Madchen Amick Biography

Mädchen Amick (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress, best known for playing Shelly Johnson on the cult television series Twin Peaks and its 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

Early life

Amick was born in Sparks, Nevada, a few miles east of 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" or "maiden" 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.

Career

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 science fiction 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 season 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. In 2010, Amick played Danielle Marchetti on the FX series Damages.

She will co-star in the upcoming Lifetime series Witches of East End.

Personal life

Amick has been married to songwriter David Alexis since 1992. The couple have two children.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Anya	Episode: "The Dauphin"
1989	Baywatch	Laurie Harris	Episode: "Panic at Malibu Pier"
1990	'	Miss Doddsworth	TV movie
1990	I'm Dangerous Tonight	Amy	TV movie
1990	Don't Tell Her It's Me	Mandy
1990"1991	Twin Peaks	Shelly Johnson	30 episodes
1991	For the Very First Time	Rhonda	TV movie
1991	'	Megan
1992	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Shelly Johnson
1992	Sleepwalkers	Tanya Robertson
1993	Dream Lover	Lena Mathers
1993	Love, Cheat & Steal	Lauren Harrington
1994	Trapped in Paradise	Sarah Collins
1995	French Exit	Zina
1995	'	Lauren	TV movie
1995	Fallen Angels	Mrs. Cordell	Episode: "Love and Blood"
1995"1996	Central Park West	Carrie Fairchild	21 episodes
1996	Bombshell	Angeline
1997	Wounded	Julie Clayton
1997	Heartless	Ann 'Annie' O'Keefe	TV movie
1998	Twist of Fate	Rachel Dwyer
1998	'	Samantha Clark	TV movie
1998"1999	Fantasy Island	Ariel	13 episodes
1999	Dawson's Creek	Nicole Kennedy	3 episodes
1999	Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story	Jackie McCoy	TV movie
2000	'	Grace Mitchell
2001	Hangman	Grace Mitchell	TV movie
2001	Italian Ties	Jamie
2001	Scenes of the Crime	Carmen
2002	'	Susan Costello	TV movie
2002	Global Effect	Dr. Sera Levitt
2002"2003	Gilmore Girls	Sherry Tinsdale	3 episodes
2003	Queens Supreme	Lisa Salinger	Episode: "The House Next Door"
2003	Wild Card	Crystal Stevenson	Episode: "Black Sheep"
2003	Ed	Celeste 'CeCe' Royce	Episode: "Home for Christmas"
2004"2005	ER	Wendall Meade	10 episodes
2005	Lies and Deception	Jean Brooks	TV movie
2005	Jake in Progress	Kylie	Episode: "Pilot" Episode: "Check Please"
2005	Joey	Sara	5 episodes
2005	Four Corners of Suburbia	Rachel Samson
2005"2006	Freddie	Allison	22 episodes
2006	Law & Order	Alissa Goodwyn	Episode: "Home Sweet"
2006"2007	Kidnapped	Yvonne Guttman	3 episodes
2007	Viva Laughlin	Natalie Holden	3 episodes
2008	Shark	Gina Romero	Episode: "One Hit Wonder"
2008	'	Christine	TV movie
2008	Gossip Girl	Duchess Catherine Beaton	4 episodes
2008	Californication	Janie Jones	5 episodes
2008	My Own Worst Enemy	Angelica 'Angie' Spivey	9 episodes
2009	'	Liz	TV movie
2010	Pleading Guilty	Brushy	TV movie
2010	Damages	Danielle Marchetti	5 episodes
2010	CSI: NY	Aubrey Hunter	3 episodes
2010	Unanswered Prayers	Ava Andersson
2011	Priest	Shannon
2011	White Collar	Seleena	Episode: "Veiled Threats"
2012	Psych	Jacqueline Maderos	Episode: "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger"
2012	Ringer	Greer Sheridan	Episode: "It Just Got Normal, I'm The Good Twin"
2012	In Plain Sight	Associate Director Susan Campbell	2 episodes
2012	Mad Men	Andrea Rhodes	Episode: "Mystery Date"
2012	Drop Dead Diva	Gina Blunt	Season 4 recurring role

Award nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Film or series
1991	Soap Opera Digest Awards	Nominated	Outstanding Supporting Actress: Prime Time	Twin Peaks
1995	Saturn Award		Best Actress	Dream Lover