Originally hailing from the Midwest, Graham was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 29, 1970. The oldest of two girls (younger sister Aimee is also an actress), Graham led a fairly itinerant childhood thanks to her father's job with the FBI. A quiet, unpopular girl by her own account, Graham became interested in acting at a young age. She had her first role as Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard of Oz, and remained active in the theatre throughout high school, winning the title of "Most Talented" from her peers. After high school, Graham packed up and headed to Los Angeles, where she discovered that talented as she may have been, it was no guarantee of employment. She worked a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as an usher at the Hollywood Bowl, before making her 1988 film debut in License to Drive as the object of Corey Haim's desire. The following year, Graham's career began to travel in a more auspicious direction when she was cast as a doomed drug addict in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed Drugstore Cowboy. Despite winning raves for her performance, Graham eluded stardom, as her subsequent film roles were largely incidental. However, she did win a recurring role on the long-running TV miniseries Twin Peaks in 1990, and the following year starred in the widely celebrated made-for-TV movie O Pioneers!.
In 1992, Graham had a supporting role in Diggstown, the most notable effect of which was a relationship with co-star James Woods, who was twice her age. After appearing in a few more films of varying quality (Six Degrees of Separation (1993) being at one end of the spectrum, 1994's Don't Do It, which paired her with Drugstore boyfriend James LeGros at the other), the actress finally got a break with the 1996 hit Swingers, appearing in a small but memorable role as the girl of Jon Favreau's dreams. The part marked the beginning of an upswing in Graham's career: the following year she had a bit part in the movie-within-a-movie in Scream 2, which led to her inclusion on a Rolling Stone cover featuring the movie's assorted Hot Young Things, and also had her breakthrough role in Boogie Nights. As Rollergirl, an under-dressed, over-sexed coke-snorting young porn actress, Graham made an indelible impression on audiences everywhere. 1997 continued to be the best year of the actress' career thus far: she also starred in Gregg Araki's Nowhere, in which she did little except have copious amounts of sex with the similarly golden-tressed Ryan Phillippe, and Two Girls and a Guy, a critically acclaimed piece that featured her as one of the title's two girls opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s guy.
Unfortunately, Graham's first big-budget undertaking, the 1998 sci-fi film Lost in Space, was swallowed in a deep pit of critical and commercial quicksand. The actress more than rebounded the following year, however, earning top billing in two films, the Steve Martin comedy Bowfinger and the eagerly-awaited Austin Powers sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The same year Graham earned the 1999 ShoWest convention's "Female Star of Tomorrow" title, further assuring what looked like a very bright future for the young actress.
Playing Dorothy in her grade school's theatrical production of "The Wizard of Oz" whetted Heather's desire to be an actress. So at Agoura High School, Heather took drama classes and appeared in the school's theatrical productions. While there, she impressed many of her schoolmates with her talent.
After high school, she headed out to Hollywood. She started doing TV, and landed her first movie role as Mercedes, Les' (Corey Haim) love interest, in the 1988 indie flick "License to Drive." She followed that with "Drugstore Cowboy" (1989).
Heather then enrolled in UCLA with a major in English. However, after two years, she could no longer resist the lure of showbiz and dropped out of school to pursue acting again. She got roles in notable movies such as "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993) and "Swingers" (1996) before "Boogie Nights" (1997) came along. In this movie about the porn industry, she played the dim-witted, but sexy Rollergirl. The movie got people talking - and looking too. Her next big movie was "Lost in Space" (1998) where she played Judy Robinson. The movie was a disappointment at the box office but it was Heather's first big budget movie. She plays opposite Mike Myers in the runaway hit "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999) as Felicity Shagwell. In her personal life, Graham is romantically involved with actor Ed Burns. Though she's abandoned her Catholic roots, she regularly practices Transcendental Meditation, and in addition to her film work, has a modeling contract with Emanuel Ungaro. Not that Graham needs the additional income - she's poised to make the most of her 15 minutes of fame. She nabbed a starring role in one of summer 1999's most wildly anticipated sequels, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and hot on its heels will come the Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy starrer Bowfinger, a Hollywood satire penned by Martin.
