedy had previously dated actor Eric Stoltz and guitarist Richie Sambora.

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)