Alexandra Powers

With an acting teacher father and a television writer mother, it's no surprise that Alexandra Powers decided to become an actress when she was only six. A New York City native, Powers scored her first screen credit in the 1983 drama "The Prodigal," and from there went on to appear on TV series such as "T.J. Hooker," "Family Ties," and "Highway to Heaven." In 1984, the young actress had a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's biopic "Mask," and over the next four years appeared in several other films and TV series before her breakout role in 1989, that of Josh Charles' love interest, Chris, in Peter Weir's "Dead Poets Society." Recurring roles in the series "Valerie's Family" and "21 Jump Street" followed, and in 1993, Powers leapt from portraying a prostitute in the Japan-set mystery "Rising Sun" to playing a fundamentalist Christian lawyer in the series "L.A. Law." The timely 1994 TV movie "Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story" gave Powers one of her juiciest roles yet when she portrayed infamous Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding opposite Heather Langenkamp's Nancy Kerrigan, and the remainder of the 1990s found the actress in demand on television with guest spots on series like the updated "Fantasy Island." Powers married fellow actor Barry Sherman in 1993, and retired from acting after her role in the 2001 feature "Zigs."