Biography

This attractive, freckled brunette is perhaps best known as the nice but sometimes naughty girl-next-door Donna Hayward in David Lynch's surreal cult soap opera, "Twin Peaks" . Lara Flynn Boyle was raised in Chicago where she began her career as a spokesmodel for Bonnie Bell and acted in local area theater productions. Boyle was cast in the TV miniseries "Amerika" (ABC, 1987) while a student at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and made her film debut in "Poltergeist III" (1988). She first received attention for the TV-movie "The Preppie Murder" (ABC, 1989), as murder victim Jennifer Levin but her film career was relegated to mostly unremarkable supporting turns in "How I Got Into College" and "Dead Poets Society" (both 1989) and Clint Eastwood's "The Rookie" (1990). "Twin Peaks" proved her breakthrough and although she played a relatively normal character, the film roles she was offered tended to be in similarly dark projects like the psychodrama "Eye of the Storm" and the black comedy "The Dark Backward" (both 1991). Fortunately, Boyle was able to shake off the noir image with roles as Mike Myers' voracious ex-girlfriend in the hit comedy "Wayne's World" and as a runaway in the gritty "Where the Day Takes You" (both 1992). That same year, she gave a lovely nuanced portrayal of a shy woman involved in a tentative romance with Matthew Modine in Alan Rudolph's mystery "Equinox". She returned to noir mode in 1993 in the title role of the moronic "The Temp" and in a supporting role in John Dahl's "Red Rock West". Boyle had three comedies released in 1994, only one of which, the triangle "Threesome", found favor; "Baby's Day Out" and "The Road to Wellville" vanished quickly from theaters and virtually wasted her talents. She returned to the small screen as the prosecuting attorney on the hit ABC drama "The Practice" in 1997. That same year, she played an unhappy wife who enters into an adulterous affair with a handyman in "Afterglow", although co-star Julie Christie earned the lion's share of attention. In 1998, Boyle gave a fascinating turn as a brittle, ego-centric poet who is insensitive to the problems of her sisters in Todd Solondz's "Happiness

Filmography

Men in Black II (2002) .... Serleena
... aka MIB 2 (2000) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka MIIB (2002) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Speaking of Sex (2001) .... Dr. Emily Paige
Chain of Fools (2000) .... Karen

Susan's Plan (1998) .... Betty Johnson
... aka Dying to Get Rich (2000) (USA: video title)
Happiness (1998) .... Helen Jordan
Since You've Been Gone (1998) (TV) .... Grace Williams
Red Meat (1997) .... Ruth
Afterglow (1997) .... Marianne Byron
"Practice, The" (1997) TV Series .... A.D.A. Helen Gamble
Farmer & Chase (1997) .... Hillary
Cannes Man (1996) .... Herself
... aka Canne$ Man (2002) (USA: video box title)
Big Squeeze, The (1996) .... Tanya Mulhill
... aka Body of a Woman (1996)
Cafe Society (1995) .... Patricia Ward
Jacob (1994) (TV) .... Rachel
... aka Jacob: A TNT Bible Story (1994) (TV) (USA: promotional title)
Road to Wellville, The (1994) .... Ida Muntz
Baby's Day Out (1994) .... Laraine Cotwell
Past Tense (1994) (TV) .... Tory Bass/Sabrina James
Threesome (1994) .... Alex
Temp, The (1993) .... Kris Bolin
Red Rock West (1992) .... Suzanne Brown aka Ann McCord
Equinox (1992) .... Beverly Franks
... aka Isimeria (1992)
Where the Day Takes You (1992) .... Heather
Wayne's World (1992) .... Stacy
Eye of the Storm (1991) .... Sandra Gladstone
Dark Backward, The (1991) .... Rosarita
... aka Man with Three Arms, The (1991) (UK)
Mobsters (1991) .... Mara Motes
... aka Evil Empire, The (1991)
May Wine (1990) .... Cammie
Rookie, The (1990) .... Sarah
"Twin Peaks" (1990) TV Series .... Donna Marie Hayward
Twin Peaks (1990) (TV) .... Donna Hayward

Preppie Murder, The (1989) (TV) .... Jennifer Levin
Dead Poets Society (1989) .... Ginny Danburry
How I Got Into College (1989) .... Jessica Kailo
Terror on Highway 91 (1989) (TV) .... Laura Taggart
Poltergeist III (1988) .... Donna Gardner
... aka Poltergeist III: The Final Chapter (1988) (Australia)
"Amerika" (1987) (mini) TV Series .... Jacqueline 'Jessie' Bradford