Heather Graham facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Heather Graham
Graham in 2011
Born	Heather Joan Graham (1970-01-29) January 29, 1970 (age 55) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Occupation	Actress director
Years active	1984–present

Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. The accolades she has received include nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and an Independent Spirit Award.

After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy License to Drive (1988), followed by the critically acclaimed film Drugstore Cowboy (1989). She then played supporting roles on the television series Twin Peaks (1991), and in films such as Six Degrees of Separation (1993). She gained critical praise for her role as "Rollergirl" in the film Boogie Nights (1997). This led to a major role in the comedy film Bowfinger (1999).

Graham had leading roles in Say It Isn't So (2001) and From Hell (2001), and continued to play supporting roles in the films Mary (2005); At Any Price (2012); and Horns (2013). She has had roles on television series such as Scrubs (2004) and Californication (2014). In 2018, Graham made her directorial debut with the comedy Half Magic.

Graham is a public advocate for Children International and supported the climate change campaign Global Cool in 2007.

Early life

Graham was born on January 29, 1970 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at St. Michaels Hospital, the older of two children. Her family is of "three-quarters Irish" descent, with her father's side from County Cork. Her younger sister Aimee Graham is also an actress and writer. Her mother Joan (née Bransfield) is a teacher and author of children's books, and her father James Graham is a retired FBI agent. She was raised Catholic, but is non-practicing. Her family relocated repeatedly before moving to Agoura Hills, California, when she was nine. She was introduced to acting during a school production of The Wizard of Oz.

After high school, Graham enrolled in extension classes at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied English for two years. Against her parents' wishes, Graham withdrew from UCLA to pursue acting full time.

Career

Early work (1984–1988)

Graham's first film appearance was an uncredited cameo in Mrs. Soffel (1984). Her first credited film appearance was in the television film Student Exchange. In 1986, she appeared on a special "Teen Week" episode of the NBC game show Scrabble. Then she appeared in numerous television commercials, and an episode of the sitcom Growing Pains in 1987. Her first high-profile starring role came in the Corey Haim/Corey Feldman vehicle License to Drive (1988), as a popular girl named Mercedes Lane, who serves as the love interest of Haim's character. Her efforts won her a Young Artist Award nomination in the Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Fantasy category. Her strict parents forbade her to accept a role in the black comedy Heathers (1988), which had an expletive-rich script. The same year, she had an uncredited appearance as Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger's mother in Twins.

Wider industry and public recognition (1997–2003)

Graham's popularity significantly increased after playing in the critically acclaimed film Boogie Nights (1997). The cast received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The same year, she also starred in the Gregg Araki film Nowhere, and had a cameo in the horror hit Scream 2. She was subsequently cast in Two Girls and a Guy (1998), a film mainly based upon dialogue between the characters, shot in 11 days, which co-starred Robert Downey Jr. and Natasha Gregson; and the sci-fi film Lost in Space, which was met with mostly negative reviews, and grossed $69,117,629 domestically on a production budget of $80 million. The cast was signed on for sequels that remain unmade.

She starred as Felicity Shagwell in the sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who *** Me (1999), which was a box-office hit. Shagwell is one of her best-known roles and became a fan favorite. Her turn as Shagwell also earned her a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Actress. She appeared in the music video for Lenny Kravitz's cover of "American Woman". Also in 1999, Graham co-starred as Daisy in the movie Bowfinger, opposite Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy.

The 2000 film Committed was her first starring vehicle. She played Joline, a devoted-beyond-reason young wife looking for the husband who left her. While the film itself received mixed reviews, the Rotten Tomatoes summary of critics felt that "Graham shows she can play a central character", but noted "she's not enough to make Committed successful". The following year, she co-starred as Annie Matthews, an unhappily married woman, in Edward Burns' Sidewalks of New York. In 2002, she starred with Joseph Fiennes in Chen Kaige's English-language debut film Killing Me Softly, which received overwhelmingly negative response from critics and a 0% at Rotten Tomatoes. In 2009, the site also rated it No. 12 on the countdown of the worst films over the last ten years.

Graham's other appearances in mainstream fare include playing Mary Kelly in the film From Hell (2001), starring Johnny Depp; Anger Management (2003), starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson; the Farrelly Brothers comedy Say It Isn't So (2001), opposite Sally Field; The Guru, co-starring Jimi Mistry, and Hope Springs (2003), co-starring Colin Firth.

Focus on independent films and television (2004–2008)

Graham in June 2007

From 2004 to 2008, Graham starred in several independent films Gray Matters, Broken, Adrift in Manhattan (all 2007), and Miss Conception (2008), most of which received generally negative reviews and went largely unnoticed at the box office. Her 2005 film Mary holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, her first "Fresh" film since Bowfinger. The film premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize, as well as three smaller awards. The film also played at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, Deauville Film Festival, and San Sebastián International Film Festival, and co-starred Juliette Binoche, Forest Whitaker, Marion Cotillard, and Matthew Modine. In 2006, she co-starred in Bobby as Angela; the film's cast was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Graham also stated she would be interested in directing in the future if it is "something that, its burning in my mind that I need to do".

On television, Graham was given special guest-star status on nine episodes of Scrubs during its fourth season (2004–2005), and also appeared as George Michael Bluth's ethics teacher in an episode of Arrested Development in 2004. She played Emily Sanders in Emily's Reasons Why Not, but the sitcom was cancelled after airing only one episode.

Activism

Besides her acting work, Graham is also an activist who serves as a public advocate for the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Children International. She stated that what she likes about Children International is that "you are helping a child have a better life. It's great for that child to know that someone who lives in another country cares about them". Graham works with the Cambodian Children's Fund, also an NGO, which provides supplies and education, and campaigns to stop slavery. "There's a lot of human trafficking in Cambodia," Graham has said. "Women are dying because they don't have $15 to give birth in a hospital. The [Children's Fund] provides free education, clean water and healthcare for communities... We're creating future leaders who will be able to help themselves."

In 2007 she supported the climate change campaign Global Cool and appeared in Shekhar Kapur's short film Global Cool alongside Sienna Miller.

In the media

Graham was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People. In 2003, she posed for a photoshoot by photographer Sam Jones during which she was levitated several feet into the air by a magician who later also sawed her in half. Also in 2003, Graham appeared on the cover of Time for an article titled "The Science of Meditation". To promote Emily's Reasons Why Not, she posed for a LIFE cover story, printed weeks in advance of the assumed series schedule, which appeared in the January 27, 2006, issue.

In 2005, Graham became the spokeswoman for the Garnier brand of hair care products.

Personal life

Graham has been estranged from her parents in the past. Regarding the media's perception of her relationship with her parents, she stated: "I don't really like to talk about my parents because I just feel that it gets misinterpreted in the press."

Graham has been practicing transcendental meditation since 1991 after being introduced to it by David Lynch. She has also expressed her dislike of reality television, stating in a 2007 interview: "I think some of it, it seems strange – why do we all want to watch people be so miserable? Other people's pain and misery – it seems kind of sad."

In 1992, Graham dated James Woods, her co-star in the film Diggstown. She later dated British rock star Adam Ant. From 2008 to 2011, she was in a relationship with Israeli screenwriter Yaniv Raz. She also dated Heath Ledger.

She has been dating John de Neufville since 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music video

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Heather Graham para niños