Shiri Appleby was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Dina (née
Bouader), 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, resulting
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 (she also overcame another phobia in the same episode by holding
a live snake, one of Fitzgerald's patients) and shortly after adopted a
Tabby, which she named Abby.
Shiri 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.
Shiri 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
(1987), Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), ER (1994), Baywatch (1989), Xena:
Warrior Princess (1995), 7th Heaven (1996) and Beverly Hills 90210 (1990).
For Roswell, she tried out for the roles of both Isabel and Maria before
landing the role of Liz Parker. On 7th Heaven, she played a gang member who
hid weapons underneath her little brother's mattress.
Shiri Appleby was in Bon Jovi's music video for "It's My Life" with Will
Estes. She was also featured in the 2004 music video for the song "I Don't
Want To Be" by Gavin DeGraw, opposite Scott Mechlowicz. She also 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 Shiri Appleby could be seen in a recurring role on the now cancelled
ABC drama Six Degrees as Anya, a young assistant in a relationship with a
much older photographer. Later this year she was chosen to play Hildy Young
in the new USA Network series To Love and Die that is scheduled to air early
2008. Shiri also participated in a short film called Carjacking directed by
Dan Passman and co-stared by Geoff Stults from 7th Heaven fame.
In 2007, Shiri Appleby 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 is scheduled to begin a recurring role on the final season of ER,
playing an intern named Daria Wade.
This Shiri Appleby Biography Page is Copyright © 2004 - 2009 Chuck Ayoub