Early life

Gidley was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, but was raised in Salem, New Hampshire, the youngest of the family with two older brothers. After she graduated high school, she moved to New York and, while walking down a street in Manhattan, she was discovered by a modeling agent. She won the Wilhemina Modeling Agency's "Most Beautiful Girl in the World" contest on March 12, 1985, in Sydney, Australia. As her modeling career had taken off, Gidley studied acting at the New York Academy of Dramatic Art under actress and acting teacher Stella Adler, who ran the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career in acting.

Career

Gidley has appeared in film and television. She has acted alongside several Hollywood stars including Keanu Reeves, Josh Brolin, Melanie Griffith, and Jon Cryer. She made her acting debut in the 1986 film Thrashin'. She has appeared in several films of the 1980s including Dudes, Permanent Record, The Blue Iguana, and the cult sci-fi classic Cherry 2000. Gidley has starred in many films throughout the '90s, including Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a prequel to the short-lived television series, Disturbed, alongside Malcolm McDowell, Highway to Hell, alongside Patrick Bergin and an early role for Ben Stiller, the comedy Jane Austen's Mafia!, the comedy horror Aberration, a film in which she starred in the lead role, and Kiss & Tell, a film in which Gidley also served as producer. In 2000, she appeared in the family comedy The Little Vampire. She has not starred in a film since 2005. Her most recent film to date is the direct-to-video comedy Cake Boy.

Gidley is perhaps best known for her roles in television series. Her first appearance in television was in an episode of the action adventure series MacGyver. She had the recurring role of Brigitte Parker in The Pretender. Her character was the first to be introduced on the show's official website before any of the episodes had aired. She played another recurring character, Teri Miller on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She appeared in the show's first and third seasons. She starred as Audrey Westin in the short-lived mystery series Strange Luck which only lasted one season. Her other television credits include Crime Story, Tour of Duty, and the serial drama Skin which was cancelled after just eight episodes, and she guest starred in an episode of The Closer which is her final appearance as an actress at present.

She directed and wrote the 2004 short film I Just Forgot.

Personal life

She was married to martial arts actor James Lew from 2005 to 2008 when they divorced.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1986	Thrashin'	Chrissy	David Winters
1987	Dudes	Elyse	Penelope Spheeris
1987	Cherry 2000	Cherry 2000	Steve De Jarnatt
1988	Blue Iguana, TheThe Blue Iguana	Dakota	John Lafia
1988	Permanent Record	Kim	Marisa Silver
1990	Last of the Finest, TheThe Last of the Finest	Haley	John Mackenzie
1990	Disturbed	Sandy Ramirez	Charles Winkler
1991	Liebestraum	Jane Kessler	Mike Figgis
1991	Highway to Hell	Clara	Ate de Jong
1992	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Teresa Banks	David Lynch
1992	Love Is Like That	Eloise	Jill Goldman
1993	Paper Hearts	Samantha	Rod McCall
1994	Freefall	Katy Mazur	John Irvin
1994	S.F.W.	Janet Streeter	Jefery Levy
1994	Crew, TheThe Crew	Jennifer Pierce	Carl Colpaert
1996	Little Death, TheThe Little Death	Kelly Hannon	Jan Verheyen
1996	Kiss & Tell	Beta Carotene	Jordan Alan
1997	Maze, TheThe Maze	Bertha	Joëlle Bentolila
1997	Aberration	Amy Harding / Alex Langdon	Tim Boxell
1997	Bombshell	Melinda Clark	Paul Wynne
1998	Mafia!	Pepper Gianini	Jim Abrahams
1998	Treat, TheThe Treat	Dolly	Jonathan Gems
1999	Liar's Poker	Linda	Jeff Santo
2000	Goodbye Casanova	Hilly	Mauro Borrelli	Television film
2000	Little Vampire, TheThe Little Vampire	Dottie Thompson	Uli Edel
2001	Puzzled	Susan	Tosca Musk
2001	True Blue	Beck	J. S. Cardone
2002	Luster	Alyssa	Everett Lewis
2002	Landspeed	Linda Fincher	Christian McIntire
2005	Cake Boy	Becky	Joe Escalante	Direct-to-video

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	MacGyver	Gina	Episode: "Final Approach"
1987	Crime Story	Teddi Butler	Episode: "Love Hurts"
1987	Tour of Duty	Lt. Nikki Raines	Episode: "Nowhere to Run"
1988	Tour of Duty	Lt. Nikki Raines	Episodes: "Angel of Mercy", "The Hill"
1988	Glory Days	Diane	TV film
1990	Blue Bayou	Deanie Fortenot Serulla	TV film
1992	Angel Street	Det. Dorothy Paretsky	TV film
1992	Angel Street	Det. Dorothy Paretsky	TV series
1995-1996	Strange Luck	Audrey Westin	(17 episodes)
1997-2000	Pretender, TheThe Pretender	Brigitte	Recurring role (17 episodes)
1998	Man Made	Kitty	TV film
2000	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Teri Miller	Episode: "Who Are You?"
2001	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Teri Miller	Episodes: "To Halve and to Hold", "Face Lift", "Evaluation Day"
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Teri Miller	Episode: "Snuff"
2003-2004	Skin	Barbara Goldman	Recurring role (6 episodes)
2006	Closer, TheThe Closer	Annalisa Mundy	Episode: "Head Over Heels"

Documentary

• Scratch the Surface (1997)
• Moving Through Time: Fire Walk with Me Memories (Video short 2014)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]