Sydney Andrews of Melrose Place

Background:

“It's come around to where it's not a bad thing anymore to have that (Melrose) association.” Laura Leighton

American actress Laura Leighton is famous to television audiences for playing the ill-natured younger sister Sydney Andrews on the Fox popular series “Melrose Place,” a role she played from 1993 to 1997. She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award in 1995 for her performance. More recently, she recreated the role of Sydney in the 2009 series of the same name. Leighton also played a regular role in the short lived series “Eyes” (ABC, 2005), recurring roles in “Beverly Hills, 90210” (1998), “Skin” (2003) and “Boston Legal” (2006) as well as one episodic roles in “Early Edition,” “CSI: Miami” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” among other shows. She has starred in several TV films, including “We'll Meet Again” (2002), “Daniel's Daughter” (2008) and “Mending Fences” (2009). On the big screen, Mrs. Savan has played roles in the films “Angels, Baby!,” “Clean and Narrow” and “Seven Girlfriends” (all 1999), “The Sky Is Falling” (2000) and “The Burrowers” (2008).

Leighton is married to the Burbank, CA native actor Doug Savant. In addition to “Melrose Place,” his husband has acted in TV series like “Knots Landing” (7 episodes, 1986-1987), “24” (4 episodes, 2004) and “Desperate Housewives” (122 episodes, 2004-2010). The happy couple have two children together. She also raises Savant's two daughters from a former relationship.

One of People Magazine's “50 most beautiful people in the world” (1996), Leighton dated actor Grant Show (born on February 27, 1962), also a costar on “Melrose Place,” from 1993 to 1996 before marrying his husband in 1998. She can play piano.

Laura Miller

Childhood and Family:

Born Laura Miller on July 24, 1968, in Iowa City, Iowa, Laura Leighton adopted his grandfather's named in 1988. An active girl, she made herself busy throughout junior high by taking dance classes, playing diverse sports and joining the choir. When she was older, she danced and sang with the traveling singing troupe, the Young Americans. She graduated from West High School in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1986 and then moved to Los Angeles, where she studied business at the California State University, Long Beach, in Long Beach, California.

Thirty something Laura married actor and fellow “Melrose Place” costar Doug Savant (born on June 21, 1964) in May 1998. She gave birth to the couple's first child, son Jack Douglas Savant, on October 10, 2000. Five years later, the family welcomed a baby girl, Lucy Jane Leighton Savant, on June 9, 2005. Laura also has two step daughters, Arianna Josephine Savant (born on January 17, 1992) and Madeline Marie Savant (born on July 20, 1993), from Savant's first marriage to Dawn Dunkin (together from 1983 to 1997).

Pretty Little Liars

Career:

After touring with The Young Americans, Laura Leighton headed to Los Angeles to try her hand in acting. As a struggling actress in L.A., she worked as a waitress and took commercial jobs to support herself, including “Pizza Hut” and “Dep Hair Gel” spots.

Leighton's big break arrived in 1993 when she landed the role of Sydney Andrews, the troublemaking and spoiled younger sister of Jane Mancini (played byJosie Bissett), in the prime time drama “Melrose Place,” her first TV acting debut. Leighton was working in an LA casting office when she heard about the role of Sydney and decided to audition for the part after an encouragement from a friend. She had to try out for several times before eventually catching the attention of executive producer Aaron Spelling. With his help, she finally got the role and made her first appearance on the Darren Star created show in the January 6, 1993 episode “Single White Sister.” Originally designed to be a two episode stint in season one, the role of Sydney became a recurring character to season two and was upgraded to series regular for the next season. She departed the show in 1997, after what was believed to be a salary disagreement. Apart from celebrity status, the role brought Leighton a 1995 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.

During her four year tenure, Leighton had some projects outside of “Melrose Place.” In November 1993, she was featured as a travel agent in the NBC TV film “Victim of Love: The Shannon Mohr Story,” a spin off from “Unsolved Mysteries” (1987). She then contributed her voice to the outstanding 30 minute animated Christmas special, “Life with Louie: A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman” (1994), helmed by Matthew O''Callaghan, played Carolyn in the CBS TV movie “The Other Woman” (1995), opposite Monica Parker, Lindsay Parker, James Read and Lloyd Bridges, and starred as Laurette Wilder in the HBO TV film “In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy” (1995), directed by Bill D'Elia and written by Danielle Hill. She also hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” (1995), voiced Ditzi in an episode of the Emmy nominating cartoon series “Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man” (1997) and made a self appearance in an episode of the HBO sitcom “The Larry Sanders Show” (1997). In March 1997, she appeared in “The Rosie O'Donnell Show.”

After leaving “Melrose Place,” Leighton played the recurring role of wannabe actress Sophie Burns on the Fox series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” a role created by Spelling specially for her. She was on the show for six episodes from September to November 1998. Later that same year, in December, she costarred with Scott Glenn and Courtney B. Vance in the Showtime television thriller film “Naked City: A Killer Christmas” (1998), directed by Peter Bogdavonich. She portrayed Gerry Millar. In 1999, Leighton made her big screen acting debut in the independent movie “Angels, Baby!,” starring as Jessica, opposite Chris Jacobs as Jason. Written and helmed by Jeff Fisher, the film, however, only earned a small limited release later that year. She followed it up with big roles in the indie drama “Clean and Narrow” (1999), directed by William Katt and co written by Katt and Kermit Christman, and the Paul Lazarus romance/comedy “Seven Girlfriends” (1999), also starring Tim Daly and Olivia d'Abo.

In the new millennium, Leighton played best friend Amber Lee in the film “The Sky Is Falling” (2000), written and directed by first timer Florrie Laurence and produced by Brad Hall and David Parks. The drama/comedy starred Dedee Pfeiffer as struggling novelist Emily Hall and also featured Eric Close as Hall's ex boyfriend, Mike, Teri Garr as her psychic mother, Mona, and Howard Hesseman as her hippie photographer father. Yogi. “The Sky Is Falling” received positive reviews from critics. The same year, she made guest appearance in “The Outer Limits” and “Early Edition” before going on hiatus to have a baby. She briefly returned to the small screen in November 2002 when she played Fran Simmons, an investigate reporter who helps ex convict Molly Lasch prove her innocence for the murder of her husband, in the film “We'll Meet Again,” adapted from Mary Higgins Clark's novel of the same title, but did not take another role until she attempted to return to series TV as a recurring cast in October 2003 with the Fox soon canceled drama “Skin,” a tale of two teenagers who came from conflicting families. Five months later, she portrayed Jordan Davies in the episode “Daddy's Girl” of the Fox short lived science fiction series “Tru Calling,” which starred Eliza Dushku, Zach Galifianakis, Shawn Reaves, A.J. Cook, Jessica Collins, Benjamín Benítez, Matthew Bomer, and Jason Priestley.

After portraying Joanne Sanders in the thriller/mystery made for TV film “A Deadly Encounter” (2004), Leighton returned to series TV as a regular on the Tim Daly drama vehicle ABC drama “Eyes” (2005), playing Leslie Town. 12 episodes were produced, but ABC only aired five episodes before the show was canceled. All episodes of the series would later broadcast by US's satellite broadcaster DirecTV, starting in September 2009. During 2006 to 2007, Leighton landed guest spots in prime time shows such as “CSI: Miami,” “Boston Legal,” “Shark” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” She starred as Nora Flannery in Lifetime's telepic “Love Notes” (2007), along side Antonio Cupo, Ellie Harvie, Lorena Gale, Aaron Pearl and Deanna Milligan.

2008 saw Leighton play Catherine 'Cate' Madighan in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Daniel's Daughter,” about a magazine editor who returns to her small hometown to meet a request from her alienated father. Despite mixed reception, the film was a hit among audiences. She revisited the motion picture industry with the role of Gertrude Spacks on the horror/thriller “The Burrowers (also 2008), which was helmed and penned by J.T. Petty. Costars in the film included Clancy Brown, William Mapother, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Robert Ri'chard. She next starred with Angie Dickinson in the Hallmark Channel movie “Mending Fences” (2009).

It was also in 2009 that Leighton reprised her popular role of the expected dead Sydney Andrews on an updated version of the 1990s Fox show, “Melrose Place.” The show debuted on The CW Television Network on September 8, 2009, with Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer serving as show runners. The show has received mixed reviews from critics. It stars Katie Cassidy as Ella Simms, Stephanie Jacobsen as Lauren Yung, Jessica Lucas Riley Richmond and Michael Rady as Jonah Miller. Leighton will play Ashley Marin in the new ABC series “Pretty Little Liars,” based on Sara Shepard's series of young adult novels of the same name, which follows the lives of four girls (Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily), whose tie crumble after the fade of their leader, Alison. Ten episodes are scheduled to air later in 2010.

Awards:
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