Alicia Witt

Alicia Roanne Witt (born August 21, 1975) is an American actress, singer and pianist.

Witt was born on August 21, 1975 in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Diane (née Pietro), a junior high school reading teacher, and Robert Witt, a science teacher and photographer.

Her acting talent was recognized by director David Lynch in 1980, when he heard her recite Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on the television show That's Incredible! at age five.

Lynch began working with her in film and television before Witt earned her high-school equivalency credential at age 14.

From the ages of 10 to 14, she took four piano lessons a week, including from a Boston University professor, and competed nationally.

She first came to fame as a child actress after being discovered by David Lynch, who cast her in Dune (1984) and Twin Peaks (1990).

Witt's discovery by Lynch led to his casting of the "flame-haired" child in Dune (1984), as Paul Atreides's sister Alia; she turned eight during filming.

She worked with Lynch again when she appeared in an episode of Twin Peaks, playing the younger sister of Lara Flynn Boyle's character Donna.

Her mother was an American and Guinness World Record holder for the longest hair from 1989 to 1996.

Witt has a brother, Ian.

Talking by age two and reading by the age of four, she has been described as a child prodigy.

Her acting background led to small parts in Mike Figgis' Liebestraum in 1991 (her brother Ian also appears), the Gen-X drama Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993) and the television film The Disappearance of Vonnie (1994).

She had a critically acclaimed role as a disturbed teenager in Fun (1994), appeared as a music student in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) and as a terrorized college student in the horror film Urban Legend (1998).

In 1994, Witt landed her first lead role in a film, playing a disturbed, murderous teenager in Fun and receiving the Special Jury Recognition Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Witt was then cast in Four Rooms as Madonna's daughter in the episode "The Missing Ingredient".

Witt was introduced to a larger audience in the role of Cybill Shepherd's daughter, Zoey Woodbine, in the sitcom Cybill.

Witt was a regular on Cybill Shepherd's sitcom Cybill (1995–1998) for four seasons, playing the title character's daughter, Zoe Woodbine.

While playing that part from 1995 to 1998, she also had film roles in Stephen Herek's Mr. Holland's Opus, Alexander Payne's Citizen Ruth, Robert Allan Ackerman's Passion's Way (based on the Edith Wharton novel, The Reef) and Richard Sears' comedy Bongwater.

After Cybill was cancelled, Witt went on to leading roles in Jamie Blanks' horror film Urban Legend (1998), and in Kevin Altieri/Touchstone Pictures' limited-release animated feature Gen¹³.

In 2000, Witt had starring roles on episodes of the television shows Ally McBeal and The Sopranos, the lead role in the Matthew Huffman comedy Playing Mona Lisa and a part in John Waters' Cecil B. Demented.

She appeared in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Last Holiday (2006) and the thriller 88 Minutes (2007).

Witt has made television appearances in The Walking Dead, The Sopranos, Nashville, Two and a Half Men, The Librarians, Friday Night Lights, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Mentalist, Justified, Twin Peaks: The Return, CSI: Miami, and Orange Is the New Black.

In addition to her acting, Witt has been described as a musical prodigy; she is an accomplished pianist, singer, and songwriter.

Next, she acted in a small part in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001).

Witt played "Two", the college graduate discussing loss of her virginity, in Rodrigo García's Ten Tiny Love Stories and played the role of promiscuous Barbie, half-sister of the title character, in American Girl.

Witt also appeared in Marc Lawrence's romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice (2002).

In 2003–04, she lived in the United Kingdom (during this time she portrayed Joan Allen's daughter in the U.S.-based comic drama The Upside of Anger).

Between the two projects, Witt went to South Africa to shoot a film interpretation of the epic poem "Das Nibelungenlied", played one of the central characters, Kriemhild, in the German television film Kingdom in Twilight.

Kingdom in Twilight has the title Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King in the U.S. and The Ring of the Nibelungs and The Sword of Xanten elsewhere.

Witt filmed the Last Holiday (2006) and the thriller 88 Minutes (2007) and joined the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent for the 2007–2008 season.

In the latter she played Detective Nola Falacci, a character temporarily replacing Megan Wheeler as Detective Mike Logan's partner (who was away on maternity leave) and was a recurring character in the 2007–2008 season.

Witt appeared in the role of Amy in the film Peep World (2010).

Witt appeared as the character Elaine Clayton in Cowgirls 'n Angels (2012), and in 2013, co-starred in the independent film Cold Turkey (opposite Peter Bogdanovich and Cheryl Hines); therein, she additionally performed an original musical piece over the end credits.

She has starred in nine annual Hallmark Christmas films, the first broadcast in 2013.

Her dramatic performance in this film was critically acclaimed, with New York Magazine's David Edelstein proclaiming her turn one of the top performances of 2013.

She appeared in four Christmas films in 2013: the feature film Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas, A Snow Globe Christmas for the Lifetime Channel and A Very Merry Mix-Up for the Hallmark Channel and in 2014, the Hallmark Channel's Christmas at Cartwright's.

Also in 2014, Witt appeared in a guest-starring role on the DirecTV series, Kingdom, which aired that October.

In 2014, in the fifth season of the FX series Justified she played Wendy Crowe, the brightest member of a Floridian crime family that gets entangled in the show's events in Kentucky.

In April 2016, Witt appeared in two episodes of The Walking Dead; the same month, it was announced that she would also be reprising her role as Gersten Hayward in the 2017 Twin Peaks series.

In her most recent film, Christmas Tree Lane (2020), she was also executive producer and storywriter, and contributed two original songs which her character sings.