Sheryl Lee is an actress, born April 22, 1967 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany, though she grew up in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. Lee is best remembered by legions of David Lynch fans for her appearance as the dead Laura Palmer in the cult television series Twin Peaks. When the series was picked up, Lee was also given the part of Laura's cousin Maddy Ferguson later in the series (a role which was reportedly written because Lynch, impressed with her abilities, wanted to give her a fuller role on the show). She also starred in the film Fire Walk With Me which was made after the series ended, but functioned as a "prequel" to it, elaborating on events leading up to Laura Palmer's death.
Other prominent roles have included playing the part of Astrid Kirchherr in the movie Backbeat, a bio-pic of the early career of The Beatles, the role of Katrina in John Carpenter's Vampires, the role of Marlene Cadena and in Kingpin. In 2001 she presented the I Love 1990 segment of the BBC's popular I Love 1990's series. Lee starred opposite Anthony Michael Hall as the sweet but vengeful housewife Eve Robbins in the 2001 USA Cable movie "Hitched". Lee played the part of Ellie Hart in 2005-2006 on One Tree Hill.
In 2004, Lee was the original choice for the role of Mary-Alice Young on Desperate Housewives. It would have been the second time she would have played a dead character on a series, however the producers ultimately chose to replace her with Brenda Strong who, coincidentally, had also played a dead character before on Everwood.
Lee is married to Jesse Diamond, a musician and son of singer and songwriter Neil Diamond. The couple have a son, Elijah.
