We remember them as if they were kids we went to high school with, because in a way they were: the mastermind, the athlete, the princess, the criminal, and the basket case, too. known as The breakfast club. This Beloved 1985 John Hughes the film will always be associated with a generation of teenagers, and the actors who played its main characters will forever be linked to these roles and this period of their lives. It is certainly true of Ally Sheedy, whose performance as Allison Reynolds (the “basket case”) cemented her as a member of the iconic Brat Pack, a group of young actors who, for much of the mid-’80s, were the coolest people on the planet. But Sheedy’s career didn’t end at Shermer High’s library. Keep reading to learn more about what she does today and to find out if she still keeps in touch with her fellow Brat Packers.
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Sheedy will always be best known for her roles in two hit films that also star members of the Brat Pack: The breakfast club and St. Elmo’s Fire. But she’s racked up dozens of credits since then.
Along with a few other enduring 80s favourites, including the short circuit movies, she won acclaim for her performances in the queer indie drama High quality artas well as life in wartimea dark and funny comedy from the director Todd Solondz. She also appears frequently on television, landing guest roles on The outer limitsHBO ounces, Once again, The dead zone, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Kyle XYand Psych.
Currently you can see it on Freeform’s Drunk single woman as Carol, a mother who helps her daughter stay in the wagon and get her life back together.
Sheedy was on top of the world during his Brat Pack days, but as he got older it became harder and harder to find good roles. In 1997, she was even dumped by her agents because she wasn’t bringing in enough money, as reported by new York.
“There was a whole period where I just couldn’t be seen for a job,” the actor said in a 2000 interview. per access point. “The Brat Pack label stuck around for a long time and I just felt there was a very dismissive attitude of, ‘Oh, no. She can’t. She can’t.‴
Sheedy said she was told to her face that she wasn’t “sexy” enough to direct a movie, but that she stuck to her ideals, even if it meant losing roles.
“There were things I just couldn’t bring myself to do” she wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald in 2018. “The film by the (great) director who would force me to shoot a scene in a shirt but without panties for example. I rejected the advice to ‘date’ with men who could possibly advance my career. I don’t didn’t audition for films that I felt glorified sex work, depicted women who were sexually abused gratuitously, or forced me to leave my sense of self at the door. movies have become huge hits.)”
Even when Hollywood proved to be a tough arena to compete in, Sheedy found happiness in doing things for herself. Writer from an early age (his first book was published when she was 12and it became a bestseller), Sheedy also had a book of poetry released in 1991. These days, she sometimes works as a freelance book editor under a pseudonym.
In 1999, she made headlines when she reprized the title role in the subversive musical Hedwig and the Angry Thumbbecoming the first cisgender woman to play the character, a struggling rock star who underwent botched gender confirmation surgery.
Outside of the public eye, Sheedy has volunteered to teach film and drama to public school children in New York City and currently teaches an acting class at City College of New York. “I’m very open to talking about my experiences,” she told Yahoo! News this past January. “And I have an affinity for [the students] because they are the age I was when I was working. I tell them everything I wish I had known!”
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In 1992 Sheedy married David Lansburythe son of Angela Lansburyand they had one child, Beckett, before divorcing in 2008. When he was a teenager, Beckett, now 28, came out to his mother as trans, and Sheedy and his family did. supported at every step.
“I learned a lot [from him]”, she said People. “Beck is not hiding anything. And I feel very comfortable talking to anyone whose child is just beginning the transition process. Parents need to educate themselves. It is natural to have fears for your children , no matter what. But in this case, Beck is in a really good stage of his life. I’m giving him the opportunity to run and just trying to watch.”
Sheedy has remained single since splitting from Lansbury in 2008, and she’s totally okay with that.
“I’m completely done with men. I’ve been for years,” she said Closer Weekly earlier this year. “I just feel like I’ve been through so many different phases, and this [one] makes me feel good. I have a few close friends, whom I love. That’s enough.”
She also accepted the approach of her 60th birthday. “I keep thinking, ‘Oh wait, I’m going to be 50.’ Then I realized, ‘No, no, I’m going to be 60!'” she said AARP. “I know it happened, I’m glad I experienced it, but I still feel like I should be 10 years younger than me. But no, it’s okay. I like where my right now. I love the work I do and I wouldn’t go back in time for the world.”
But that doesn’t mean she’s cut ties with her past – and she still keeps in touch with one of her classmates from The breakfast club.
“What we have is a shared experience that’s very specific and unique, it’s kind of a cozy closeness there,” she said AND Canada of Molly Ringwald. “We’ve both been through this particular thing that it has become and continues to be. But most of the time we just talk about what’s going on in our lives and our children, and basically what the people are doing. others.”
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