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Amanda Wyss

Amanda Wyss has built a film and television career that moves easily between comedy, horror, drama and fantasy. Born on November 24, 1960, in Manhattan Beach, the American actress began appearing in commercials before landing her first television role on When the Whistle Blows in 1980, playing the daughter of Dolph Sweet’s character. Early guest appearances and television films soon gave way to a pair of roles in movies that would remain closely associated with the 1980s. In Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Wyss played Lisa, one of the high-school students in Cameron Crowe’s sharp teen comedy. Two years later, she found her breakthrough role as Tina Gray in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Tina is the first victim killed on screen by Freddy Krueger, placing Wyss at the center of one of the film’s most consequential sequences. Reviewing the movie for The Washington Post, Paul Attanasio praised the younger cast’s “slick performances” and described Wyss as “a teenage Hitchcock blond, a Little League Janet Leigh.” Wyss continued to show her range in 1985, playing Phoebe in Silverado and Beth in Better Off Dead. As Beth, she is the girlfriend whose breakup sends the movie’s main character into depression, a role that lets Wyss serve as both catalyst and comic fixation. Further film work included Celia Kett in To Die For, Rabbit Layton in Powwow Highway, Shakma and Black Magic Woman. She later reprised Celia in Son of Darkness: To Die For II. Television has remained another steady part of her career. Wyss appeared on St. Elsewhere, Cheers, Cagney & Lacey, Charmed, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, Dexter and Major Crimes. She also played reporter Randi McFarland during the first season of Highlander: The Series and had a recurring role as Kat Cooper on Murder in the First. In 2016, she returned to feature horror with The Id, continuing a screen career shaped by memorable genre roles and dependable character work.