Detailed Biography

Shiri Freda Appleby is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her leading role as Liz Parker in the popular television series Roswell. Shiri's film credits include A Time for Dancing, where she was one of the two female main characters; Swimfan; Havoc with Anne Hathaway; and Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

In 2008, Appleby joined the cast of the final season of ER, playing an intern named Daria Wade.

In the summer of 2007, Shiri started to date Scrubs star Zach Braff.

Biography

Early life

Appleby was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Dina , an Israeli-born Hebrew school teacher, and Jerry Appleby, a Jewish-American telecommunications executive. She and her younger brother Evan were raised in Calabasas in Los Angeles County. Her mother is of Sephardic Moroccan Jewish background. In Hebrew, shiri means either "my song" or simply "sing." She has a scar above her left eyebrow, which resulted from a dog bite when she was young. To get over her fear of dogs, she went on the show Emergency Vets, accompanying staff veterinarian Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald and shortly after adopted a Tabby, which she named Abby.

Appleby graduated from Calabasas High School in 1997 and went on to major in English literature at the University of Southern California while also studying theater arts.

Career

Appleby began her acting career at the age of four, starting with advertising for various products such as Cheerios and M&M's. Her first advertisement was for Raisin Bran but it was never aired. She has had guest appearances on many television programs, most notably thirtysomething , Doogie Howser, M.D. , ER , Baywatch , Xena: Warrior Princess , 7th Heaven and Beverly Hills 90210 . For Roswell, she tried out for the roles of both Isabel and Maria before landing the leading role of Liz Parker. On the 7th Heaven episode, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", Shiri made a guest appearance, playing the role of "Karen", a gang-banger, whose brother, "Stan" was friends with Simon Camden . "Karen" hid weapons & drugs underneath Stan's mattress, giving him nightmares during a sleepover at the Camdens, who then work to help her leave gang life.

Appleby was in Bon Jovi's music video for "It's My Life" with Will Estes. She featured in the 2004 music video for the song "I Don't Want To Be" by Gavin DeGraw, opposite Scott Mechlowicz. She appeared in Sense Field's music video for "Save Yourself" which is part of the Roswell soundtrack and featured in the first season DVD boxset.

In 2006 she took a recurring role on the now canceled ABC drama Six Degrees as Anya, a young assistant in a relationship with a much older photographer. Later that year she was chosen to play Hildy Young in the new USA Network series To Love and Die, that began airing in late December 2008. Shiri also participated in a short film called Carjacking directed by Dan Passman and co-starring Geoff Stults from 7th Heaven fame.

In 2007, she was part of the movie What Love Is with Cuba Gooding Jr., Matthew Lillard and Anne Heche. She also participated in another short film, Love Like Wind, this one from Shaolin Film Productions. At the end the year, she appeared as Charlie Wilson's press secretary, aka Jailbait, in the film Charlie Wilson's War, which stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. In 2008, Appleby got a recurring role on the final season of ER, playing an intern named Daria Wade.

In 2000, she was ranked 51 on the Maxim Hot 100.