Sheryl Lee

An ethereal presence in features and television since the early 1990s, Sheryl Lee made her debut as one of the most famous screen corpses in pop culture - Laura Palmer of "Twin Peaks" (ABC 1990-92). Her turn as the ill-fated homecoming queen firmly established her as a somewhat supernatural figure in the minds of audiences - part earthy human, part gauzy spirit - which influenced many of her subsequent screen efforts, including Lynch's "Wild at Heart" (1990). However, initial film roles like the provocative photographer in "Backbeat" did not lead to a substantive film career, though Lee found regular work in episodic television and on stage, most notably as the sexually frank heroine in a Broadway production of "Salome." Lee's work with David Lynch on "Peaks" lent her a degree of cult stardom that she parlayed into a diverse career in a wide variety of media.