Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American actress. Following her film debut in 1983's '' Bad Boys'', she became known as one of the

Brat Pack The ''Brat Pack'' is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. First mentioned in a 1985 ''New York'' magazine article, it is now usually defined as the cast ...

group of actors and starred in '' WarGames'' (1983), ''

The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The ...

'' (1985) and ''

Short Circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circu ...

'' (1986). For her performance in Lisa Cholodenko's '' High Art'' (1998), Sheedy won the

Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead The Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead wass one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding lead performance in an independent film. It was first presented in 1985 with Geraldine Page bein ...

Early life

Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy was born in New York City on June 13, 1962, and has two siblings, brother Patrick and sister Meghan. Her mother, Charlotte (''née'' Baum), is a writer and press agent who was involved in

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

movements, and her father, John J. Sheedy Jr., is a

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

advertising executive. Sheedy's mother is Eastern European Jewish, whereas her father is of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

background. Her maternal grandmother was from

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, Ukraine. Her parents divorced in 1971. She attended the Bank Street School for Children, followed by

Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School ("Columbia Grammar", "Columbia Prep", "CGPS", "Columbia") is the oldest nonsectarian independent school in New York City, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (5 West 93rd Street). The school serves gr ...

in New York City, graduating in 1980. She started dancing with the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

at age six and was planning to make it a full-time career. She gave up dance in favor of acting full time, however, and then started studying acting with acting teacher Harold Guskin. At age 12 she wrote a book, ''She Was Nice to Mice''. The book was published by

McGraw-Hill Education McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referen ...

and became a best-seller. On June 19, 1975, she appeared on the game show '' To Tell the Truth''. At age 18, Sheedy relocated to Los Angeles, California, where she enrolled in the drama department at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. Sheedy concurrently began her acting career and intermittently completed three years' worth of courses toward a BFA degree in acting.

Career

Sheedy started acting in local stage productions as a teenager. After appearing in several television films in 1981, as well as three episodes of the television series ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'', she made her feature film debut in '' Bad Boys'' (1983), starring

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

, wherein she played Penn's humiliated girlfriend. The 1980s were her most active period, with roles in popular films such as '' WarGames'', ''

'', ''

St. Elmo's Fire St. Elmo's fire — also called Witchfire or Witch's Fire — is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal hornHeidorn, K., Weather Element ...

'', ''

'', and '' Maid to Order''. Sheedy starred alongside Radha Mitchell in the 1998 independent film '' High Art'', about a romance between two women and the power of art. Her performance in ''High Art'' was recognized with awards from the

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic gla ...

Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles-based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organiza ...

, and

National Society of Film Critics The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is an American film critic organization. The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States. In January 2014, ...

. In 1999, Sheedy took over the lead role in the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

production of the musical '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch.'' She was the first cis-gender female to play the part of the

genderqueer Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...

Hedwig, but her run ended early amid "mixed" reviews, according to ''

E! News ''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the infotainment, entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and prima ...

''. That same year, she was cast as a lead actress in ''

Sugar Town "Sugar Town" is a song written by songwriter-producer Lee Hazlewood and first recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra in 1966. As a single released under the Reprise label, it peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in Dece ...

'', an independent film that featured an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

of actors and musicians. She was reunited with ''Breakfast Club'' co-star

Anthony Michael Hall Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in '' The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...

when she became a special guest star on his television show '' The Dead Zone'', in the second-season episode "Playing God", from 2003. Sheedy has also appeared in the episode "Leapin' Lizards" of '' C.S.I.'', in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriend's wife while mixed up in a cult. On March 3, 2008, Sheedy was introduced as the character Sarah in the

ABC Family The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...

show ''

Kyle XY ''Kyle XY'' is an American science fiction television series produced by ABC Family. The central character is a teenage boy (Matt Dallas) who awakens naked in a forest outside Seattle, Washington, with no more knowledge or abilities than a newb ...

''. In 2009, she played the role of

Mr. Yang This is a list of characters in the USA Network original comedy-drama TV series ''Psych'' and subsequent movies that were released on Peacock. The principal cast of the series has remained the same throughout the series. However, various recurr ...

on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

television show ''

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened obser ...

'' (in the third-season finale), a role that she reprised in the fourth season, fifth season, and seventh season finales.

Personal life

Sheedy became a vegetarian at the age of 12. Sheedy dated

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John such qu ...

guitarist

Richie Sambora Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...

for less than a year in the 1980s. She stated in ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' that the relationship led her to abuse drugs, a claim Sambora denied. In 1985, Sheedy was admitted to

Hazelden Foundation The Hazelden Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Center City, Minnesota. Hazelden has alcohol and drug treatment facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida, Washington, and New York. It offers assessment and prima ...

and in the 1990s was treated for a

sleeping pill Hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), or soporific drugs, commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of (and umbrella term for) psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep (or surgical anesthesiaWhen used in anesthesi ...

addiction, an experience she drew on for her role as a drug-addicted photographer in '' High Art''. On April 12, 1992, Sheedy married actor David Lansbury, the nephew of actress

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

and son of Edgar Lansbury, the original producer of ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hym ...

''. They have a son, Beckett, born in 1994. Beckett is a

trans man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that inc ...

from whose transition Sheedy says she "learned a lot". In 2008, Sheedy announced that she and Lansbury had filed for divorce. In January 2018, Sheedy tweeted the #MeToo hashtag along with the names of

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...

and

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

, indicating that they have been sexually inappropriate with her, but later took down the tweets. Franco stated that he did not know why Sheedy would have tweeted those accusations.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Books

* ''She Was Nice to Mice'', McGraw-Hill, 1975, * ''Yesterday I Saw the Sun: Poems'', Summit Books, 1991,

References

External links

* * * *
''Salon'' interview
(June 25, 1998)
''New York'' magazine interview
(June 15, 1998)

at the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' (February 17, 1985)
"The Poetry of Ally Sheedy: A Look Back"
(February 24, 2012) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheedy, Ally 1962 births 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York City American female dancers Dancers from New York (state) American film actresses American people of Irish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American stage actresses American television actresses Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School alumni Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead winners Jewish American actresses Living people People from Fire Island, New York USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni 21st-century American Jews