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Ally Sheedy

Ally Sheedy has built a screen career around characters who rarely fit comfortably into the roles expected of them. Born in New York City in 1962 and raised on the Upper West Side, she trained with American Ballet Theatre from childhood into adolescence. Writing came early, too: her novel She Was Nice to Mice was published in 1975, when she was still a teenager, and she later published the poetry collection Yesterday I Saw the Sun. Sheedy began acting in commercials at 15 and moved to Los Angeles at 18, studying drama at the University of Southern California while starting her television career. After early appearances in television movies and series including St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues, she made her film debut in Bad Boys in 1983. WarGames followed that same year, placing her at the center of one of the decade’s defining technology thrillers. Her place in 1980s movie culture was cemented by The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, although Sheedy herself disliked the media’s dismissive “Brat Pack” label. Short Circuit gave her a starring role as Stephanie, who befriends an escaped robot, while films including Twice in a Lifetime, Maid to Order, Fear and Only the Lonely showed a career moving between comedy, drama, romance and genre work. High Art marked a striking later chapter. Sheedy played Lucy Berliner, a heroin-addicted photographer, after actively searching for a role she found interesting and flying to meet writer-director Lisa Cholodenko after reading the script. The performance received honors from the Independent Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. Sheedy later named High Art as her favorite film in her own filmography. Her work has continued across stage and television, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch to recurring appearances as Mr. Yang on Psych and her role as Carol Fink in Single Drunk Female. Alongside acting, Sheedy has taught at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and, since 2022, in the theater department at the City College of New York.