Lara Flynn Boyle Biography

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 also appeared in a number of feature films, such as Happiness and Men in Black II.

Early life

Boyle was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Sally Boyle, a clerical worker, assistant, and manager, and Michael L. Boyle. Her paternal grandfather was U.S. Representative Charles A. Boyle. Her father was of Irish descent and her mother was of one quarter Irish, half German, and one quarter Italian ancestry. She is named after a character in Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor 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 feature film Poltergeist III (1988). Although she was cast in Dead Poets Society (1989), her scenes were deleted. Her first major role was as Donna Hayward in the critically acclaimed television series Twin Peaks. When the series ended in 1991, creator David Lynch produced a movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but Boyle did not return. Moira Kelly took 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)
• the glamorous, pretentious, self-loathing writer Helen Jordan in Happiness (1998)
• the spiteful, heinous lover of Peter Walsh, Christian Leighton in Afterglow. (1999)

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. 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. For her performance as Helen Gamble, she received an Emmy nomination as well as several Screen Actors Guild ensemble cast nominations. Boyle also made a crossover appearance in the role of Helen Gamble in an episode of Ally McBeal, and an uncredited guest appearance on the same show in its final season.

In 2002, Boyle played a lead role in the blockbuster feature 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.

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".

Personal life

Boyle was in a two-year relationship with Twin Peaks partner Kyle MacLachlan. Boyle also dated Jack Nicholson. They went public with their romance at the 1999 Emmys, and remained together until the end of 2000.

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.

She is dyslexic.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	Heather	Scenes deleted
1988	Poltergeist III	Donna Gardner
1989	Terror on Highway 91	Laura Taggart	TV movie
1989	How I Got Into College	Jessica Kailo
1989	Dead Poets Society	Ginny Danburry	Scenes deleted
1989	'	Jennifer Levin	TV movie
1990	'	Sarah
1991	'	Rosarita
1991	Mobsters	Mara Motes
1991	Eye of the Storm	Sandra Gladstone
1991	May Wine	Cammie	TV movie
1992	Where the Day Takes You	Heather
1992	Wayne's World	Stacy
1992	Equinox	Beverly Franks	Nominated-Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
1993	'	Kris Bolin
1993	Red Rock West	Suzanne Brown/Ann McCord
1994	Threesome	Alex
1994	Past Tense	Tory Bass/Sabrina James	TV movie
1994	Baby's Day Out	Laraine Cotwell
1994	'	Ida Muntz
1994	Jacob	Rachel	TV movie
1995	Cafe Society	Pat Ward
1996	'	Tanya Mulhill
1997	Red Meat	Ruth
1997	Farmer & Chase	Hillary
1997	Afterglow	Marianne Byron
1998	Since You've Been Gone	Grace Williams	TV movie
1998	Happiness	Helen Jordan
1998	Susan's Plan	Betty Johnson
2000	Chain of Fools	Karen
2002	Men in Black II	Serleena	Nominated-Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
2003	Speaking of Sex
2006	Land of the Blind	First Lady
2006	Fwiends.com	Yuppie girl	Short film
2006	'	Col Kennedy	TV movie
2006	Shades of Black: The Conrad Black Story	Barbara Amiel	TV movie
2007	Have Dreams, Will Travel
2009	Baby on Board	Mary
2009	Life Is Hot in Cracktown	Betty McBain
2010	Cougar Hunting	Kathy
2013	Hansel & Gretel Get Baked	Witch Agnes	also credited as associate producer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Amerika	Jacqueline 'Jessie' Bradford	TV miniseries
1987	Sable	Melanie Waterston	1 episode: "Toy Gun"
1990"1991	Twin Peaks	Donna Hayward	2 seasons: 30 episodes
1991	'	Nicole	1 episode: "Splinters of Privacy"
1995	Legend	Theresa Dunleavy	1 episode: "Skeletons in the Closet"
1997"2003	'	Helen Gamble	6 seasons: 132 episodes Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2002	Ally McBeal	Tally Cupp	1 episode: "Tom Dooley"
2004"2005	Huff	Melody Coatar	1 season
2005"2006	Las Vegas	Monica Mancuso	1 season
2008	Law & Order	Dawn Talley	1 episode: "Submission"