M�dchen Amick (pronounced Mai-chen Ahh-mick) was born in Reno, Nevada on December 12, 1971. She is half German, a quarter Norwegian, and a quarter Swedish. Her name, which can also be written as Maedchen, means "maiden or young girl" in German.
M�dchen began her study of piano at age three, and continued for twelve years. She also learned to play the bass, violin, and guitar.
M�dchen also trained in various forms of dance: tap, ballet, jazz, and modern. She has used her dancing talent to enliven a couple of her films. Just watch her dance with complete abandon near the beginning of "Sleepwalkers", or during "I'm Dangerous Tonight".
She is a talented painter as well. She began painting in oils while still in school, and has even sold some of her work. While doing all of this, M�dchen finished high school at age 16.
It was at that age that M�dchen began her professional life. She started out as a model in Los Angeles, and soon was appearing on "Star Trek", and also as a dancer in a number of pop music videos, including one with Julio Iglesias.
Then, M�dchen landed the role which would launch her acting career. Director David Lynch chose her to play waitress Shelly Johnson on the TV series "Twin Peaks". Viewers of that cult hit came to love M�dchen's sensually innocent character, who endured all manner of abuse at the hands of her husband, Leo.
In one memorable scene, Audrey Horne (played by Sherilyn Fenn) uses her tongue and teeth to knot a cherry stem, in a display of occupational qualification. it turns out that M�dchen can actually do this too.
She demonstrated her unique ability during an interview for the October 4, 1990 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, saying "I've been doing it for years". She offered a helpful hint: "You have to bite up the stem to make it limber. Bite it until it isn't stiff."
M�dchen is happily married, to singer/songwriter David Alexis. The couple live in Los Angeles with their two young children, and a dachshund named Einstein.
A recurring tragedy in M�dchen's career has been the number of bad scripts to which she has been subjected. From "Stephen King's Sleepwalkers" (her first film role), through "Love, Cheat and Steal" and "I'm Dangerous Tonight", and ending with the doomed CBS drama series "Central Park West", the TV and film industries have seldom allowed this beautiful and talented young woman to show us what she can do in a good role. Only the feature film "Dream Lover", in which she co-starred with James Spader, began to showcase her full ability.
Even David Lynch, who owes much of the success of the "Twin Peaks" series to M�dchen, inexplicably betrayed his young star in the film prequel "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me", putting her on the big screen for less than a minute. It may be some small consolation to M�dchen's fans to know that the film is but a hollow imitation of the TV series and isn't worth seeing.
A few other tidbits, to add to your picture of M�dchen, or perhaps to add to the mystery: She has lived through the crash of a small airplane. After seeing the movie "Arachnophobia", she dreamed that her body was covered with spiders. She has stolen items from hotels - towels, glasses, a water pitcher, a set of pillows .
Central Park West 1994-present [Carrie] Dream Lover 1994 [Lena Reardon] Trapped in Paradise 1994 Love, Cheat & Steal 1993 [Lauren Harrington] "Fifth Corner, The" 1992 Sleepwalkers aka Stephen King's Sleepwalkers 1992 [Tanya Robertson] Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 1992 [Shelly Johnson] Borrower, The 1991 [Megan] For the Very First Time 1991 [Rhonda] "Twin Peaks" 1990-1991 [Shelly Johnson] Don't Tell Her It's Me aka Boyfriend School 1990 [Mandy] I'm Dangerous Tonight 1990 [Amy] Jury Duty: The Comedy aka Great American Sex Scandal, The 1990 Baywatch: Panic at Malibu Pier 1989 [Laurie Harris]