Early life
Witt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her mother, Diane (née Pietro), is a junior high school reading teacher, and her father, Robert Witt, is a science teacher and photographer. She has a brother, Ian. Witt was discovered by David Lynch when she appeared on the television show That's Incredible! in 1980; she had recited Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He cast her in the movie Dune (1984), where she played Paul Atreides' young sister Alia. She turned eight during filming. Afterwards, she left Hollywood to concentrate on her studies and music. She was home schooled by her parents. She won several national and international classical piano competitions, including the "Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition".
At age 14, Witt earned her high school diploma. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood with her mother (who was noted from 1988–93 in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's longest hair) to pursue a career as a full-time actress. Soon, Lynch, to whom she refers as a mentor, created the role of Gersten Hayward especially for her in his successful series Twin Peaks. He cast her again in Blackout, a segment in his short-lived HBO series Hotel Room.
Career
During this time, Witt supported herself by playing piano at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. She went on to play small parts in Mike Figgis'Liebestraum (in which her brother Ian also appears), the Gen-X drama Bodies, Rest & Motion and the TV movie The Disappearance of Vonnie. In 1994, the red-haired Witt landed her first lead role in a film, playing a disturbed teenager in Fun. She received the Special Jury Recognition Award at the Sundance Festival and was nominated for Best Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards. This performance inspired Madonna to recommend Witt to be cast as her daughter in the first segment, "The Missing Ingredient" of Four Rooms.
Witt was introduced to a larger audience playing the role of Zoey Woodbine, daughter of actress Cybill Shepherd's character in the sitcomCybill from 1995 to 1998. Between seasons she starred in films: Mr. Holland's Opus, Alexander Payne's abortion comedy Citizen Ruth,Passion's Way and Bongwater. After Cybill was cancelled, Witt received a leading role in the horror film Urban Legend and the animated feature Gen¹³ which was never released because the studio stopped funding before the completion of the movie.
In 2000, Witt had starring roles on the television shows Ally McBeal and The Sopranos; the lead role in the comedy Playing Mona Lisa, a supporting part in John Waters' Cecil B. Demented, and her stage debut in Robbie Fox's musical The Gift at the now-closed Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles, in which she played a high-priced stripper with a disease.
In the years following, Witt's acting career slowed. She had a small part in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky, which was intended as a reference to her roles in Dune and Liebestraum. She also played a college graduate who discussed losing her virginity in the experimental Ten Tiny Love Stories and the trailer-trash "Barbie" in American Girl, which was released to video in 2005.
She appeared in the 2002 romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. In 2003-2004, she lived primarily in the UK, filming The Upside of Anger opposite Kevin Costner; and she starred as Evelyn in a stage-production of Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things. Between these two projects, she went to South Africa to shoot the German TV movie Kingdom in Twilight which also goes by the names The Sword of Xanten and The Ring of the Nibelungs. She played Kriemhild in this film interpretation of the epic poem DasNibelungenlied, which was released in the US as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King. On June 14, 2004, Witt modeled what is believed to be the most expensive hat ever made, for Christie's auction house in London. The Chapeau d'Amour, designed by Louis Mariette, is valued at $2.7 million (US) and is encrusted in diamonds. In September 2006 she returned to the London stage, portraying the piano-playing Abigail, a role in which she demonstrated herself an "outstanding pianist" of "formidable skill", in Piano/Forte at the Royal Court Theatre.
Witt joined the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent for the 2007-08 season as Det. Nola Falacci, a character who is a temporary replacement for Megan Wheeler, played by Julianne Nicholson who was away on maternity leave. She is a recurring character in Friday Night Lights for the 2009-10 season.
Witt currently resides in Los Angeles and New York.
Beside her work as an actress, she is working on her music career. Her self-titled EP with four songs was released on iTunes in July 2009.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Dune | Alia Atreides | credited as Alicia Roanne Witt |
| 1990 | Twin Peaks | Gersten Hayward | Episode: "2.1" |
| 1993 | Liebestraum | Girl in Dream | |
| 1993 | Hotel Room | Diane | Episode: "Blackout" |
| 1994 | Fun | Bonnie | |
| 1994 | The Disappearance of Vonnie | Janine | TV movie |
| 1995 | Four Rooms | Kiva | Segment: "The Missing Ingredient" |
| 1995 | Mr. Holland's Opus | Gertrude Lang | |
| 1995-1998 | Cybill | Zoey Woodbine | 87 episodes |
| 1996 | Citizen Ruth | Cheryl Stoney | |
| 1997 | Bongwater | Serena | |
| 1998 | Urban Legend | Natalie Simon | |
| 1999 | The Reef | Sophy Viner | |
| 2000 | The Sopranos | Amy Safir | Episode: "D-Girl" |
| 2000 | Playing Mona Lisa | Claire Goldstein | |
| 2000 | Cecil B. Demented | Cherish | |
| 2000 | Ally McBeal | Hope Mercey | Episode: "Hope and Glory" Episode: "Ally McBeal: The Musical, Almost" |
| 2000 | Gen¹³ | Caitlin Fairchild (voice) | Video |
| 2001 | Vanilla Sky | Libby | |
| 2001 | Ten Tiny Love Stories | Two | |
| 2002 | American Girl | Barbie | |
| 2002 | Two Weeks Notice | June Carver | |
| 2003 | The Twilight Zone | Liz | Episode: "The Executions of Grady Finch" |
| 2004 | Girls' Lunch | Short film | |
| 2004 | Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King | Kriemhild | TV movie |
| 2005 | The Upside of Anger | Hadley Wolfmeyer | |
| 2005 | Conflict | Silky Sanders | |
| 2006 | Last Holiday | Ms. Burns | |
| 2007 | Blue Smoke | Reena Hale | TV movie |
| 2007 | 88 Minutes | Kim Cummings | |
| 2007 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Det. Nola Falacci | 5 episodes |
| 2008 | Wainy Days | Laura | Episode: "Shelly II" |
| 2008 | Puppy Love | Claire | TV series short |
| 2008 | Two and a Half Men | Miss Pasternak | Episode: "A Jock Strap in Hell" |
| 2009 | The Mentalist | Rosalind Harker | Episode: "Red John's Footsteps" |
| 2009-present | Friday Night Lights | Cheryl | 9+ episodes |
| 2010 | The Boarding House | Lily | |
| 2010 | Edgar Floats | Sandra | TV movie |
| 2010 | The Pond | Shelly | Short film |
| 2010 | Backyard Wedding | Kim Tyler | TV movie |
| 2010 | Peep World | Amy | |
| 2011 | The Flight of the Swan | ||
| 2011 | CSI: Miami | Michelle Baldwin | Episode: "Blood Lust" |
| 2011 | Bending the Rules | TBA | Post-production |
| 2011 | Joint Body | Michelle Page | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Theatre |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | The Gift | Tiffany Theatre |
| 2004 | The Shape of Things | New Ambassadors Theatre |
| 2006 | Piano/Forte | Royal Court Theatre |
| 2007 | Dissonance | Williamstown Theatre Festival |
