Heather Graham - Sexy Poker Player

Heather Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a family of Irish descent. Her family relocated repeatedly until settling down in Agoura Hills, California when she was nine years old. The eldest of two children, her younger sister, Aimee Graham, is also an actress and writer. Their mother, Joan, is a teacher and noted author of children's books, and father, James Graham, a retired FBI agent. The girls were raised with family values that followed a strict traditional Catholic upbringing. Graham graduated from Agoura High School in California in 1988. In 1986, she appeared on a special "Teen Week" episode of the NBC-TV game show Scrabble.

She was introduced to acting during the school production of Wizard of Oz. Then while still in school she appeared in numerous television commercials, the sitcom Growing Pains and several television movies. She debuted in the 1988 film License to Drive, which was a teen comedy starring Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. Her strict parents forbade her to appear in the 1989 black comedy Heathers, which had an expletive-rich script.

After high school, Graham enrolled in extension classes of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and studied English for two years. There she met actor James Woods. They became romantically involved during the time she was cast in the movie Diggstown, where he had landed the starring role. After two years there, Graham withdrew from school at UCLA to pursue acting full time, over her parents' objections. She then moved to Hollywood, where she worked different jobs while continuing to establish herself as an actress.

Her first film appearance was an uncredited cameo in Mrs. Soffel. After turning down the female lead role in Dirty Dancing, her second film appearance was in the television film Student Exchange. Graham was cast in a number of parts as a supporting actress including the part of Nadine in the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy. In 1991, she appeared in the TV series Twin Peaks as Annie Blackburn, Dale Cooper's second-season love interest. Many became familiar with her for these two roles. Her breakthrough role proved to be that of 1970s porn starlet "Roller Girl" in 1997's Boogie Nights, in which she appeared in scenes with frontal nudity and received several award nominations. Her first starring role was in 1999 as Felicity Shagwell in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. She also appeared in the music video for Lenny Kravitz's cover of "American Woman" by The Guess Who.



I'm a demon poker player. For years I've had friends over to my house for poker sessions. Or I'll go to poker clubs, Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

I hardly ever lose money. I don't play for huge stakes - I'm too cautious for that. But I've often won hundreds of dollars. I always play sober. My weakness is a tendency to get too competitive, which means I lose my edge. I'm waiting to be invited to the tournaments that Brad Pitt organises. But I'd need to be careful. Those guys play for huge stakes. I'd be afraid of running a losing streak and ending up writing out huge IOUs," she added.