Madchen Amick was born on December 12, 1970. Amick is an American actress best known for playing Shelly Johnson on the cult TV series Twin Peaks and its 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Amick was born in Reno, Nevada, the daughter of Judy, a medical office manager, and Bill Amick, a musician. Amick's parents are German; the name Mädchen, which means "girl" in German, was chosen by her parents because they wanted an unusual name. As a young girl, Amick was encouraged by her parents to follow her creative instincts. She learned to play the piano, bass, violin and guitar and took lessons in tap, ballet, jazz and modern dance. In 1987, at the age of 16, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.
After moving to L.A., Amick appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as in The Borrower (1991). Amick got her first break when director David Lynch chose her to play waitress Shelly Johnson on the TV series Twin Peaks. Amick's character endured terrible abuse at the hands of her husband, Leo, and was one of the most popular characters, ensuring her return in the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. In 1992, Amick appeared in the Stephen King horror movie Sleepwalkers. She has also appeared in TV movies such as Love, Cheat and Steal (1993). A highlight of Amick's film career is the 1994 feature film Dream Lover, a thriller in which she co-starred with James Spader. Amick also appeared in the romantic comedy French Exit (1995) and the sci-fi thriller Bombshell (1996).
Amick's return to network TV came in the fall of 1995 with the much-publicized CBS dramatic series Central Park West. In 1998, Amick starred in the updated edition of Fantasy Island. Both shows only lasted one season.
After a decade of roles that failed to ignite the publicity Twin Peaks had, Amick gradually became a noticeable face in television with recurring roles on Gilmore Girls, ER, Jake in Progress, and Joey. In 2006, Amick was a regular in the sitcom Freddie which was subsequently cancelled. Amick guest starred in a number of episodes of the serial thriller Kidnapped on NBC, playing a strange and deadly assassin. She also had a recurring role in the second series of Dawson's Creek as the lead character's substitute film studies teacher. In 2007, she had a lead role in the short-lived CBS musical series Viva Laughlin.
She had a recurring role in season 2 of Gossip Girl as Nate Archibald's "cougar" love interest, and she also appears in the second season of the Showtime series Californication. In 2008, Amick appeared as Christian Slater's wife on the NBC series My Own Worst Enemy.
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