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The girls of “Twin Peaks”: Where are they now?

Remember when “Who killed Laura Palmer?” was the question everyone was asking? I certainly do. It was 1990 and I was a junior in college – watching television on the little black-and-white set I had in my Resident Assistant dorm room. Now, I’m not a

David Lynch fan by anyone’s definition, but I was captivated by Twin Peaks, at least for a while. (Then it got too supernatural and weird for me.) I read that the 10-disc “Definitive Gold-Box Edition” of Twin Peakswas releasing this week, and the memories came rushing back. There was the haunting Julee Cruise

theme song. And the incredibly tantalizing intrigue and mystery of the murder. And, of course, the bizarre dream sequence – with the giant and dwarf and Jenny being chased at the carnival. Oh, wait … I believe I’ve conflated the compelling dream sequence and the stupid.

Take a look at the promo for the DVD box set to have it all come rushing back.

 

Then there was the cast! Piper Laurie and Michael Ontkean were probably the biggest names when the show began, but Kyle MacLachlan quickly made a name for himself. And, of course, there were all the girls. For years, Sherilyn Fenn and Lara Flynn Boyle were “those girls who were on Twin Peaks.” (And they still are to a certain extent.) But all of this got me thinking about where the Twin Peaks girls are now.

Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer)

She made her entrance in Twin Peaks”dead, wrapped in plastic” and achieved cult status. (She was also on the show as Laura’s cousin, Madeline Ferguson.) Since Twin Peaks, Lee has worked regularly, mostly in television. In addition to numerous one-time roles, she was a regular on L.A. Doctors (Dr. Sarah Church) and she was Ellie Harp on One Tree Hill. She’s also the daughter-in-law of Neil Diamond. And, most recently, she was in the pilot of State of Mind.

Lara Flynn Boyle (Donna Hayward)

Donna was the late Laura Palmer’s best friend. That’s pretty much all I recall about her. (Twin Peaks was on a long time ago.) Lara Flynn Boyle did not reprise the role of Donna in the feature film Twin Peaks: Firewalk With Me.

(Moira Kelly took over for her.) Boyle did quite a bit of film work in the ’90s, with star turns in The Temp and in the utterly horrendous Threesome. (Straight girl loves gay guy who loves straight guy who loves straight girl. They have a threesome and gay guy touches straight guy’s ass. Wow.)

She was a principal character (Helen Gamble) in The Practice and convincingly played a very disturbed psychiatric patient in Huff (She attacked the lovely

Paget Brewster). And speaking of disturbing, Boyle dated Jack Nicholson for a couple of years. Ew. Most recently, she played Betty McBain in Life Is Hot in Cracktown, which is scheduled for a 2008 release.

Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne)

Audrey was the troublemaker/femme fatale character who had amorous feelings for Agent Cooper. A couple of years after Twin Peaks, she played a bisexual character in Three of Hearts

(Ex-girlfriend (Kelly Lynch) hires male escort to break Fenn’s heart to get her back – haven’t we all tried that ploy at one time or another?) This was not the first time she had played lesbian-ish. In her pre—Twin Peaks days, Fenn fell in love with Joyce Hyser (in drag) in the Just One of the Guys.

Fenn also replaced Kim Basinger in the disturbing Boxing Helena,

which was released the same year as Three of Hearts. During the last 15 years or so, she’s done a lot of TV work, including Rude Awakening, Boston Public and Gilmore Girls. Most recently, she played Lena in Treasure Raiders. To me, however, her most definitive post—Twin Peaks work is as Ginger, Chandler’s one-legged girlfriend on Friends. Whose artificial leg Joey once threw in the fireplace.

Mädchen Amick (Shelley Johnson)

Shelley had a complicated existence. She was married to Leo, but in love with Bobby. And she worked for Norma as a waitress at the diner. (I had a major crush on Norma.) Since Twin Peaks, Amick has done a lot of television, including regular stints on Central Park West, Fantasy Island, ER, Joey and

Freddie (which I’ve never heard of). Last year, she was featured on the short-lived Kidnapped. Finally, although she was one of the full-grown women on the show, I need to give a special mention to Joan Chen – who came to American prominence via Twin Peaks. You can read Jamie Lynn’s update on Chen here.

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