While at New York's Bank Street School, 12-year-old Ally Sheedy wrote about a mythical encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and an inquisitive mouse. The result, "She Was Nice to Mice", was published by McGraw-Hill and became an instant best seller. Although it proved a springboard to an acting career, Sheedy's strongest memories of childhood remain those of "dancing and doing plays". From six until fourteen, she danced with the American Ballet Theatre, and during summers at Fire Island she'd "get a bunch of kids together and stage shows on back lawns and porches". When she discovered that to stay with dancing meant staying with starvation diets, she shifted her focus to acting for good. Meanwhile, her book brought her requests from several publications. The Village Voice asked her to review movies and the New York Times wanted her to review children's books. The assignment she accepted was from Ms. Magazine, which requested an article about her mother and herself. It was an appearance on "The Mike Douglas Show to promote her book, however, that brought Sheedy work as a performer. Signed by an agent who caught the show, she was sent out on television commercials immediately. Only 15 at the time, she also performed off Broadway and on a series of after-school specials. The day she turned 18, Sheedy packed her bags and headed for Los Angeles, where she enrolled in the drama department at USC, and soon landed roles in the television drama The Best Little Girl in the World, The Day the Loving Stopped, Splendor in the Grass and Homeroom, and played a recurring character on Hill Street Blues. The strength of her performances led directly to her film debut as Sean Penn's naive but knowing girlfriend, "J.C.", in Bad Boys. That same year (1983), she starred as Matthew Broderick's zany partner in WarGames. After starring as Rob Lowe's would-be romantic interest in Oxford Blues, the withdrawn adolescent of The Breakfast Club and Gene Hackman's adoring daughter in Twice in a Lifetime, Sheedy played her first fully adult role in St. Elmo's Fire, the 1985 hit about college friends.
Maid to Order (1987): $500,000
Auditioned for the movie A League of Their Own but didn't get the role because she couldn't play baseball well enough. Is the eldest of three children born to an advertising executive dad and a literary agent mom. Treated for addiction to prescription medication. Her mother is Charlotte Sheedy, a prominent New York literary agent. Dated Richie Sambora. Turned down the lead role in Wild Orchid. Auditioned for the Molly Ringwald role in Sixteen Candles. Dated Eric Stoltz for five years. Dated Woody Harrelson. Turned down the Kelly McGillis role in Top Gun. The addiction treatment Sheedy received was for sleeping pills. This helped her choose to participate in the film High Art, in which she played a once- famous photographer who had also descended into drug addiction. Was the first biological female to play the transgendered rock star Hedwig in the stage musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". Went to school with Lauren-Marie Taylor, who starred in Friday the 13th Part 2. They are still friends today. Was one of the nine original members of the 1980s "brat pack", along with Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez and Andrew McCarthy. Danced with the American Ballet Theatre from about the time she was six and was rapidly pursuing a career, but when puberty caused her breasts to fill out and all the starvation diets caused her an eating disorder, she gave up dance and pursued acting full-time. Wrote a best selling novel at the the tender age of 12. Became pregnant while filming Talia Shire's One Night Stand. Daughter Rebecca Elizabeth was born March 15,1994. Was a bridesmaid at Demi Moore's and Bruce Willis' wedding Daughter-in-law of Edgar Lansbury. Studied drama at the University of Southern California, where one of her classmates was Michele Greene. Appeared on TV game show "To Tell The Truth" as author of "She Was Nice To Mice" (as Alexandra Sheedy) in 1975 at age 13.