Lara Flynn Boyle

Lara Flynn Boyle (born March 24, 1970) is an American film and television actress best known for her performances as Laura Palmer's best friend Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks and Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in The Practice. She has had a number of movie roles from the late 1980s through the present but has found the most recognition through her roles in television series.

Biography

Early life

Boyle was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Sally Boyle, a clerical worker, assistant, and manager. Although she is of mostly Roman Catholic Irish descent, Boyle also has an Italian-American great-grandfather.She is named after a character in Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago. She was raised in Chicago, Illinois and Wisconsin. Boyle studied at and graduated from The Chicago Academy for the Arts.

Career

Boyle's first film role was a bit part in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), which earned her a SAG card, though her scenes were deleted from the final cut of the film. She then appeared in the mini-series Amerika (1987) and summer blockbuster Poltergeist III (1988) opposite Nancy Allenand Tom Skerritt. Although she was cast in Dead Poets Society (1989), her scenes were deleted, before landing her first major part, that ofDonna Hayward in the critically acclaimed series Twin Peaks. When the series ended in 1991, creator David Lynch produced a movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but, largely due to her rise in fame and increased film offers, Boyle chose not to return.^{[citation needed]} Moira Kellytook over the role of Donna for the film.

Some of Boyle's most notable roles during the 1990s were:

• the obsessive and accident-prone Stacy in Wayne's World (1992)
• the fragile, homeless teen Heather in Where The Day Takes You (1992)
• fatally obsessed psychopath secretary - Kris Bolin in The Temp (1993)
• the sultry and manipulative Suzanne of Red Rock West (1993)
• Alex, the promiscuous beauty in the comedy Threesome (1994)
• flighty, manically repressed housewife Marianne Byron in Afterglow (1997)

In 1997, Boyle auditioned for the title role in David E. Kelley's Ally McBeal. Although she lost out to Calista Flockhart, the actress impressed Kelley enough to create the role of Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in his other 1997 series, The Practice, specifically for her.^{[citation needed]} She starred on that show until 2003, when, in a dramatic attempt to revamp the show and cut costs, she was dismissed along with most of the cast.^{[citation needed]} The role of Helen earned her an Emmy nomination, as well as several Screen Actors Guildensemble cast nominations. Boyle also made a crossover appearance in the role of Helen in an episode of Ally McBeal, and an uncredited guest appearance on the same show in its final season.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, Boyle played a lead role in the blockbuster film Men in Black II as the villainous shapeshifting alien Serleena. She also guest-starred on one of the last episodes of Ally McBeal, this time as Tally Cupp. Recently, she had a recurring role on several episodes of Huff, playing Melody Coatar, an unstable patient with borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Boyle joined the cast of Las Vegas for a seven-episode stint as Monica Mancuso, a new hotel owner. She played Barbara Amiel in the TV true story "Shades of Black", about Amiel's controversial husband, Lord Conrad Black. Boyle also guest-starred as an ambitious reporter involved with the suspects in a possible murder in the Law & Order 2008 episode "Submission".^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Boyle has been married twice. Her first husband was John Patrick Dee III, whom she married on August 11, 1996 and divorced two years later. Her current husband is Donald Ray Thomas II, a real-estate investor, whom she married on December 18, 2006 in San Antonio, Texas.

Boyle's home in Beverly Hills was built in the 1920s as servants' quarters for Pickfair, the former home of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

She is dyslexic

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	Scenes deleted
1988	Poltergeist III	Donna Gardner
1989	Terror on Highway 91	Laura Taggart	TV movie
	How I Got Into College	Jessica Kailo
	Dead Poets Society	Ginny Danburry	Scenes deleted
	The Preppie Murder	Jennifer Levin	TV movie
1990	The Rookie	Sarah
1991	The Dark Backward	Rosarita
	Mobsters	Mara Motes
	Eye of the Storm	Sandra Gladstone
	May Wine	Cammie	TV movie
1992	Where the Day Takes You	Heather
	Wayne's World	Stacy
	Equinox	Beverly Franks
1993	The Temp	Kris Bolin
	Red Rock West	Suzanne Brown/Ann McCord
1994	Threesome	Alex
	Past Tense	Tory Bass/Sabrina James	TV movie
	Baby's Day Out	Laraine Cotwell
	The Road to Wellville	Ida Muntz
	Jacob	Rachel	TV movie
1995	Cafe Society	Pat Ward
1996	The Big Squeeze	Tanya Mulhill
1997	Red Meat	Ruth
	Farmer & Chase	Hillary
	Afterglow	Marianne Byron
1998	Since You've Been Gone	Grace Williams	TV movie
	Happiness	Helen Jordan
	Susan's Plan	Betty Johnson
2000	Chain of Fools	Karen
2001	Speaking of Sex	Dr. Emily Paige
2002	Men in Black II	Serleena
2006	Land of the Blind	First Lady
	Fwiends.com	Yuppy girl	Short film
	The House Next Door	Col Kennedy	TV movie
	Shades of Black: The Conrad Black Story	Barbara Amiel	TV movie
2007	Have Dreams, Will Travel	Mrs. Reynolds
2009	Baby on Board	Mary
	Life Is Hot in Cracktown	Betty McBain
2010	Cougar Hunting	Kathy

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Seasons	Notes
1987	Amerika	Jacqueline 'Jessie' Bradford	-
1990–1991	Twin Peaks	Donna Hayward	1-2
1997–2003	The Practice	Helen Gamble	2-7
2004–2005	Huff	Melody Coatar	1
2005–2006	Las Vegas	Monica Mancuso	3

TV appearances

Year	Title	Season	Role	Episode	Notes
1987	Sable	1	Melanie Waterston	"Toy Gun"	Episode 1
1991	The Hidden Room	1	Nicole	"Splinters of Privacy"	Episode 2
1995	Legend	1	Theresa Dunleavy	"Skeletons in the Closet"	Episode 12
2002	Ally McBeal	5	Tally Cupp	Tom Dooley	Episode 18
2008	Law & Order	18	Dawn Talley	"Submission"	Episode 12

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