Daphne Zuniga

Zuniga was born in Berkeley, California. Her father, Joaquin Zuniga, originally from Guatemala, is an emeritus professor of philosophy at California State University, East Bay. 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. In her early teens she attended the Young Conservatory program of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) of San Francisco. After her parents divorced, Zuniga moved with her mother and sister from Berkeley to Reading, Vermont. She graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1980. After high school she studied Theater Arts at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Career

Television

Zuniga is best known for playing Jo Reynolds in the 1990s television series Melrose Place. Her television career began nearly ten years earlier when she appeared in several episodes of Family Ties (1984) as a girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton. She also co-starred with Lucille Ball in the drama Stone Pillow in 1985 and was in the 1995 miniseries Degree of Guilt. She was one of many voice actors for the animated television series Stories from My Childhood (1998). Zuniga had a lead role in the mini-series Pandora's Clock (1996).
In 2004-2005, Zuniga 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 drama Nip/Tuck.
She starred 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).
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.
2007-2012, Zuniga has appeared in the CW network series One Tree Hill. She played the cold-hearted mother Victoria Davis.

Film

Zuniga's film work has continued in parallel with her television work throughout much of her career. Her first two movies were sorority slasher films The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1981) and The Initiation (1983, with Hunter Tylo), followed by Vision Quest (1985). In 1985, she starred opposite John Cusack in The Sure Thing. She next starred in the 1986 cult film Modern Girls. She was a lead in the 1987 Mel Brooks film Spaceballs, the 1988 film Last Rites, the 1989 films Gross Anatomy (with Matthew Modine), and The Fly II (with Eric Stoltz) and Staying Together (with Sean Astin). She starred in Artificial Lies (2000), Enemies of Laughter (2000), Dog Gone (2003), A-List (2006), Christmas Do-Over (2006) and Seducing Charlie Barker (2010), directed by Amy Glazer. She starred in A Family Thankgving with Faye Dunaway. In 2012, she stars on 3 movies : Changing Hearts with Brad Johnson, Birds of Paradise with Ryan Guzman and Vanished with Nicholas R. Grava.

Other media

In the 1994, Zuniga appeared in the release of a video for Bob Seger's previously released 1976 hit "Night Moves". 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.
She co-produced and co-directed (with Steven Latham) the 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 the scripted web series Novel Adventures, which premiered November 3, 2008 from CBS Interactive.

  

Personal life

Her younger sister Jennifer Zuniga is also an actress, debuting in the 1992 film A Woman, Her Men, and Her Futon.
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. After her diagnosis, Zuniga stopped consuming fish.
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.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	The Dorm That Dripped Blood	Debbie
1983	Quarterback Princess	Kim Maida	TV movie
1984	Family Ties	Rachel Miller	Episode: "Double Date" Episode: "The Graduate"
1984	The Initiation	Kelly (Terry)
1985	Vision Quest	Margie Epstein
1985	The Sure Thing	Alison Bradbury
1985	Stone Pillow	Carrie Lang	TV movie
1986	Modern Girls	Margo
1987	Spaceballs	Princess Vespa
1988	Last Rites	Angela
1989	The Fly II	Beth
1989	Staying Together	Beverly Young
1989	Gross Anatomy	Laurie Rorbach
1989	Nightmare Classics	Irene Marlowe	Episode: "The Eyes of the Panther"
1992	Mad at the Moon	Young Mrs. Miller
1992	Prey of the Chameleon	Patricia / Elizabeth Burrows
1992–1996	Melrose Place	Jo Reynolds	110 episodes
1993	Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon	Minha
1993	The Hidden Room	Elizabeth Mahern	Episode: "The Faithful Follower"
1994	Charlie's Ghost Story	Ronda
1994	Cityscrapes: Los Angeles	Chantal
1994	Models Inc.	Jo Reynolds	Episode: "Pilot"
1995	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Cinderella (voice)	Episode: "Cinderella"
1995	Degree of Guilt	Teresa 'Terri' Peralta	TV movie
1996	Pandora's Clock	Dr. Roni Sanders	TV movie
1997	Loss of Faith	Claire Hainey	TV movie
1997	Naked in the Cold Sun	Rini
1997	Johnny Bravo	Gabrielle (voice)	Episode: "I Used to Be Funny/My Fair Dork/'Twas the Night"
1997	Dead Man's Gun	Lillian / Tanya	Episode: "Black Widow"
1997	Stand-ins	Shirley
1997	Spin City	Carrie	Episode: "Hot in the City"
1998	Spin City	Carrie	Episode: "It Happened One Night"
1998	Stories from My Childhood		Episode: "Ivan and His Magic Pony"
1999	The Outer Limits	Juliette Kagan	Episode: "Essence of Life"
1999	Batman Beyond	Lula (voice)	Episode: "Once Burned"
2000	Batman Beyond	April (voice)	Episode: "April Moon"
2000	Artificial Lies	Karen Wettering
2000	Stark Raving Mad	Dr. Anne Russo	Episode: "Therapy"
2000	Enemies of Laughter	Judy
2003	Ghost Dog: A Detective Tail	Amanda Morton	TV movie
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Emma Dishell	Episode: "Abomination"
2003	Eve	Mrs. King	Episode: "Twas the Fight Before Christmas"
2004–2005	American Dreams	Shelly Pierce	14 episodes
2005	Secret Lives	Jill Thompson
2005–2006	Beautiful People	Lynn Kerr	16 episodes
2006	A-List	Tina
2006	The Obsession	Deborah Matthews	TV movie
2006	Christmas Do-Over	Jill	TV movie
2007	Nip/Tuck	Carly Summers	Episode: "Carly Summers"
2007–2009	Spaceballs: The Animated Series	Princess Vespa (voice)	12 episodes
2008	Mail Order Bride	Diana McQueen
2008	Novel Adventures	Laura French	8 episodes
2008–2012	One Tree Hill	Victoria Davis	42 episodes
2009	Melrose Place	Jo Reynolds	Episode: "Windsor"
2010	Melrose Place	Jo Reynolds	Episode: "Santa Fe"
2010	Seducing Charlie Barker	Stella
2010	A Family Thanksgiving	Claudia	TV movie
2010	On Strike for Christmas	Joy Robertson	TV movie
2012	Changing Hearts	Christine
2012	Birds of Paradise	Elana
2012	Vanished