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50 interesting facts about actress Heather Graham.
1. Heather Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2. She is the older of two children.
3. Her family is of "three-quarters Irish" descent, with her father's side from County Cork.
4. Her younger sister, Aimee Graham, is also an actress, and writer.
5. Her mother, Joan, is a teacher and author of children's books.
6. Her father, James Graham, is a retired FBI agent.
7. She and her sister were raised with traditional Catholic values.
8. Her family relocated repeatedly before moving to Agoura Hills, California, when she was 9-years-old.
9. She was introduced to acting during a school production of The Wizard of Oz.
10. After high school, Graham enrolled in extension classes at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where she studied English for two years.
11. Graham withdrew from UCLA to pursue acting full-time, despite her parents' objections.
12. Her middle name is Joan.
13. After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came in 1988 with the teen comedy License to Drive, followed by her breakthrough role in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy.
14. She played a supporting roles in films such as Shout, Diggstown, Six Degrees of Separation, Swingers and in the television series Twin Peaks and its prequel film Fire Walk with Me.
15. In 1999 she co-starred in Bowfinger and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
16. In the 2000s, Graham starred in films Committed, Say It Isn't So, Anger Management, Mary, Gray Matters, The Hangover and The Hangover Part III.
17. She also had a role in the TV series Scrubs in 2004, before playing the title character in the short-lived (one episode) Emily's Reasons Why Not in 2006.
18. Widely regarded as a sex symbol, she often appears in magazines' lists of "Most Beautiful" and "Sexiest" women.
19. Graham is a public advocate for Children International.
20. She is a supported the climate change campaign Global Cool in 2007.
21. Graham's first film appearance was an uncredited cameo in Mrs. Soffel.
22. Her first credited film appearance was in the television film Student Exchange.
23. In 1986, she appeared on a special "Teen Week" episode of the NBC game show Scrabble.
24. She appeared in numerous television commercials, and an episode of the sitcom Growing Pains in 1987.
25. Her first high-profile starring role came in the 1988 Corey Haim/Corey Feldman vehicle License to Drive, as a popular girl named Mercedes Lane, who serves as the love interest of Haim's character. Her efforts won her a Young Artist Award nomination in the Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Fantasy category.
26. Her strict parents forbade her to accept a role in the black comedy Heathers, which had an expletive-rich script.
27. Graham's popularity significantly increased after she appeared as Brandi, a young porn star, nicknamed Rollergirl, in Paul Thomas Anderson's critically acclaimed, award-winning Boogie Nights.
28. She was subsequently cast in Two Girls and a Guy, a film mainly based upon dialogue between the characters which was shot in 11 days, which co-starred Robert Downey Jr. and Natasha Gregson; and the sci-fi film Lost in Space, which was met with mostly negative reviews and bombed at the box-office, making only $69,117,629 when its production budget was $80million. The cast was signed on for sequels that have not yet been made.
29. She starred as Felicity Shagwell in the 1999 sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, which was a box-office hit.
30. Shagwell is one of her best-known roles and became a fan favorite.
31. Her turn as Shagwell also earned her a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Actress.
32. She appeared in the music video for Lenny Kravitz's cover of "American Woman".
33. Also in 1999, Graham co-starred as Daisy in the movie Bowfinger, opposite Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy.
34. The 2000 film Committed was her first starring vehicle. She played Joline, a devoted-beyond-reason young wife looking for the husband who left her. While the film itself received mixed-to-negative reviews, critics felt that "Graham shows she can play a central character" but noted "she's not enough to make Committed successful".
35. Besides her acting work, Graham is also an activist who serves as a public advocate for Children International.
36. She stated that what she likes about Children International is that "you are helping a child have a better life. It's great for that child to know that someone who lives in another country cares about them".
37. Graham works with the Cambodian Children's Fund which provides supplies and education, and campaigns to stop slavery. "There's a lot of human trafficking in Cambodia," Graham has said. "Women are dying because they don't have $15 to give birth in a hospital. The [Children's Fund] provides free education, clean water and healthcare for communities... We're creating future leaders who will be able to help themselves."
38. In 2007 she supported the climate change campaign Global Cool and appeared in Shekhar Kapur's short film Global Cool alongside Sienna Miller.
39. In 2001 she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People.
40. In 2003, she also posed for a photoshoot by photographer Sam Jones, during which she was levitated several feet into the air by a magician, who later also sawed her in half.
41. Also in 2003, Graham appeared on the cover of Time magazine for an article titled "The Science of Meditation".
42. To promote Emily's Reasons Why Not, she had posed for a Life Magazine cover story, printed weeks in advance of the assumed series schedule, referring to her as "TV's sexiest star" which appeared in the January 27, 2006 issue.
43. She enjoys playing poker and going to yoga retreats in Mexico.
44. She has been practicing transcendental meditation since 1991 after being introduced to it by David Lynch.
45. She also expressed dislike towards reality television, stating in a 2007 interview: "I think some of it, it seems strange - why do we all want to watch people be so miserable? Other people's pain and misery - it seems kind of sad."
46. In 2005, Graham became the spokeswoman and TV model for the Garnier brand of hair care products.
47. Graham has dated British musician/actor Adam Ant, actors James Woods, whom she first met while studying at UCLA, Kyle McLachlan and Heath Ledger, whom she met in Prague while filming From Hell, and directors Stephen Hopkins, Edward Burns and Yaniv Raz.
48. In 2011, she was dating Jason Silva.
49. Graham is often cast in sexual roles including those of Felicity Shagwell (Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me), porn stars Rollergirl (Boogie Nights) and Sharonna (The Guru), prostitute Mary Kelly (From Hell), porn director Margaret (About Cherry) and stripper Jade (The Hangover and The Hangover, Part III).
50. Due to her portrayals of sexual characters and nudity in films she has been described as "completely up for it".
