Yahoo News Whatever happened to Heather Graham?
In the late '80s and '90s, Heather Graham was firmly fixed in the cultural zeitgeist. She appeared in cult monoliths like Twin Peaks, Drugstore Cowboy and Boogie Nights.
She collaborated with hugely respected directors David Lynch, Gus Van Sant and Paul Thomas Anderson, starring in projects alongside Will Smith, Ian McKellen and Uma Thurman to name but a few.
But she has since receded from the big and small screen, and her most memorable project of recent years is probably those bizarre Foxy Bingo adverts. So what has she been up to?
Graham became an actor against the wishes of her conservative parents. Her first significant role was in the Two Coreys movie License to Drive in 1988, in which she played a love interest with the unlikely name Mercedes Lane and won herself a Young Artist Award nomination.
She was actually the first choice to play Heather Chandler in Heathers (surely a natural fit), but her parents put the kibosh on the risqué project. Instead, she had a brief appearance as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito's mother in a flashback in Twins.
Her big break came when she was cast in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy as teen drug addict Nadine, a role which is still considered one of the best in her career. After co-starring with a handsome young Benicio del Toro in a Calvin Klein commercial directed by David Lynch, she was cast by the director in Twin Peaks.
As Annie Blackburn, she was the safely non-schoolgirl love interest for Kyle MacLachlan. Unfortunately, her late appearance in the show coincided with its inevitable cancellation, although she was brought back for a brief cameo in the movie sort-of-prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
She had a small but memorable role in the 1996 comedy Swingers, back when Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau were bright young things, and in Gregg Araki's typically odd Nowhere. Then came another high point in her career as the tragic porn star Rollergirl in the 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson classic Boogie Nights (which somewhat typecast her in prominently sexual roles). At this point, Graham was a big enough name to score a prominent cameo in Scream 2 when it was still one of the biggest franchises going.
She followed up the disappointing attempt to launch Matt LeBlanc's movie career Lost in Space with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999. Her role as Felicity Shagwell was a bit overshadowed by Mike Myers's usual 'I'm going to play everyone' shtick, but the comedy series was a massive deal at the time. She followed that up with a lead role in Frank Oz's well-liked comedy Bowfinger alongside Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin.
But Graham struggled to make the jump to lead roles. Her first, Committed, got a lukewarm reception, and was followed by a series of films that were at best forgettable, and at worst, awful. In the former camp fell comic book Jack the Ripper adaptation From Hell and musical The Guru. In the latter, Joseph Fiennes-co-starring drama Killing Me Softly (0% on Rotten Tomatoes), Hope Springs (23%) and Miss Conception (8%).
And then there was the truly bizarre Compulsion, in which she played an obsessive feeder opposite Carrie-Anne Moss. We guess it's supposed to be tongue in cheek, but the levels are off the scale in the trailer and we really don't know what to make of it...
On TV, she bagged small roles and cameos in Scrubs, Sex and the City, Arrested Development, Portlandia and Californication, as well as playing Corrine Foxworth in a trilogy of Flowers in the Attic TV movies. Unfortunately, her starring role in Sex and the City rip-off Emily's Reasons Why Not didn't last, with the show cancelled after only one episode had aired.
Graham received a boost to her career with 2009's The Hangover – her last Rotten Tomatoes 'rated fresh' movie to date – in which she played a stripper called Jade. She missed out on the sequel, but reprised her role in 2013's little-loved The Hangover Part III.
Her recurring, well-received roles have continued on TV in recent years on Flaked, Angie Tribeca and Law & Order True Crime, although Lynch apparently found no place for her in Twin Peaks: The Return.
Outside of acting, Graham is public advocate for the charity Children International and has campaigned to raise awareness of climate change. She came out with her own creepy story about Harvey Weinstein in light of the 2017 sexual misconduct accusations against him.
And of course, she mimed her way through those strange Foxy Bingo adverts...
2018 will see Graham's directorial debut on Half Magic, an ensemble comedy which she will also star in. And she's also due to star in a show call Bliss. Watch this space, Foxy Bingo lovers.
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