Sheryl Lee

In 1992 Lee starred as Salome alongside Al Pacino in the Broadway production of Oscar Wilde's Salome in the Circle in the Square Theatre under the direction of Robert Allan Ackerman. The play co-starred Suzanne Bertish, Esai Morales and Arnold Vosloo.^[12]

1994—2004: Backbeat and Post-Peaks career

In 1994 she was cast as

Lee starred opposite Anthony Michael Hall as the sweet but vengeful housewife Eve Robbins in the 2001 USA Cable movie Hitched.

In 2001 she presented the I Love 1990 segment of the BBC's popular

There is speculation that she (and Phoebe Augustine, who played her friend Ronette in Twin Peaks) appeared in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001). Many online databases even list them as appearing uncredited in the movie, but it's unknown if it's actually them or actresses who look similar to Laura and Ronette, and it has never been confirmed either way.^[13][14]

She played the leading role of Elinore Murphy in Children on Their Birthdays (2002), based on the short story of the same title by Truman Capote. In the 2003 television series Kingpin, she played the role of Marlene Cadena opposite Yancey Arias and Bobby Cannavale.

In 2004 Lee was the original choice for the role of Mary-Alice Young on Desperate Housewives. It would have been the second time she would have played a dead character on a series; however, the producers ultimately chose to replace her with Brenda Strong, as producers thought that Lee was not right for the part.^[15] Strong commented on the casting change for her character, explaining, "I think it was a conceptual shift ... There certainly wasn't something wrong with what [Lee] did. It was just that instead of vanilla they wanted chocolate, and I happened to be chocolate."

2005—present: Return to television and Independent films

In 2005–06, she played the recurring role of

In 2010 she appeared in a supporting role as April in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone (which won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010). The film is about a seventeen-year-old girl (Jennifer Lawrence) in the rural Ozarks, caring for her mentally-ill mother and her younger brother and sister, when she discovers that her father put their house and land up as a bond for a court appearance, at which he failed to appear. Lee won two Awards for Best Ensemble at Detroit Film Critics Society and Gotham Awards, shared with the cast. Lee played Lucie Sliger in the 2011 crime thriller Texas Killing Fields alongside Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Chloë Grace Moretz.

In the art drama thriller White Bird in a Blizzard (2014), written and directed by Gregg Araki, she played May opposite Shailene Woodley and Eva Green. In 2015, at the Twin Peaks UK Festival, Lee confirmed that she would be returning to Twin Peaks for the 2017 limited Showtime run.^[16]

In 2016 she appeared in a supporting role as Air in the

In 2019, Lee returned to Theater, playing alongside Judd Nelson in Love Letters. She performed the play before in 1991 with Luke Perry and Tim Daly as co-stars.^[17]

The 2020 released book Laura's Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks by Courtenay Stallings, which explores the legacy of the fictional character Laura Palmer, played by Lee in the television show Twin Peaks, features interviews and a foreword from Lee.^[18]

Personal life

Lee dated David Duchovny, who was one of her Twin Peaks cast-mates. She was at one time married to Jesse Diamond, a photographer and son of singer and songwriter Neil Diamond.^[19] They have a son, Elijah, born in 2000.^[20]

In 2014, Lee revealed that she had been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called neutropenia.^[20]

Lee is also a Teacher at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.^[21] Together with her former Twin Peaks castmate Gary Hershberger (who played Mike Nelson), Lee teaches actors, directors and writers at their workshop "The Actor's Director Workshop".^[22]

Philanthropy and activism

Lee is an

In October 2008, Lee participated in the 3rd Munchkin's Project Pink annual breast cancer awareness campaign to raise money for breast cancer research.[25]^[26][27]

Additionally, Lee has also participated in various environmentalist events and charities: In November 2000, she attended the premiere of the public awareness campaign Why Are We Here?, to raise awareness for biodiversity protection,^[28] In 2011, Lee attended the iMatter March in Denver, Colorado to raise awareness about climate change,^[29] and also supported the Ride for Renewables project to promote renewable energy.^[30] In December 2011, Lee advocated the protection of wolves and supported the environmental organization WildEarth Guardians' "Wolves in the American West" campaign.^[31]

In September 2012, Lee signed environmental activist Tom Weis' open letter calling on President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney to withdraw their support for the construction of the southern leg of

On December 8, 2012, Lee performed poems written by herself as part of a collaborative performance along with artist Marina DeBris, dancer Maya Gabay, and musician Marla Leigh, for the U.S. National Committee for UN Women's First Annual Special Assembly: Women, Climate Change, and Human Rights.^[33]

Filmography

Film

Television and web

Video games

Music videos

Stage credits

Audiobook

Awards and recognition

References

Further reading

External links

• Sheryl Lee at
  IMDb
• Sheryl Lee at AllMovie
• Sheryl Lee at the American Film Institute catalog
• The Actor's Director Workshop