Ally Sheedy rose to fame as part of Hollywood’s Brat Pack in the ‘80s – but today, she’s keeping busy as a college professor.
“Some of [my students] Google me, or they have a great filmography in their head and they’ve seen what I’ve done,” the 59-year-old told People magazine on Thursday. “I’m very open to talking about my experiences. And I have an affinity for them so much because they are the age I was when I was working. I’m telling them everything I wish I knew.”
According to the outlet, Sheedy began acting nearly four decades ago. She currently teaches acting at the City College of New York. When Sheedy isn’t in the classroom, she’s on set starring in “Single Drunk Female” where she plays a single mother to a daughter (Sofia Black-D’Elia) who is navigating sobriety.
Sheedy was raised in New York before she decided to embark on a Hollywood career. The actress was 23 years old when she landed starring roles in 1985’s “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” which also came out that year.
Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald in a scene from the film ‘The Breakfast Club’, 1985.
(Photo by Universal Pictures/Getty Images)
“It was a different world in the ‘80s,” Sheedy reflected. “But as far as learning how to handle a set, it hasn’t changed that much.”
Still, Sheedy admitted that she struggled in finding the right roles for her as she skyrocketed to fame. Eventually, she moved back to New York where she pursued teaching.
“When I was in my 20s, roles were coming to me beautifully flowing but there was a period when I didn’t know what I was doing,” she reflected. “I wanted to be Debra Winger, but [I was offered] one comedy after the next… [Moving back to New York] was the right thing at the right point.”
Sheedy insisted she looks back at her 20s fondly.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
The cast of ‘St. Elmo’s Fire’, directed by Joel Schumacher, 1985. Left to right: Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson and Andrew McCarthy.
(Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
“I’m always happy to talk about ‘The Breakfast Club,’” Sheedy told the outlet. “I still really love it!”
Back in 2000, Sheedy told The Associated Press she felt uneasy when it came to navigating fame.
“To me, there’s a chasm between someone who said, ‘I really want to be an actor,’… and somebody who said, ‘I want celebrity,'” she said.
At the time, Sheedy also described how she was stunned when a cover story in New York magazine labeled her part of Hollywood’s “Brat Pack.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Ally Sheedy plays Carol Fink on Freeform’s ‘Single Drunk Female’.
(Koury Angelo/Freeform via Getty Images)
“I was in complete shock when that Brat Pack thing came out,” she said. “I was extremely naive on some of those interviews – and actually came off as a little bit stupid. I didn’t see it coming.”
Sheedy also described how at one point, she was told to change her appearance to boost her career.
“That’s Hollywood,″ she said. “I don’t think that many people would talk about it because they want to come off as they were perfect, to begin with, but I was absolutely bald-faced, point-blank told to change practically every single inch of myself. I tried for a little while to do the makeup. I went to this wonderful, sweet man. He showed me, ‘OK, they want you to look glamorous. Here’s what you need to do.’ And he put this stuff on my face and tried to show me how to do it and I practiced at home.”
“It was just so ridiculous!” she shared. “They weren’t just looking for someone with makeup on looking a certain way. They were looking for some sort of persona.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
