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Delia Sheppard

Delia Sheppard’s screen presence grew out of a career built on movement, performance and an ability to shift between very different stages. Born in Copenhagen on July 29, 1960, she began studying ballet at nine and later performed in Denmark, France and South Africa. Her dance work included engagements with the Royal Danish Ballet, the Paris Opera and the Lido de Paris. France also gave Sheppard room to explore other sides of her career. She worked as a fashion model for Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Dior and Jean-Paul Gaultier, and in 1985 released a two-track single titled “Action.” That combination of ballet training, fashion work and live entertainment would shape the poised, physically assured quality she later brought to the screen. After a back injury, Sheppard moved to Hollywood to pursue acting. Her film appearances include the boxing sequel Rocky V, Oliver Stone’s football drama Any Given Sunday, and the erotic thrillers Mirror Images and Night Rhythms. She also made guest appearances on television series including Northern Exposure and Night Court. Her work in erotic thrillers placed her within a distinct direct-to-video corner of 1990s Hollywood; in the 2005 book The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema, Linda Ruth Williams discussed Sheppard and Kira Reed as actresses whose showgirl backgrounds led into that field. Sheppard was Penthouse magazine’s Pet of the Month in April 1988, another part of a career that has crossed modeling, dance and adult-oriented screen work. She later returned to live performance as a Las Vegas showgirl, appearing in productions including Splash and Showgirl Follies, Life in Feathers and Rhinestones. Across those varied settings, the consistent thread is performance itself: a career moving from classical ballet and Paris fashion to Hollywood films, television and the elaborate spectacle of the Las Vegas stage.