Who is Sherilyn Fenn?
The American actress was born as Sheryl Ann Fenn in Detroit, Michigan USA, on 1 February 1965, making Aquarius her zodiac sign. She has 124 acting credits, but is perhaps still known best for playing Girl in Accident in the 1990 crime comedy movie “Wild at Heart”, which starred Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage, and was written and directed by David Lynch. It follows Lula and Sailor as they’re running away from Lula’s mother who wants to have Sailor killed, and the film won five of its 17 award nominations, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Diane Ladd).
Education and early life
Sherilyn and her two older brothers were raised in Detroit by their father Leo Fenn who was a manager of rock ‘n’ roll bands, and mother Arlene Quatro who was a keyboard player; their grandfather Art Quatro was a popular jazz musician, and their aunt Suzi Quatro a Hall of Fame singer.
Sherilyn and her family often moved while she was growing up, mostly because of her parents’ careers; they eventually settled in Los Angeles, California, and Sherilyn was 17 when she dropped out of high school, not wanting to switch schools again. She instead enrolled at Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and began working on her way up in the film industry.
Roles in movies
Sherilyn’s debut film role was playing Penny Harlin in the 1984 comedy “The Wild Life”, and followed later that year with roles in the drama “Silence of the Heart” and the action “Out of Control”. then the 1985 romantic comedy “Just One of the Guys”. What marked the ‘80s for her was perhaps portraying Keri in the 1986 romantic action horror “The Wraith”, which starred Charlie Sheen and Nick Cassavetes, and was written and directed by Mike Marvin; it follows a mysterious spirit which has descended from the sky, and is after a ruthless bully and his gang of motor heads.
Later in the ‘80s Sherilyn starred as Audrey Horne in the 1989 mystery “Twin Peaks”, which also starred Michael Ontkean and Kyle MacLachlan, and was written and directed by David Lynch; it follows an FBI agent as he’s investigating the murder of a homecoming queen in a small town.
In the first half of the ‘90s, Sherilyn appeared in the 1991 mystery thriller comedy “Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel”, the 1992 western “Of Mice and Men”, and the 1995 biographical drama “Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story”. In 1997, she portrayed one of the lead characters Dez Wilson in the science fiction thriller “The Shadow Men”, which also starred Dean Stockwell and Eric Roberts, and was directed by Timothy Bond. It follows a family who’ve contacted the US Air Force about their encounter with an alien, while they’ve now been visited by Men In Black, who are in fact human-alien mutants.
A couple of Sherilyn’s following roles were in the 2002 crime action thriller “Swindle”, the 2003 drama “The United States of Leland”, and the 2004 musical “Cavedweller”. The year 2009 saw her star as A. D. A. Barbara Dietrichson in the crime mystery comedy “The Scenesters”, which also starred Blaise Miller and was written and directed by Todd Berger. It follows a serial killer of beautiful young hipsters in Los Angeles, while a group of crime scene videographers are determined to catch him; the movie won four of its five award nominations.
Sherilyn’s also known for playing the lead character Dr. Hanna Lindval in the 2015 action science fiction horror “Unnatural”, which also starred James Remar and Ron Carlson, and was directed by Hank Braxtan; it follows a corporation which is experimenting with genetic modification, but their man-hunting creature has just escaped.
Some of Sherilyn’s most recent movie roles have been in the thriller “Losing Addison” and the short horror “Enough Sleep” both in 2022, and the 2023 short drama “Silent Life: The Story of the Lady in Black”.
Roles in TV series
Sherilyn’s been focused on appearing in movies since she launched her career, and thus hasn’t had many TV series roles.
Her debut TV series appearance was playing Gabrielle in the 1985 comedy “Cheers”, and the remainder of the ‘80s saw her appear in an episode of the drama “Heart of the City”, the crime mystery “21 Jump Street”, and the adventure comedy “ABC Afterschool Specials”.
In 1990 and ‘91, Sherilyn starred as Audrey Home in the hit crime mystery “Twin Peaks”, which also starred Michael Ontkean and Kyle MacLachlan, and was created by Mark Frost. It follows an FBI agent as he’s investigating the murder of a woman, and the series won 16 of its 61 award nominations.
From 1998 through 2001, Sherilyn played the lead character Billie Frank in all 55 episodes of the comedy “Rude Awakening”, which also starred Jonathan Penner and Lynn Redgrave, and was created by Claudia Lonow; it follows the life of out-of-work alcoholic actress Billie Frank, and the series was nominated for two awards.
Sherilyn appeared in an episode of a couple of series in the 2000s, including the crime mystery “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, the crime action “NCIS” and the science fiction “Century City”.
From 2012 through 2014, she starred as Elena Hyland in six episodes of the short horror “Project: Phoenix”, and the year 2017 saw her portray Lydia in seven episodes of the romantic drama “Confess”, which starred Katie Leclerc and Ryan Cooper, and follows a girl in her 20s as she’s rebuilding her life in Los Angeles; the series won two of its three award nominations.
Some of Sherilyn’s most recent TV series roles have been in nine episodes of the crime action adventure “S. W. A. T.” from 2017 through 2021, a 2021 episode “The Fool” of the comedy “In the Cards”, and three episodes of the 2022 fantasy horror comedy “Shinning Vale”.
If Starz thought they could get me to watch Shining Vale by showing me Sherilyn Fenn working after Twin Peaks, they were right pic.twitter.com/8Gtk4f20Js
— Brandon Johnston (@BranJohnston) March 8, 2022
Other credits
Sherilyn sang two songs in the 1992 movie “Ruby”, wrote the song “Little Pony” for the 1996 mini-series “A Season in Purgatory”, and sang “Somebody to Love” in the 1998 episode “Naked Again” of the series “Rude Awakening”.
She’s received special thanks for the 1995 short documentary comedy movie “The Crypt Keeper Presents: A Spine-Tingling Look at Tales from the Crypt”, the 2007 short documentary film “Twin Peaks Cast Interviews: ‘Origin’ ‘Production’ ‘Legacy’” and the 2007 documentary movie “Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks”.
Some of Sherilyn’s recent talk-show appearances have been in “Paul O’Grady’s Hollywood”, “Pop Reality” and “Too Opinionated”.
Awards and nominations
Sherilyn won two Oregon Independent Film Festival Awards in 2021, both for her performance in “Losing Addison”.
She was also nominated for a 1990 Primetime Emmy and a 1991 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, both for “Twin Peaks”, and a 2022 Orlando Film Festival Award for Best Lead Actress for “Immortalist”.
Love life and marriage
Sherilyn dated the late American singer-songwriter Prince Rogers Nelson in 1985.
She began dating famous American actor Johnny Depp in 1985, and they became engaged two years later, but split without exchanging vows.
Sherilyn married American cameraman Toulouse Holliday in a private ceremony on 4 December 1994, while she had previously given birth to their son Myles Holliday on 15 December 1993; Myles is today a successful actor, screenwriter and director. Sherilyn and Toulouse’s divorce was finalized in 1997.
From 2006 through 2013, she was in a relationship with American Macintosh consultant Dylan Stewart; they have a son Christian James together, born on 6 August 2007.
There are no other men whom Sherilyn’s perhaps been with, that we know about; she was once married to Toulouse Holliday and has a son with him, while she also has another son with former boyfriend Dylan Stewart.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Sherilyn’s been into Transcendental Meditation since 2014, and she nowadays also enjoys doing yoga at home.
Her father spent 13 years working as Alice Cooper’s personal manager.
She posed nude for the magazine “Playboy” in 1990, and had previously been a Playboy bunny for two months.
The magazine “People” once featured Sherilyn on their list ’50 Most Beautiful People in the World’, and the magazine “FHM” once ranked her #10 on their list ‘100 Sexiest Women in the World’.
One of Sherilyn’s favorite actors is John Malkovich, and some of her favorite movies include “Being John Malkovich”, “Burn After Reading” and “In Line of Fire”.
More than 6,000 people are following her on Instagram and she’s posted close to 400 pictures onto the network, with most of these being in one way or the other about the film industry.
Sherilyn once ran her own blog “Postcards from the Ledge”.
Height, eyes and wealth
Sherilyn’s age is 58. She has brown hair and blue eyes, is 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall and weighs around 120lbs (54kgs).
Sherilyn’s net worth’s been estimated at over $500,000, as of July 2023.