Shiri Appleby has been acting since age four when she appeared in a Raisin Bran commercial. Now, after cultivating an insanely impressive IMDB filmography—from "kid #1" on Who's the Boss? to 61 episodes of Roswell to a ten-episode stint on ER—Appleby is starring as TV producer Rachel Goldberg on Lifetime's UnREAL, a series that plays on the behind-the-scenes drama of a Bachelor-like show. It's a grittier, darker character for the actress, who sees her recent credits as a new chapter in her three-decades-long career. (Need more proof? See her four-episode arc on Girls, which involved a deeply memorable if not disturbing sex scene with Adam Driver.) Here, as part of our recurring Explain Your IMDB series, Appleby recounts her memories from some of her most memorable roles (including a TV movie called Pizza My Heart.)
I Love You To Death, Millie, Girl In Park (1990)
"Lawrence Kasdan directed it. It was a scene with Tracey Ullman and I was a girl in the park. I remember my mom telling me it was a big deal movie because of who the actors were. Tracey Ullman was sitting in the park after finding out her husband has cheated on her, and this blonde boy and I ran over to her and asked if everything was okay. I thought I was a really serious actor and took it so seriously."
Doogie Howser, M.D., Molly Harris (1993)
"It was a really big job for me. I remember auditioning on the 20th Century Fox lot. I knew it was a big deal because I had auditioned for it two or three times before that. I was about 11 years old and, to me, it was like starring in Gone With The Wind. It was a really fantastic work experience. There were a lot of scenes for me to play and I had to do a lot of emotions. I remember feeling really sad when the job was over because I felt like I really grew a lot. I know I was 11 years old, but I really felt that."
ER, Ms. Murphy/Dr. Daria Wade (1994, 2008-09)
"I was in the pilot of ER, I played a 15-year-old pregnant girl they were treating. And then in the final season they were casting for interns. I had literally just been in the actual E.R. because I broke my pelvis and tailbone and told my agent, 'I really want to be on ER' So then I was in the entire last season of the show. It was amazing. It was like being in graduate school for television. I learned that this is how you do television at the highest level."
Baywatch, Jennie (1995)
"Baywatch was one of those shows that you auditioned for all the time as a young girl. I auditioned once to play a blind girl and didn't get it. I was constantly auditioning for it. A friend of mine from school's father was the executive producer so they ended up writing a role for me. I was playing Hobie's [Jeremy Jackson] girlfriend in an episode. I was wearing a bikini and I was super flat chested and I remember they asked me to push my arms together to make my boobs look bigger. I was like, 'There's nothing to make bigger here, guys.' It wasn't much of an acting role."
Xena: Warrior Princess, Tara (1998)
"That was pretty monumental for me. I was 18 years old and I was going to college at USC. Selma Blair originally had the role, but she got another one and told them about me because we were friends. I got the job, which I couldn't believe, because they were shooting it in New Zealand. I remember thinking that it was the best thing in the world that someone was flying me first class to another country because they liked the way I acted. It was really powerful."
Roswell, Liz Parker (1999-2002)
"I was 19 years old when I shot the pilot. I was actually a sophomore in college. I had auditioned for the other two female roles twice and on my fourth or fifth audition they let me audition for Liz. What's interesting is that I was living out of my parents' house and I had started to become friends with some actor kids. One of them was A.J. Buckley and he told me about the pilot. For some reason my agent couldn't get me the job so I gave my headshot and resume to A.J. and he gave it to the director. It was the first time I'd hustled and gone through the back door to get in. That was the role that changed everything for me in this business and gave me a career. It made me a name."
Swimfan, Amy Miller (2002)
"That job was the best thing in the whole world. I lived in New York City, in the Tribeca Grand Hotel, for two months in the middle of summer. I worked two or three days a week. It was back in the day when they gave you a lot of per diems. I had the best summer of my life. Everyone was really acting and really committed and doing good work, but at the same time I was barely working and partying my brains out in Manhattan and being paid a lot."
Pizza My Heart, Gina Prestolani (2005)
"This is really going deep. We shot it in New Orleans. It was basically a Romeo and Juliet story about these two competing pizza families in New Jersey. And my dad actually has the poster framed in his office at home."
Charlie Wilson's War, Jailbait—Charlie's Angeles (2007)
"This was another monumental one. I went in and auditioned for director Mike Nichols. I was wearing a completely inappropriate, low-cut dress with cowboy boots. I did the first scene and I was really committed and I was taking it really seriously, and Mike started laughing. He's like, 'You're saying it the way you are, but you look like that. It's so funny.' He gave me the job as Jailbait in the room, which had never happened to me before that or since then. And then all of sudden I was making a movie with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. I learned so much on that movie. It's the highest caliber set I've ever been on."
Life Unexpected, Cate Cassidy (2010-11)
"This was really meaningful. I was starring on the show and loved the cast. We got along really well and we're all still friends."
Girls, Natalia (2013-14)
"This had the biggest impact on my career. I'm friends with [showrunner] Jenni Konner and I asked to shadow the director because I want to start directing television. My second day there, Lena [Dunham] asked if I wanted to be on the show. That's how I got the job. It's really changed the course of things. Until then I've mostly played the nice girl and the offers I was getting weren't that risky. I loved working with Adam Driver. Lena directed the episode with our sex scene. It was one of the most fun days I've ever had at work because it was so different and raw and scary and sexy. Everyone had a lot of respect for the scene."
UnREAL, Rachel Goldberg (2015)
"I was determined to get this role. A lot of the things I get sent are the girlfriend or the wife or the assistant, and those are not that exciting to me. We shot the pilot in October of 2013, but we re-shot it last year. The show just kind of took off. I'm really, overwhelming touched by how well it's been received. There weren't any expectations. I don't think anybody really expected much from a Lifetime show. There wasn't any heat or buzz on it, so we made a show that we thought was interesting and fun. It's been amazing to get this response."
