Mädchen Amick (born December 12, 1970, Sparks, Nevada) is an American actress. She is of half German, 1/4 Norwegian, and 1/4 Swedish descent. Her first name, which can be spelled in English Maedchen, means "girl" in German.
Amick was encouraged by her parents to follow her own creative instincts. She learned to play the piano, bass, violin and guitar as well as tap, ballet, jazz and modern dance. In 1987, at the age of 16, she traveled to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. After moving to L.A., Amick appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as in The Borrower (1991).
She got her first break when director David Lynch chose her to play waitress Shelly Johnson on the TV series Twin Peaks. Amick's character endured terrible abuse at the hands of her husband, Leo, and was one of the most popular characters, ensuring her return in the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
In 1992, Amick appeared in the Stephen King horror movie Sleepwalkers. She has also appeared in TV movies such as Love, Cheat and Steal (1993). A highlight of Amick's film career is the 1994 feature film Dream Lover, a thriller in which she co-starred with James Spader. Amick also appeared in the romantic comedy French Exit (1995) and the sci-fi thriller Bombshell (1996).
Amick's return to network TV came in the fall of 1995 with the much-publicized CBS dramatic series Central Park West. In 1998, Amick starred in the updated edition of Fantasy Island. Both shows only lasted one season.
After a decade of roles that failed to ignite the publicity Twin Peaks had, Amick gradually became a noticeable face in television with recurring roles on Gilmore Girls (2002 - 2003), ER (2004 - 2005), Jake in Progress (2005) and Joey (2005).
As of 2006, Amick is a regular in the sitcom Freddie.
