Sheryl Lee, Actress, b. 22 April 1967,
Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany or 1966 in Boulder, Colorado*.
Ah, the dead girl. About time I got around to this.
Sheryl Lee basically made her professional acting debut in Twin Peaks and for several episodes was nothing but a corpse until she found herself playing the dual roles of the deceased Laura Palmer and her look-alike cousin Maddy. Then again, Madeline "Maddy" Ferguson eventually ended up a corpse and Sheryl Lee got to play two corpses for the price of one. A heck of an interesting introduction to the viewing audience.
Not wanting to restrict herself to playing bodies on a slab, Sheryl Lee made her feature film debut in the 1990 film I Love You To Death in which she took a supporting role. Unfortunately for her mental acumen, death was once again a big part of the title and she found herself attached to that stigma again. A brief reprieve occured when she appeared in David Lynch's Wild At Heart in a cameo as Glinda the Good Witch (see the film, I refuse to explain that on grounds that will eventually be clear to you).
Sheryl finally got to play Laura Palmer as a living, breathing human being (overrated concept in my opinion) in the Twin Peaks prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Somehow, she manages to convey more of a message about life as a corpse, haunting the very essence of all those who have encountered her. Laura Palmer as the sum of all fears, of the ideal dragon who walks through walls, as the summation of strength descending into madness, and whatever else I happen to think about Laura Palmer at this very moment...
"What's up, doc?"
In the post Twin Peaks mayhem, Sheryl continued to get roles, entering the mainstream as the German photographer with the seductive nature in Back Beat and then as Helga North in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night.
Still, most of the public has little idea what happened to the actress who portrayed Laura Palmer. She has never become an icon that can outshine what she created along with David Lynch and others in the series that was more powerful and more entertaining than any other ever to appear on television. She was its focal point, and for that, it is difficult to escape the shadows of what cannot be defined. She has made a name for herself in independent films, starring in such movies as Fall Time and Notes From The Underground. She has developed a reputation for appearing nude on camera, but generally in an artistic rather than attention getting way. In a way, one may begin to believe that she has absorbed into the fabric of her being the persona of Laura Palmer and become stronger and more discriminating. She has since appeared in such films as the sexual drama Bliss and the John Carpenter epic Vampires. Could there be any more oddly connected films for she who was Laura?
In my research I came upon an odd bit of trivial information. Sheryl Lee is said to have briefly dated David Duchovny, of The X-Files fame. This may be most interesting when you consider the fact that The X-Files would never have made it to television without Twin Peaks and thus Mr. Duchovny would likely not have been in such a position as to meet Ms. Lee. Thanks to Sheryl Lee and Laura Palmer, shows that broke the sound barrier and pushed the envelope in television entertainment... from the simple half hour or hour escape from our mundane lives into something more relevant on a grander scale... became possible.
*Research at allmovie.com gives me the Boulder evidence.
Research at The Internet Movie Database gives me Germany.
This is way too Laura Palmer for me to get comfortable.
Anyway, some things perhaps are better left a mystery.