Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an
American actress and
fashion model. She is best known for her performance in
Gus Van Sant's 1989
Drugstore Cowboy and her role as Rollergirl in the 1997 film
Boogie Nights directed by
Paul Thomas Anderson.
She has been part of two ensemble casts that have earned
Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (
Boogie Nights and
Bobby).
Early life
Heather Graham was born in , to a family of
Irish descent.
[www.rte.ie/arts/2009/0610/grahamh.html] Her family relocated repeatedly until settling down in when she was nine years old.
[ The eldest of two children, her younger sister, Aimee Graham, is also an actress and writer. Their mother, Joan, is a teacher and noted author of children's books, and father, James Graham, a retired FBI agent.]
She was introduced to acting during the school production of Wizard of Oz. Then while still in school she appeared in numerous television commercials, the sitcom Growing Pains and several television movies. She debuted in the 1988 film License to Drive, which was a teen comedy starring Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. Her strict parents forbade her to appear in the 1989 black comedy Heathers, which had an expletive-rich script.
