Heather Graham
Heather Graham
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Heather Graham

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) and Swingers (1996). She gained critical praise for her role as "Rollergirl" in the film Boogie Nights (1997). This led to major roles in the comedy films Bowfinger and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (both 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); The Hangover (2009) and its sequel, The Hangover Part III (2013); 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.

Graham was born in Milwaukee. The elder of two children, 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. 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.[citation needed]

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.

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 flashbacks in their film, Twins.

In 1989, Graham was featured in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy as Nadine, a young, drug-addicted accomplice of the two main characters (played by Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch). Her performance gave her career an initial boost and earned her a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress. She rejected a steady role in a soap opera and a three-picture deal with a major studio because she thought it would be too restrictive. After Drugstore Cowboy, she appeared in Lawrence Kasdan's dark comedy I Love You to Death (1990), alongside William Hurt and Keanu Reeves, and the rock-and-roll coming-of-age film Shout (1991), for which she received a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Actress Starring in a Motion Picture.

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