Short Biography

Alexandra Elizabeth "Ally" Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American screen and stage actress, as well as the author of two books. She is known for her roles in the "Brat Pack" films The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo`s Fire. Sheedy was born in New York City and has two siblings, Patrick and Meghan. Her mother, Charlotte (née Baum), was a writer and press agent who was involved in women`s and civil rights movements, and her father, John J. Sheedy, Jr., was a Manhattan-based advertising executive. Ally Sheedy`s mother was Jewish and her father was of Irish Catholic descent. Her parents divorced in 1971. Sheedy attended Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City, graduating in 1980. She started dancing with the American Ballet Theatre at the age of six, and was planning on making it a full-time career. She gave up dance in favor of acting full-time. At twelve years old, she wrote a children`s book, She Was Nice to Mice; the book was published by McGraw-Hill and became a best-seller. On June 19, 1975, she appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth in her role as young writer. Sheedy started acting in local stage productions as a teenager. After appearing in several made-for-television films in 1981, as well as three episodes of the television series Hill Street Blues, she made her feature film debut in Bad Boys (1983), starring Sean Penn, where she played the humiliated rape victim girlfriend of Penn`s character. The 1980s were her most active period, with roles in popular films such as WarGames, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo`s Fire, Short Circuit, and Maid to Order.

On April 12, 1992, Sheedy married actor David Lansbury, the nephew of actress Angela Lansbury and son of Edgar Lansbury, the producer of the original production of Godspell. The couple have a daughter, Rebecca, born in 1994. As of May 2008 however, Sheedy is about to divorce Lansbury. Prior to her relationship with him, Sheedy had dated actor Eric Stoltz and guitarist Richie Sambora. In 1985 Sheedy was admitted to Hazelden, and in the 1990s was treated for sleeping pill addiction, an experience on which she drew for her role as a drug-addicted photographer in High Art.

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