Biography

Nicollette Sheridan

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Overview

Born
November 21, 1963 · Worthing, Sussex, England, UK
Birth name
Nicollette Adams
Height
5′ 7½″ (1.71 m)

Biography

Nicollette Sheridan has won a worldwide audience with her past television and film roles. With her Golden Globe-nominated role of "Edie Britt," the blonde bombshell of Wisteria Lane, on ABC's hit show Desperate Housewives (2004); the show's cast won both the 11th (2005) and 12th (2006) Screen Actors Guild Awards for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series."

Sheridan was born as Nicollette Adams in Worthing, Sussex, England, the daughter of actress Sally Sheridan (née Adams). She discovered a passion for ballet as a small child and studied intensely, broadening her love of the arts as a student at the Arts Educational School in London. In addition to the theatre, she nurtured her talents as an avid equestrienne along with a rigorous thirst for reading and a love of the works of William Shakespeare. Moving to Los Angeles and being courted to explore her talents was a natural progression.

Sheridan exploded on the small screen as the beautiful and manipulative Paige Matheson on Knots Landing (1979). This led to a variety of roles in other projects, including The People Next Door (1996) (with Faye Dunaway), A Time to Heal (1994) (opposite Gary Cole), Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) (with James Woods), and Dead Husbands (1998) (with John Ritter), along with a special guest appearance on the season finale of Will & Grace (1998).

Sheridan was first introduced to film audiences in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985) opposite John Cusack, going on to appear in other film comedies, such as Noises Off... (1992) (opposite Michael Caine), Spy Hard (1996) (opposite Leslie Nielsen), Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) (with Chris Farley), I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) (with Billy Zane), and Code Name: The Cleaner (2007) (opposite Cedric The Entertainer and Lucy Liu).

She brought her English accent to the Disney animated series The Legend of Tarzan (2001) and was also heard as a Russian fly in the animated feature Fly Me to the Moon 3D (2007) (with Tim Curry, Kelly Ripa, Christopher Lloyd and Buzz Aldrin). She voiced the role of "Zenna" in Promenade Pictures' animated film Noah (2012), which starred Michael Keaton, Rob Schneider, Marcia Gay Harden and Sir Ben Kingsley. Sheridan also appeared in the independent comedy Jewtopia (2012).

She has supported philanthropic causes including those focused on cancer, women and children at risk, and natural disaster relief (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), as well as such entities as the Red Cross, Humane Society, Last Chance for Animals, Best Friends Animal Society and The Amanda Foundation. In September 2010, she teamed up with Natural Balance Pet Foods to raise money for National Guide Dog Awareness Month.

She resides in Los Angeles, California.
- IMDb mini biography by: Dennis (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous and R.M. Sieger)

Family

Spouses
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Her beauty, her blonde hair and her curvaceous figure
She frequently plays victimized characters

Trivia

Learned about Greek culture from actor Telly Savalas, who had a long relationship with Nicollette's mother.
Is of Punjabi descent through her great-grandmother.
She spent three of her high school years at The Buckley School, a private college preparatory day school in Sherman Oaks near Los Angeles. Was almost kicked out when she was caught forging her mother's signature on a note. Her mother shipped her off to Millfield, a no-nonsense girl's school outside London, which she graduated from in 1981.
Originally auditioned for the role of "Bree Van de Kamp" (now played by Marcia Cross) on Desperate Housewives (2004), before auditioning for and getting the role of Edie Britt.
Met Leif Garrett at age 15. Lived with him under his mother's roof as a minor. The relationship lasted 6 years.

Quotes

I grew up feeling like the ugly duckling, and things have not changed that much. For some reason, Hollywood seems to have painted me as a gorgeous vixen at times or the sweet girl. I don't get it.
[on Telly Savalas] He was officially my stepfather, but I always thought of him as my daddy.
I think I've been very lucky. A lot of this business is being in the right place at the right time with the right thing.
I could say doing what I've wanted to do with my life could be looked at as being selfish. But I think it's a healthy selfish, because if you're really not ready to (have children), it's not the right thing to do.
I'm actually more comfortable playing the stroke victim or the girl with no makeup on, looking scruffy and it's all about what's going on inside rather than on the outside. But I'm making friends with it. At times, it's embarrassing being in some outfits that I might personally never be caught dead in, but they serve "Edie" on [Desperate Housewives (2004)]. It was nice actually wearing pants and a proper shirt as "Diane" in [Code Name: The Cleaner (2007)].