| BIOGRAPHY
Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and posessing a certain bodacious
je ne sais quoi, Heather Graham has had one of the more inspiring
career trajectories of the 1990s. After debuting in 1988's License
to Drive, which featured the two Coreys (Haim and Feldman) and
little else, Graham worked in relative obscurity for years before
hitting it big in a string of successful films, including Swingers,
Boogie Nights, and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Originally hailing from the Midwest, Graham was born in Milwaukee,
WI, on January 29, 1970. The elder of two girls (younger sister
Aimee is also an actress), Graham led a fairly itinerant childhood
thanks to her father's job with the F.B.I. A quiet, unpopular
girl, by her own account, Graham became interested in acting at
a young age. She had her first role, as Dorothy, in a school production
of The Wizard of Oz and remained active in the theater throughout
high school, winning the title of Most Talented from her peers.
After high school, Graham packed up and headed to Los Angeles,
where she discovered that talented as she may have been, it was
no guarantee of employment. She worked a variety of odd jobs,
including a stint as an usher at the Hollywood Bowl, before making
her 1988 film debut in License to Drive as the object of Corey
Haim's desire. The following year, Graham's career began to travel
in a more auspicious direction when she was cast as a doomed drug
addict in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed Drugstore Cowboy.
Despite winning raves for her performance, stardom eluded Graham,
as her subsequent film roles were largely incidental. However,
she did win a recurring role on the TV series Twin Peaks in 1990,
and the following year, starred in the widely celebrated made-for-TV
movie O Pioneers!.
In 1992, Graham had a supporting role in Diggstown, the most
notable effect of which was a relationship with co-star James
Woods, who was twice her age. After appearing in a few more films
of varying quality (Six Degrees of Separation [1993] at one end
of the spectrum and 1994's Don't Do It, which paired her with
Drugstore boyfriend James LeGros, at the other), the actress finally
got a break with the 1996 hit Swingers, appearing in a small but
memorable role as the girl of Jon Favreau's dreams. The part marked
the beginning of an upswing in Graham's career; in the following
year she had a bit part in the movie-within-a-movie in Scream
2, which led to her inclusion on a Rolling Stone cover featuring
the movie's assorted Hot Young Things, and also had her breakthrough
role in Boogie Nights. As Rollergirl, an underdressed, oversexed,
coke-snorting young porn actress, Graham made an indelible impression
on audiences everywhere.
Unfortunately, Graham's first big-budget undertaking, the 1998
sci-fi film Lost in Space, was swallowed in a deep pit of critical
and commercial quicksand. The actress more than rebounded the
following year, however, earning top billing in two films, the
Steve Martin comedy Bowfinger and the eagerly awaited Austin Powers
sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The same year Graham
earned the 1999 ShoWest convention's Female Star of Tomorrow title,
further assuring what looked like a very bright future for the
young actress. |
FILMOGRAPHY
• Blessed (2004)
• The Guru (2003)
• Hope Springs (2003)
• From Hell (2001)
• Say It Isn't So (2001)
• Sidewalks of New York (2001)
• Committed (2000)
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
• Bowfinger (1999)
• Lost In Space (1998)
• Two Girls and a Guy (1998)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Nowhere (1997)
• Scream 2 (1997)
• Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996)
• Swingers (1996)
• Terrified (1996)
• Desert Winds (1995)
• Don't Do It! (1995)
• Run For Cover (1995)
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)
• The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)
• Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
• Diggstown (1992)
• Guilty as Charged (1992)
• Shout (1991)
• I Love You to Death (1990)
• Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
• License to Drive (1988) |
