Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy (born June 13, 1962) is an American actress, author and teacher. Born in New York City, Sheedy began her career as a teenager acting in commercials and guest roles on television. She made her theatrical film debut in Bad Boys (1983). Due to her appearances in a string of teen-oriented films such as Oxford Blues (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985) and St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Sheedy and many of her co-stars were nicknamed the "Brat Pack".
She subsequently appeared in the films Twice in a Lifetime (1985), Blue City, Short Circuit (both 1986), Betsy's Wedding (1990) and Only the Lonely (1991). She received three Saturn Award nominations for Best Actress for the science fiction films WarGames (1983), Fear (1990) and Man's Best Friend (1993). Following a career downturn in the late 1980s, Sheedy won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for playing a drug-addicted lesbian photographer in the romantic drama film High Art (1998). From 2022 to 2023 she had a main role in the comedy television series Single Drunk Female.
Sheedy also works as a literary editor and has authored two books, including the best-selling historical fiction novel She Was Nice to Mice (1975) which was published when she was aged 12. Since 2021, Sheedy has taught at the City College of New York.
Early life
Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy was born on June 13, 1962, in New York City, the eldest of three children of Charlotte (née Baum), a literary agent involved in women's and civil rights movements, and John Sheedy Jr., an advertising executive. Her mother is Ashkenazi Jewish, and her father has Irish Catholic ancestry. Sheedy's maternal grandmother emigrated from Odessa, Ukraine. Sheedy identifies as Jewish.
Sheedy was raised on the Upper West Side. In her senior year she directed a stage production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. In 1975, McGraw Hill published the story as a novel titled She Was Nice to Mice: The Other Side of Elizabeth I's Character Never Before Revealed by Previous Historians. It was illustrated by Sheedy's friend Jessica Ann Levy. and the talk show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. An audiobook record, narrated by Sheedy, was released in 1976 on the Caedmon label. She earned enough royalties to put herself through college. she started acting in commercials at the age of 15. At age 18, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at the University of Southern California. Sheedy concurrently began her acting career and intermittently completed three years' worth of courses toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama.thumb|Sheedy in a 1982 press photo for [[Chicago Story|left]]Sheedy's first dramatic television role was in the CBS Afternoon Playhouse episode "I Think I'm Having a Baby". Throughout the early 1980s she appeared in the television movies The Best Little Girl in the World (1981) and The Violation of Sarah McDavid (1981), and in guest roles on the drama series Chicago Story (1982), St. Elsewhere (1982) and Hill Street Blues (1983).
Sheedy rose to fame with a string of major film roles. She made her theatrical acting debut in the crime drama film Bad Boys (1983), for which she was nominated for her first Saturn Award for Best Actress and for the Youth in Film Award for Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture.
In 1985, Sheedy became associated with the "Brat Pack", an informal group of young actors who frequently co-starred in teen-oriented films. Reporter David Blum used the term—a play on the "Rat Pack"—to refer to Sheedy's past co-stars Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Judd Nelson in the New York article "Hollywood's Brat Pack", but the media subsequently included Sheedy along with actors Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. She starred alongside various Brat Pack members in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire, both 1985 coming-of-age films with ensemble casts. Sheedy disliked the label, calling it in 1986 "snotty" Sheedy appeared with Judd Nelson in Blue City (1986), which was poorly reviewed. Her first starring film role was in the science fiction comedy film Short Circuit (1986), in which her character Stephanie befriends an escaped robot. both commercial flops. She also featured in the romantic comedy films Betsy's Wedding (1990) and Only the Lonely (1991); for the former, she was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress, Sheedy made a cameo appearance in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) as an airline attendant. Her performances in Fear and Man's Best Friend (1993) earned her two more Saturn Award nominations for Best Actress. Sheedy's book of poetry, Yesterday I Saw the Sun, was published by Summit Books in 1991. It was not critically well-reviewed. Sheedy was actively searching for an "interesting" role such as Lucy, and National Society of Film Critics. Critics noted that the role contrasted the "girl-next-door" image Sheedy cultivated in the early 80s. Sheedy stated in 2022 that High Art was her favourite film in her filmography.
1999–present: Later career
In September 1999, Sheedy took over the titular role in the off-Broadway production of the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She was the first woman to play the part of the transsexual Hedwig, but her run ended two months early amid "mixed" reviews. That same year, she starred in the ensemble cast of the independent film Sugar Town. She also made a cameo appearance in the film adaptation of the play Advice from a Caterpillar, having starred in the show's 1991 off-Broadway production.thumb|Sheedy at SMYAL's Fall Brunch in 2013Sheedy was reunited with Breakfast Club co-star Anthony Michael Hall when she guest starred on the second season of the television series The Dead Zone (2003). Sheedy appeared in the 2007 episode "Leapin' Lizards" of C.S.I., in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriend's wife while mixed up in a cult. In 2008, Sheedy was introduced as the character Sarah in the ABC Family show Kyle XY.
From 2009 to 2013, she played the role of serial killer Mr. Yang on the USA Network detective series Psych. Yang was originally intended to only appear in the series' third season, but Sheedy went on to reprise the role three more times over the following four seasons. The character was planned to return in Psych: The Movie (2017), but due to budget issues this was dropped.
Sheedy portrayed a schoolteacher in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Sheedy played Carol Fink, a single mother to an alcoholic daughter, in the Freeform series Single Drunk Female (2022–2023).