Ally Sheedy biography

Synopsis

Early Years

Born Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy on June 13, 1962, in New York City, New York, as the only daughter of John Sheedy, an ad executive, and his wife, Charlotte, a literary agent. Sheedy grew up in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her parents divorced when she was 9 and the young Sheedy, along with brother Patrick, split the week between her parents.

Ally got her taste of fame at a young age. Not as an actress, though, but as a writer. While she was still in grade school she penned a children's book She Was Nice to Mice, which told the tale of an encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and a mouse.

The book, a bestseller, seemed to put Sheedy on a path toward greater literary fame. But Sheedy, who'd begun dancing at a young age, had a greater fondness for the stage. "I was about six when I started dancing and that and acting and performing was all part of one thing for me," a grown-up Sheedy told New York magazine. At the age of 11, Sheedy performed with the American Ballet Theater. By her teens, however, Sheedy had begun devoting more of creative time toward acting, which she'd begun as an offshoot from her earlier book publicity. After graduating high school, Sheedy enrolled at the University of Southern California, where she studied performing arts.

Commercial Success

Following college, Sheedy began to pick up small, but important roles. One of them included a reoccurring appearance on the NBC program, Hill Street Blues. In 1983, she broke into film, playing opposite Sean Penn as his girlfriend in Bad Boys. That same year, Sheedy caught the attention of audiences, again as a girlfriend, this time co-starring with Matthew Broderick in War Games. But it was her role of the moody Allison in the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club (1985) which cemented Sheedy's celebrity.

The film featured an All-Star cast of young talent that included Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, and Molly Ringwald. Journalists dubbed the group the Brat Pack, and for many movie-going teens, the actors came to signify the era's mood and look. That same year, Sheedy had another monster hit, and her first real adult role, in St. Elmo's Fire. For the rest of the decade Sheedy would appear in a string of other films, such as Short Circuit (1986) and Maid to Order (1987).

As the 1990s took shape, Sheedy's career slowed some. She also came to grow tired of California and Hollywood in general. "I saw what reprehensible choices people made in order to be movie stars," she said. "When I got to Hollywood, they told me I couldn't be a movie star with my body. I decided I didn't care.