Daphne Zuniga Biography

Summary

"Daphne Eurydice Zuniga" (born October 28, 1962) is an American actress best known for her role as Jo Reynolds on the Fox primetime soap "Melrose Place", as Victoria Davis on The CW teen drama "One Tree Hill" and as Princess Vespa in the cult classic "Spaceballs".

Early life

Zuniga was born in Berkeley, California. Her father is an emeritus professor of philosophy originally from Guatemala and her mother is a Unitarian minister of Polish and Finnish descent. Zuniga became interested in acting in high school, performing in a variety of school plays. She attended the Young Conservatory of ACT (American Conservatory Theater) of San Francisco in her early teens. Zuniga, her mother, and her sister moved from Berkeley to Reading, Vermont after her parents divorced. Zuniga graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1980. After graduating from high school she became a Theater Arts major at University of California at Los Angeles.

Career

Television

Zuniga is best known for playing Jo Reynolds in the 1990s TV series "Melrose Place". However, her television career began nearly ten years earlier when she appeared in several episodes of "Family Ties" (1982-84) as a girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton. She also co-starred with Lucille Ball in the TV drama "Stone Pillow" in 1985 and was in the 1985 television miniseries "Degrees of Guilt". She was also one of many voice actors for the animated television series "Stories from My Childhood" (1998). Zuniga also had a lead role in the TV mini-series "Pandora's Clock" (1996).

In 2004-2005, Zuniga also appeared in a recurring role in "American Dreams". She was on the show "Beautiful People" on ABC Family in 2005-2006. In 2007, she starred in the fifth season premiere of the dramatic series "Nip/Tuck".

She also starred in several made for television movies including "Secret Lives" (2005), "The Obsession" (2006), and "Christmas Do-Over" in 2006. Most recently, Zuniga starred in the made for television movie "Mail Order Bride" which premiered on November 8, 2008 on the Hallmark Channel.

Since 2007, Daphne Zuniga is on the CW hit show "One Tree Hill". She plays the cold-hearted mother Victoria Davis. Also, she is currently reprising the role as the voice of Princess Vespa in the animated spin-off of the 1987 cult classic "Spaceballs" called "Spaceballs: The Animated Series".

On June 17, 2009, it was reported that Zuniga will reprise the role she originated on in "Melrose Place", in the fall.

Film

Her film career has continued in parallel with her television work throughout much of her career, though her film work has been less prolific. Her first two movies were sorority slasher films "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" (1981) and "The Initiation" (1983) with Hunter Tylo, followed by "VisionQuest" (1985). In 1985, she starred opposite John Cusack in "The Sure Thing". She next starred in the 1986 cult film "Modern Girls". She was also a lead in the 1987 film "Spaceballs", the 1988 film "Last Rites", the 1989 films "Gross Anatomy" (with Matthew Modine), and "The Fly II" (with Eric Stoltz). She also starring in "Artificial Lies" (2000), "Enemies of Laughter" (2000), "Dog Gone" (2003), "A-List" (2006), "Christmas Do-Over" (2006) and "The Scene" (2009), directed by Amy Glazer. She also provided the voice of the titular character in the English language version of the 1977 Russian animated film, "The Magic Pony".

Other media

She was a guest celebrity in the 1996 Endymion parade during Mardi Gras.

She is co-producer and co-director (with Steven Latham) of the recently released (DVD, Netflix, 2007) documentary 'The Future We Will Create: Inside the World of TED' - a look at the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design conference held in Monterey, California.

In February and March 2008, Zuniga appeared onstage in a production of "The Scene" by Theresa Rebeck, at the San Francisco Playhouse.

She currently stars in "Novel Adventures", which premiered November 3, 2008 on CBS.

Personal life

Her younger sister Jennifer Zuniga is also an actress, debuting in the 1992 film "A Woman, Her Men and Her Futon".

She has had romantic relationships with Billy Marti and Richard Olivier, but has never married.

Until about 2002, Zuniga rode a Harley Davidson motorcycle in her spare time. She has been quoted as having sold it a 'few years ago.' She was also said to have allowed the piercing through her navel to heal, attributing both those events in her life to 'latent adolescence.' Zuniga has also devoted her time to environmental campaigns.

In 2004, Zuniga was the victim of mercury poisoning, the direct result of an overconsumption of fish; she admitted to eating sushi four times a week prior to her mercury poisoning diagnosis. As a result, she suffered from weak memory, headaches, crying spells, skin rashes and low grade depression. After her diagnosis, Zuniga stopped consuming fish and began to drink shakes rich in protein (specifically with glutathione) to cleanse her body of the mercury.