By Jagmohan Singh Barhok.
Born January 29,1970, Heather Graham packed her bags for pastures new at Sun Strip in search of a career in films.She was lucky enough to play Mercedes Lane the girl of Corey Haim’s dreams in “License to drive” also featuring Corey Fieldman & Caorl Kane,directed by new Greg Beeman released in 1988. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox. A teen decides to go for a night on the town with his friends,despite having failed in his driving test earlier. The film centers round occupying a valid license and driving .
After initial struggle, like many others in the trade, the starlet proved herself far more than just another heavenly body,with a scintillating performance in director Paul Tomas Anderson’s 1997 paean to porn, “Boogie Nights” as the ebullient Rollergirl,s skin -flick starlet who is willing to strips down to her treasured skates, but nary a stitch further, Graham sported the only hardware in the movie more striking than the 13-inch prosthetic penis brandished by co-star Mark Wahlberg. She cemented her It-girl status with a prominent cameo in the hip slasher sequel” Scream 2″,and a lip-locking, tongue-tangling smooch with Friends hunk Matt in the big- screen remake of “Lost in Space”( 1998).
After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy “License to Drive ” (1988), followed by the critically acclaimed film “Drugstore Cowboy (1989), which brought her into the limelight. “Drugstore Cowboy ” is a 1989 American crime drama film directed by the American filmmaker Gus Van Sant. Written by Van Sant and Daniel Yost, and based on an autobiographical novel by James Fogle, the film stars Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham and William S. Burroughs. It was Van Sant’s second film as director. The film was a critical success and currently holds a 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8/10 based on 27 reviews. Graham’s first film appearance was an uncredited cameo in “Mrs. Soffel”(1984). Graham also played supporting roles in films such as Shout (1991), Diggstown (1992), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Swingers (1996) and on the television series Twin Peaks (1991) and its prequel film “Fire Walk with Me” (1992), before gaining critical praise for the film “Boogie Nights” (1997). In 1999, she co-starred in “Bowfinger” and “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”.
In 2009, Graham played the stripper with a heart of gold, Jade, in “The Hangover”, which was released to critical and box office success. She won the role after Lindsay Lohan turned it down. The film’s success can be gauged by the fact that it collected $ 469 million on Box office against a budgeted cost of only $ 35 million. she did not return for the sequel “The Hangover Part II”, she reprised her role in the final installment of the trilogy, ” Hangover Part III “.
Graham has been a public advocate for Children International, and supported the climate change campaign ‘Global Cool’ in 2007. She was ranked at number 40 in FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World list in 2000, number 95 in 2001 list, number 97 in the 2002 list, number #74 in the 2005 list and at number #98 in 2006 list. In 2001 she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People.
