| Biography 
While at New York's Bank  Street  School,  12-year-old  Ally  Sheedy
  wrote  about  a  mythical encounter between Queen Elizabeth I and an
  inquisitive mouse. The result, "She Was Nice to Mice" was  published
  by  McGraw--Hill  and  became  an  instant  best seller. Although it
  proved  a  springboard  to  an  acting  career,  Sheedy's  strongest
  memories  of  childhood  remain  those of "dancing and doing plays."
  From six  until  fourteen,  she  danced  with  the  American  Ballet
  Theatre,  and  during  summers  at Fire Island she'd "get a bunch of
  kids together and stage shows on back lawns and porches."  When  she
  discovered  that  to stay with dancing meant staying with starvation
  diets, she shifted her focus to  acting  for  good.  Meanwhile,  her
  book  brought  her  requests  from several publications. The Village
  Voice asked her to review movies and the New York Times  wanted  her
  to  review  children's  books.  The assignment she accepted was from
  Ms. Magazine, which  requested  an  article  about  her  mother  and
  herself.  It  was  an appearance on the Mike Douglas Show to promote
  her book, however, that brought Sheedy work as a  performer.  Signed
  by  an  agent  who  caught  the show, she was sent out on television
  commercials immediately. Only 15 at the  time,  she  also  performed
  off  Broadway  and on a series of after-school specials. The day she
  turned 18, Sheedy packed her bags and headed for Los Angeles,  where
  she  enrolled  in the drama department at USC, and soon landed roles
  in the television drama "The Best Little Girl in  the  World,"  "The
  Day  the  Loving  Stopped,"  "Splendor in the Grass" and "Homeroom,"
  and played  a  recurring  character  on  "Hill  Street  Blues."  The
  strength  of her performances led directly to her film debut as Sean
  Penn's naive but knowing girlfriend, J.C., in "Bad Boys." That  same
  year  (1983)  she  starred  as  Matthew  Broderick's zany partner in
  "WarGames." After starring as Rob Lowe's would-be romantic  interest
  in  "Oxford Blues," the withdrawn adolescent of "The Breakfast Club"
  and Gene Hackman's  adoring  daughter  in  "Twice  in  a  Lifetime,"
  Sheedy  played  her first fully adult role in "St. Elmo's Fire," the
  1985 hit about college friends.
 Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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