Lara Flynn Boyle

Lara Flynn Boyle (born March 24, 1970 in Davenport, Iowa) is an American actress who was raised in Chicago, Illinois and Wisconsin. Although she is of mostly Irish descent, Boyle also has an Italian-American great-grandfather. She is named after a character in Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago.

Boyle's first film role was a bit part in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), which earned her a SAG card, though her scene was eliminated from the final cut of the film. She then appeared in the mini-series Amerika (1987) and films Poltergeist III (1988) and Dead Poets Society (1989), before landing her first major part, that of Donna Hayward in the critically acclaimed series Twin Peaks. When the series ended in 1991, creator David Lynch produced a movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but - largely due to her rise in fame and increased film offers - Boyle chose not to return. Moira Kelly took over the role of Donna for the film.

Boyle spent much of the 1990s making a name for herself in films with varying degrees of success. Some of her most notable roles during that time were:

* the obsessive and accident-prone Stacy in Wayne's World (1992)
* the fragile, homeless teen Heather in Where The Day Takes You (1992)
* psycho secretary-from-hell Kris Bolin in what was geared to be her breakout success, but ultimately became a box-office bust, The Temp (1993)
* the sultry and manipulative Suzanne of Red Rock West (1993), which solidified her status as a premier femme fatale
* Alex, the sexually assured drama queen in the Generation X comedy Threesome (1994)
* flighty, manically repressed housewife Marianne Byron in Afterglow (1997)

In 1997, Boyle auditioned for the title role in David E. Kelley's Ally McBeal. Although she lost out to Calista Flockhart, the actress impressed Kelley enough to create the role of Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in his other 1997 series, The Practice, specifically for her. She starred on that show until 2003, when - in a dramatic attempt to revamp the show and cut costs - she was unceremoniously dismissed along with most of the cast. The role of Helen earned her an Emmy nomination, as well as several Screen Actors Guild ensemble cast nominations. Boyle also made a crossover appearance in the role of Helen in an episode of Ally McBeal.

In 2002, Boyle played a lead role in the blockbuster film Men in Black II as the villainous alien Serleena. She also guest-starred on one of the last episodes of Ally McBeal, this time as Tally Cupp, a completely different role from that which she had played before.

Recently, she had a recurring role on several episodes of Huff, playing Melody Coatar, an unstable patient with borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder.

In 2005, Boyle joined the cast of Las Vegas for a seven-episode stint as Monica, a new hotel owner.

She played Barbara Amiel in the TV true story "Shades of Black", about Amiel's controversial husband, Lord Conrad Black.

Boyle guest-starred as an ambitious reporter involved with the suspects in a possible murder in the Law & Order 2008 episode "Submission".