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Mädchen Amick – Actress Information

by David Fox

Mädchen Amick is probably best known to many for playing the alluring waitress Shelly Johnson in Twin Peaks back in 1990, but her IMBD extends well beyond that, including popular roles in Riverdale, Gilmore Girls, Fantasy Island, ER, Californication, and so many more.  

These days, she has even added roles such as producer and director to her extensive film and television resume.

Background

Mädchen was born in Sparks, Nevada on December 12th to Judy and Bill Amick (medical office manager and musician, respectively) in 1970 and has been been an actor since she was 16 years old when she moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career, and definitely living the dream, as it were.

Her unusual name, Mädchen, was chosen by her parents who wanted a unique name for their daughter.

Madchen Amick
Madchen Amick

Mädchen translates from German to ‘girl’. She is also of Norwegian, Swedish, English and Irish descent, which accounts for her mysteriously and otherworldly beauty.

Taking after her father, Amick was naturally talented and drawn to music, and with the encouragement of her parents she learned to play the the piano, bass, violin and guitar. In addition to this, she is trained in a number of dance forms including: tap, ballet, jazz and modern dance.

If you haven’t seen the movie Sleepwalkers, here’s that scene where Mädchen does some fabulous dancing with her broom.

Family

She is married to David Alexis and has two children: Sylvester Time Amick-Alexis, and Mina Tobias Amick-Alexis. As well, Amick is an active social media user with accounts on Twitter (@madchenamick) and Instagram (@madchenamick)

Twin Peaks

Before her role on Twin Peaks, Amick appeared as in guest roles on episodes of Baywatch and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as a number of other TV movie roles.

Once Mädchen got her role as Shelly on Twin Peaks, her career skyrocketed and took her to the next level of stardom, as she became known as one of the beautiful and enigmatic female characters from the series, along with Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Sheryl Lee.

Mädchen’s Twin Peaks character Shelly Johnson, who was married to local thug and abusive psychopath turned vegetable Leo Johnson, while secretly seeing football player and bratty jock Bobby Briggs, played the perky waitress at the Double R Diner in the town of Twin Peaks and daughter figure to Norma Jennings, and was a fan favourite character in the show. 

Like the other Twin Peaks girls, she spawned a million nationwide crushes, however, her acting was not to be underestimated, as the show typically liked to bounce from one dramatic scenario to another, like a serial soap opera.

Visit: https://twinpeaks.fandom.com/

Connection to David Lynch

As well, Amick’s role as Shelly really helped her career to get off the ground and Amick considers working with David Lynch as being a paramount part of her career and has since remained good friends with Lynch since working with him.

She considers Lynch to be a very genuine and approachable person, which, by all accounts, he is.

When she took the role of Shelly, it basically involved David asking Mädchen if she wanted to do a show with him, to which she responded “yes”.

As the show progressed, David Lynch himself actually appeared on his own show as partially deaf FBI director Gordon Cole.  At one point, Cole developed a crush on Shelly, which lead to this funny scene where Gordon ends up regaining his hearing momentarily while talking with Shelly, and manages to kiss her.

Over the years, Mädchen and David have been fast friends, and Shelly Johnson reprised her role for Twin Peaks: The Return (AKA Season 3), in 2017, where we see her now as a mother and a part of ongoing weird events that seem to happen in this fictional town.

Post-Twin Peaks Roles

Since appearing in Twin Peaks, Mädchen has appeared in a number of TV shows and movies, mostly notably as Alice Cooper in Riverdale (2017-Present), Mrs Ellison in American Horror Story, Wendy Beauchamp in Witches of East End, Sherry Tinsdale in Gilmore Girls and Dutchess Catherine Beaton in Gossip Girl.

And who could forget this scene, from Scenes of the Crime, starring Jeff Bridges…

It’s hard not to think of Mädchen Amick as a bit of a sexpot in some of her roles, since a) she oozes sensuality, and b) knows it, and c) uses it.  Well, good for her.  That is why, in some of her roles, she seems to represent the object of many a man’s desire.  You can better play such a role when you literally in fact are such a person.  That said, Mädchen has some comedy infused in many of her roles, which makes her overall fun to watch.  She is an actress through and through.

Don’t get us wrong, Mädchen Amick is a versatile actress.  Take a look at this death scene!  She can die with the best of them…

In addition to her many roles, much like a couple of her Twin Peaks co-stars (Sherylin Fenn and Dana Ashbrook), Amick has had a role on Dawson’s Creek.

In Dawson’s Creek, Amick plays a characters named Nicole Kennedy. Nicole Kennedy is a recurring character during season 2, and arrives to Dawson’s Creek as a teacher who’s arrived to town after working in Hollywood. Her history piques Dawson’s interest but she has a romance with Dawson’s father.

In addition to her television roles, she has appeared in a number of movies, such as Megan in The Borrower (1991), Sarah Collins in Trapped in Paradise(1994), and Shannon Pace in Priest (2011).

Return to Twin Peaks

In the run up to Season 3 of Twin Peaks, Amick had been doing interviews, speaking about her excitement to work with her friend, David Lynch, and, to reprise her role as Shelly Johnson once again.

Amick never thought that Twin Peaks would see a reboot, denying that she even thought it would be possible to recapture the magic of the first two seasons (or at least the first season, some might say), but was thrilled to learn that when the reboot was announced, that it was on Showtime, and would give David Lynch and Mark Frost much more creative control and less restrictions than the original run had, which eventually got bogged down with bad writing and infighting with networks, leading to it’s original demise.  But…it’s back!

When she received her lines for the new season of Twin Peaks, she noted that rather than receiving a full script, she only received lines for scenes which she was directly involved in. The only Twin Peaks cast member to receive the full script was Kyle MachLachlan (Special Agent Dale Cooper).

Additional Mädchen Amick Links

Mädchen Amick maintains her own blog over here, which has lots of interesting info for fans, including her masterclasses (held in L.A.). She also has a Facebook page that she posts on frequently. Facebook page that she posts on. You can also find her on Snapchat here.

We shall leave you with this music video she directed for her son Sylvester Alexis, aka Sly Beetz. It’s cool to see Mädchen direct a rap video that looks she’s been directing rap videos for years (!?), but it also shows influence from her experience in cinema.

Kyle MacLachlan Biography

Kyle Maclachlan Actor Bio

Kyle MacLachlan is an American actor born February 22, 1959. Quite possibly best known for his role as the mysterious, yet welcoming agent Special Agent Dale Cooper in in Twin…

About David Fox

David Fox is an artist who created davidcharlesfox.com to talk about art and creativity. He loves to write, paint, and take pictures. David is also a big fan of spending time with his family and friends.

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