Daphne Zuniga

Daphne Eurydice Zuniga (/ˈdæfni zuːˈniːɡə/; born October 28, 1962) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1982 slasher film The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982) at the age of 19, followed by a lead role in another slasher film The Initiation (1984) two years later.

Daphne Zuniga
Zuniga at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019
Born	Daphne Eurydice Zuniga (1962-10-28) October 28, 1962 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1980–present
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Spouse(s)	David Mleczko ( m. 2019)

She went on to star in several comedies, including Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985), opposite John Cusack, and the cult comedies Modern Girls (1986), and Spaceballs (1987). She also starred opposite Lucille Ball in the television drama film Stone Pillow (1986), and in the science-fiction horror sequel The Fly II (1989). Zuniga later gained major exposure as a television actress for her role as Jo Reynolds on the Fox primetime soap opera Melrose Place from 1992–1996. Other television credits include as Victoria Davis on One Tree Hill (2008–2012), and as Lynn Kerr on the drama series Beautiful People.

Zuniga has been active in environmental issues since the mid-2000s, and was a founding member of the Earth Communications Office. She has also worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and Environment California.[2]

Early life

Zuniga was born in San Francisco, California,[3] to Agnes A. (née Janawicz) and Joaquín Alberto Zúñiga Mazariegos. Her mother is a Unitarian minister, of Polish and Finnish descent,[4] and her father, originally from Guatemala,[5] was an emeritus professor of philosophy at California State University, East Bay.[6][7] Zuniga has a sister, Jennifer Zuniga.

In her early teens, Zuniga expressed interest in acting, and attended the Young Conservatory program of the American Conservatory Theater of San Francisco. After her parents divorced, Zuniga moved with her mother and sister from Berkeley, California, to Reading, Vermont, where she spent the remainder of her teen years.[8] Zuniga graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1980, after which she returned to California and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles to study theater arts. After leaving college, Zuniga was close friends and roommates with fellow actress Meg Ryan.[9]

Career

Early work

Zuniga made her film debut in Stephen Carpenter's slasher film The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982), playing a supporting role as a college coed. Two years later, she made her lead debut in The Initiation, another college-themed slasher co-starring Vera Miles and Clu Gulager.[10] "It was a great part," Zuniga recalled. "I got to play twins: a good sister and an evil sister. I got shot in the back on-screen. It was pretty heavy for a first role."[10]

She then appeared in the drama Vision Quest (1985), followed by a lead role in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985), opposite John Cusack.[11] The film was critically praised; critic Roger Ebert said of the film: "The movie industry seems better at teenage movies like Porky's, with its sleazy shower scenes, than with screenplays that involve any sort of thought about the love lives of its characters. That's why The Sure Thing is a small miracle."[12] Shortly after, Zuniga was cast in the television drama film Stone Pillow (1985), playing a social worker in New York City who forms a bond with an elderly homeless woman, played by Lucille Ball.[13] She also appeared in the comedy Modern Girls (1986), opposite Cynthia Gibb and Virginia Madsen.

In 1987, Zuniga was cast as Princess Vespa in Mel Brooks's cult comedy Spaceballs, opposite Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, and John Candy. Though the film received mixed critical reception,[14] it later garnered a cult following. The next year, Zuniga appeared in a lead role in the blockbuster horror film The Fly II (1988), followed by the drama-comedy Staying Together (1989), and as a med student opposite Matthew Modine in the drama Gross Anatomy (1989).

Melrose Place, film, and television

In 1992, she was cast as Jo Reynolds in the Fox soap opera Melrose Place, and appeared on the show as a recurring character until 1996. The role garnered Zuniga major exposure to television audiences, though her television career had begun in the early eighties with a minor role on Family Ties (1984) as a girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton.[15] She also appeared in the 1995 miniseries Degree of Guilt.[16]

In 1994, Zuniga appeared in the release of a video for Bob Seger's previously released 1976 hit "Night Moves".[17] In the video version of the song, she and a pre-Friends Matt LeBlanc are shown in a 1960s drive-in theater, where Zuniga as a dark, edgy young woman becomes a visual fascination for LeBlanc as a clean-cut young man. Later, Zuniga would work as a voice actor on the animated television series Stories from My Childhood (1998), and also had a lead role in the miniseries Pandora's Clock (1996), an action thriller filmed in Seattle, Washington.[18]

From 2005 to 2006, she was cast as Lynn Kerr on the ABC family series Beautiful People, and also had a recurring role in the series American Dreams.[19] She also appeared in a recurring role as Victoria Davis on The CW series One Tree Hill between 2008 and 2012, appearing in over forty episodes. During this time, she appears in several made-for-television movies including Secret Lives (2005), The Obsession (2006), Christmas Do-Over (2006), Mail Order Bride (2008), and On Strike for Christmas (2010).[20]

In 2007, Zuniga co-produced and co-directed (with Steven Latham) the 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. She also starred in the scripted web series Novel Adventures, which premiered November 3, 2008 from CBS Interactive.[21][22] In February and March 2008, Zuniga appeared onstage in a production of The Scene by Theresa Rebeck, at the San Francisco Playhouse.[23]

Zuniga reprised her role as Princess Vespa from the 1987 film Spaceballs, by voice-over in the television spin-off Spaceballs: The Animated Series. She also reprised her role from Melrose Place in an updated version, but it was short-lived, as the series was cancelled after just one season in 2009-10. She starred in 2010 in the hit Hallmark Channel film A Family Thanksgiving. In 2013, Zuniga appeared as a postal worker in the Hallmark Channel series Signed, Sealed, Delivered, as well as the television film based on the series and in Gone Missing with Lauren Bowles.

Zuniga appeared in a guest starring role in the VH1 scripted series Hindsight as Libby.[24] In 2016, she was cast in a new TV movie for Hallmark Channel, When Duty Calls, with Judd Nelson and Daniella Monet.

More recently, Daphne Zuniga starred in Heartbeats, Witness Unprotected and A Christmas Arrangement with Miles Fisher.

Now in post-production, Daphne Zuniga directed her first movie, The Protégé, with Keenan Tracey and Jeannette Sousa.

In 2019, she co-starred in the television film Gates Of Paradise, opposite Jason Priestley, and Christmas In Paris with Karl E. Landler.

In 2020, she's a guest star in NCIS as Stacy Gordon, Navy commander.

Environmental activism

Zuniga has cited her family's camping trips to Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone as sparking her lifelong interest in the environment.[25] "The planet does nothing but support us," she said in a 2007 interview, "and we are constantly committing crimes against nature."[15]

Zuniga has supported several environmental campaigns. In 2009, she was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation, a not-for-profit development corporation charged with catalyzing sustainable development along the Los Angeles River.[26][27]

Zuniga was a founding member of the Earth Communications Office (ECO), and has worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and Environment California.[2]

Personal life

Her younger sister Jennifer Zuniga, also an actress, debuted in the film A Woman, Her Men, and Her Futon (1992). Zuniga attends private Buddhist meditation retreats to manage stress in her life.[15]

In 2004, Zuniga suffered from mercury poisoning, which she attributed to overconsumption of fish. She said she had eaten sushi four times in the week prior to being taken to the emergency room and that her symptoms included weak memory, headaches, crying spells, skin rashes, and mild depression.[28] After her diagnosis, Zuniga stopped consuming fish in addition to other meat.[15]

Zuniga began dating businessman David Mleczko, whom she met on a blind date, in 2006.[29] The two married in a private ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 8, 2019.[29]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	The Dorm That Dripped Blood	Debbie
1983	Quarterback Princess	Kim Maida	Television film
1984	The Initiation	Kelly Fairchild/Terry Fairchild
1985	Vision Quest	Margie Epstein
	The Sure Thing	Alison Bradbury
	Stone Pillow	Carrie Lang	Television film
1986	Modern Girls	Margo
1987	Spaceballs	Princess Vespa
1988	Last Rites	Angela
1989	The Fly II	Beth Logan
	Staying Together	Beverly Young
	Gross Anatomy	Laurie Rorbach
1992	Mad at the Moon	Young Mrs. Miller
	Prey of the Chameleon	Patricia / Elizabeth Burrows
1993	Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon	Minha
1994	Charlie's Ghost Story	Ronda
	Cityscrapes: Los Angeles	Chantal
1995	Degree of Guilt	Teresa 'Terri' Peralta	Television film
1996	Pandora's Clock	Dr. Roni Sanders	Television film
1997	Loss of Faith	Claire Hainey	Television film
	Naked in the Cold Sun	Rini
	Stand-ins	Shirley
2000	Artificial Lies	Karen Wettering
	Enemies of Laughter	Judy
2003	Ghost Dog: A Detective Tail	Amanda Morton	Television film
2005	Secret Lives	Jill Thompson
2006	A-List	Tina
	The Obsession	Deborah Matthews	Television film
	Christmas Do-Over	Jill	Television film
2008	Mail Order Bride	Diana McQueen
2010	Seducing Charlie Barker	Stella
	A Family Thanksgiving	Claudia	Television film
	On Strike for Christmas	Joy Robertson	Television film
2012	Changing Hearts	Christina Riley
2013	Gone Missing	Rene
	A Remarkable Life	Tracy
	Signed, Sealed, Delivered	Andrea Shmeckle	Television film
2014	Monkey in the Middle	Olive
2015	Summer Forever	Sophie
	Occupy Alice	Cindy Lowe	Short
2016	Who's Driving Doug	Alison
	Beyond Paradise	Elana
	Search Engines	Kate
	Those Left Behind	Shelly
	When Duty Calls	Carol Lawton
	My Husband is Missing	Ann Bradshaw	Television film
2017	The Wrong Babysitter	Susan	Television film
	Heartbeats	Michelle Andrews
2018	Witness Unprotected	Sam
2018	A Christmas Arrangement	Blair Covington
2018	Abigail Falls	Anne
2019	Gates Of Paradise	Nurse Broadfield
2019	Christmas In Paris	Kate Fortune

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Family Ties	Rachel Miller	Episode: "Double Date" Episode: "The Graduate"
1989	Nightmare Classics	Irene Marlowe	Episode: "The Eyes of the Panther"
1992–1996	Melrose Place	Jo Reynolds	110 episodes
1993	The Hidden Room	Elizabeth Mahern	Episode: "The Faithful Follower"
1994	Models Inc.	Jo Reynolds	Episode: "Pilot"
1995	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Cinderella (voice)	Episode: "Cinderella"
1997	Johnny Bravo	Gabrielle (voice)	Episode: "I Used to Be Funny/My Fair Dork/'Twas the Night"
	Dead Man's Gun	Lillian / Tanya	Episode: "Black Widow"
	Spin City	Carrie	Episode: "Hot in the City"
1998	Spin City	Carrie	Episode: "It Happened One Night"
	Stories from My Childhood		Episode: "Ivan and His Magic Pony"
1999	The Outer Limits	Juliette Kagan	Episode: "Essence of Life"
	Batman Beyond	Lula (voice)	Episode: "Once Burned"
2000	Batman Beyond	April (voice)	Episode: "April Moon"
	Stark Raving Mad	Dr. Anne Russo	Episode: "Therapy"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Emma Dishell	Episode: "Abomination"
	Eve	Mrs. King	Episode: "Twas the Fight Before Christmas"
2004–2005	American Dreams	Shelly Pierce	14 episodes
2005–2006	Beautiful People	Lynn Kerr	16 episodes
2007	Nip/Tuck	Carly Summers	Episode: "Carly Summers"
2007–2009	Spaceballs: The Animated Series	Princess Vespa (voice)	12 episodes
2008	Novel Adventures	Laura French	8 episodes
2008–2012	One Tree Hill	Victoria Davis	42 episodes
2009-2010	Melrose Place	Jo Reynolds	Episode: "Windsor" Episode: "Santa Fe"
2015	Hindsight	Libby	Episode: "The Cranberries"
2020	NCIS	Navy Commander Stacy Gordon	Episode: "Lonely Hearts"

References

1. Aily, Kornblut; and Anne E. (October 29, 1995). "MAN TROUBLE? NOT ME, SAYS DAPHNE 'MELROSE PLACE' STAR'S LIFE IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM TROUBLED ROLES". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 21, 2016.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. "Daphne Zuniga". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
3. "Daphne E Zuniga, Born 10/28/1962 in California | CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". www.californiabirthindex.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
4. "Daphne Zuniga Biography (1962?-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
5. "Daphne Zuniga displays snob appeal in `Spaceballs'". Chicago Sun-Times. June 28, 1987. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
6. "Emeritus Professors", Department of Philosophy, California State University, East Bay, website
7. "Who's who Among Hispanic Americans - Google Books". Retrieved March 3, 2014 – via Google Books.
8. "Vermont History: Daphne Zuniga". Virtual Vermont. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
9. "Daphne Zuniga Biography". TV Guide. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
10. Burke-Block, Candace (June 22, 1987). "Actress Daphne Zuniga: 'I Want To Be A Chameleon'". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
11. Pecchia, David (February 4, 1989). "No Sure Things". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
12. Ebert, Roger (May 1, 1985). "The Sure Thing Movie Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
13. O'Connor, John J. "TV Reviews; Lucille Ball Plays A Bag Lady On CBS", The New York Times, November 5, 1985
14. "Spaceballs (1987)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
15. Myers, Jack (September 21, 2007). "Beautiful People's Daphne Zuniga: Facing Her Fears and Ready to Fall in Love". Media Village. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
16. HER STRENGTH HITS NEW 'DEGREE, October 29, 1995, Daily News of Los Angeles
17. Childers, Chad. "Matt LeBlanc in 'Night Moves' by Bob Seger". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
18. Gerard, Jeremy (November 7, 1996). "Review: 'Pandora's Clock'". Variety. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
19. Bobbin, Jay, "Daphne Zuniga Has 'American Dreams'", October 3, 2004, Zap2It.com News
20. "Mail Order Bride". Metacafe.com. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
21. "Novel Adventures". Noveladventures.cbs.com. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
22. "Insider: biography of her character, Laura". Archived from the original on November 18, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
23. Tristan Fuge, "Daphne Zuniga to Star in San Francisco Playhouse's The Scene", Theatre Mania, January 4, 2008
24. Black, Elizabeth (November 20, 2014). "VH1's 'Hindsight' Takes You Back To The '90s". VH1. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
25. Miller, Jenesse (November 28, 2011). "Her Most Important Role: Daphne Zuniga, Environmentalist". EcoVote. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
26. "LA River Revitalization Corporation, The Board". Archived from the original on August 7, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
27. "Daphne Zuniga Opens Up About Mindfulness And Finding Love In ORIGIN Magazine". The Huffington Post. October 13, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
28. Liz Borod Wright, "Actress Describes Mercury Poisoning Ordeal: Daphne Zuniga Was Eating a High Seafood Diet, ABC News, October 21, 2005
29. Jordan, Julie (June 8, 2019). "Just Married! Melrose Place Alum Daphne Zuniga Weds Her Longtime Beau David Mleczko". People. Archived from the original on June 9, 2019.

External links

• Daphne Zuniga on IMDb
• Daphne Zuniga at the TCM Movie Database
• Daphne Zuniga at AllMovie