Sherilyn Fenn: Encyclopedia II - Sherilyn Fenn - Acting career

Sherilyn Fenn - Acting career

Sherilyn Fenn - Early career

The sultry, feline, versatile Sherilyn Fenn began her career with a number of B-movies including teen-fantasy movie The Wraith (1986), erotic Two Moon Junction (1988, directed by 9½ Weeks' writer/producer Zalman King) or black comedy/film noir Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel (1990, as a seductive femme fatale, opposite Whip Hubley and David Hewlett). She had a small but memorable part in the 1985 teen-comedy Just One of the Guys in which she tries to seduce disguised-as-a-man Joyce Hyser.

Sherilyn Fenn - Rise to fame - Twin Peaks

Fenn won her most outstanding role and made an indelible impression when she was cast by David Lynch and Mark Frost as sexy dreamy Audrey Horne, toxic beauty from critically acclaimed TV series Twin Peaks who falls for Kyle MacLachlan, plays with Dana Ashbrook, seduces Billy Zane, tries to solve Laura Palmer's murder by knotting cherry stems with her tongue and knows how to get what she wants. After shooting Twin Peaks' pilot episode, David Lynch gave her a small but impressive part in Wild at Heart (Golden Palm at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival) as a girl injured in a car wreck, walking with a windshield through her head on Nicolas Cage's and Laura Dern's way.

Sherilyn Fenn - Showing great range in varied films

After two nominations (Emmy and Golden Globe) and a pictorial in Playboy magazine, she was propelled to stardom and was one of America's newest sex symbol. Like Audrey, Sherilyn knows what she wants, and she was determined not to be categorized. She refused to star in a Twin Peaks' Audrey Horne spin-off series, and other roles similar to Audrey. Fenn prefered to turn to the independent world and imposed her old Hollywood stunning beauty (with her lily-white skin, vertiginous boomerang eyebrows, beauty mark next to her left eye, topaz eyes and beautiful brown hair) with many varied roles. In 1992 she played with talent a sad and lonely country wife, desperately in need to talk to somebody in Gary Sinise's film adaptation of Of Mice and Men (nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival) opposite John Malkovich, and made a good imitation of Marilyn Monroe in John Mackenzie's Ruby as stripper Candy Cane DuJean alongside Danny Aiello and Arliss Howard. She also starred in Diary of a Hitman (nominated for the Critics Award at the 1991 Deauville Film Festival) as a mother determined to protect her child from hitman Forest Whitaker, directed by her acting coach Roy London and costarring Sharon Stone ; romantic comedy Three of Hearts (1992) as Kelly Lynch's and William Baldwin's love interest ; and Carl Reiner's spoof detective movie Fatal Instinct (1993) as a funny secretary, opposite Armand Assante, Sean Young and Kate Nelligan. Fenn gave an impressive performance in the much-waited, controversial but disappointing Boxing Helena (nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival) as a narcissistic Venus of Milo, amputated and imprisoned by desperately in love Julian Sands, directed by Lynch's daughter Jennifer Chambers Lynch. After a short break during which she got married and gave birth to her son ("he's the best thing in my life, the best thing I've ever done"), she portrayed in 1995 actress Elizabeth Taylor in NBC's Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story. During the shooting, Fenn fought daily to keep integrity in the script in order to respectfully and accurately portray Taylor. Despite a tiring shooting, she succeeded to aptly portray Taylor.

Sherilyn Fenn - Slow down in her career

Hollywood didn't appreciate her frankness ("when I go to an audition and I don't like the script, they know it") and she began to be more and more uninspired by Hollywood movies. "I was a brat", she admits. "I didn't like anything, even then. It was crazy, I was very picky. In other words, I didn't take advantage of what was happening necessarily then. I was more than a brat. But they also have a way of putting you in a category. I wasn't into playing the Hollywood game. I only responded to certain things." She then began to alternate TV movies and such small independent films as romantic comedies Lovelife (1996, directed by Tru Calling's creator Jon Harmon Feldman) opposite Matt Letscher, Jon Tenney, Saffron Burrows and Carla Gugino, or Just Write (1997) as Hollywood tour bus driver Jeremy Piven's dream actress who mistakes him for a famous screenwriter. In 1998, being tired of Hollywood, she shot in the UK Darkness Falls, in which she gives a good performance as Tim Dutton's unhappy wife, sequestered by despaired Ray Winstone who wants to understand his wife's death.

Sherilyn Fenn - Coming back in TV

Fenn hesitated to settle in London in order to start a European career but came back to star in Showtime's sitcom Rude Awakening (1998-2001) as Billie Frank, an ex-soap actress who wants to become a writer but gets drunk and strips in bars and sleeps with the wrong men, opposite Lynn Redgrave, Jonathan Penner and Mario Van Peebles. In 1999 she starred in her friend Adrian Pasdar's debut feature as director, neo-noir Cement (written by Farscape's screenwriter Justin Monjo) as jealous corrupt cop Chris Penn's too beautiful wife opposite Jeffrey Wright and Henry Czerny. In 2002 she was cast as Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn in WB's Birds of Prey but was replaced by Mia Sara (Fenn played in the unaired pilot episode). She had a small role in the critically acclaimed The United States of Leland (2003) as a woman who represents happiness and joie de vivre to Ryan Gosling. She also played a beautiful criminal in Swindle (2002) opposite undercover cop Tom Sizemore and co-starred in Lesser of Three Evils (2005) alongside Ho Sung Pak and Peter Greene. In 2006 she will star in Whitepaddy alongside Lisa Bonet. Fenn is actually filming Treasure Raiders along with David Carradine.

Sherilyn Fenn - Guest appearances

Sherilyn Fenn guest-starred in numerous TV series like 21 Jump Street (1987, opposite her then-fiancé Johnny Depp) or HBO's Tales from the Crypt (1995, episode "You, murderer") in an episode directed by Robert Zemeckis, as Humphrey Bogart's lover who fights Isabella Rossellini and John Lithgow. In Friends she was Matthew Perry's wooden-legged girlfriend (1997, episode "The one with Phoebe's ex-partner"). She was duplicated in The Outer Limits (2001, episode "Replica") and played a manipulative woman in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2002, episode "Deception", directed by Constantine Makris) opposite Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay. She joined former co-stars Jeremy Piven in Cupid (1998, as Cupid/Piven's love interest), and Mark Harmon (Fenn and Harmon both starred in the gangster TV movie Dillinger) in NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2004). She also had recurrent roles in WB's Dawson's Creek (2002) and Fox's Boston Public (2003-2004) and played two different roles in WB's Gilmore Girls (2003, 2006). In 2005, Fenn appeared on The 4400 and Judging Amy.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Acting career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki