Melissa Crider

Growing up, Missy Crider experimented with art forms that included music, dance, and drama, and even after devoting herself to acting has shown a similar level of curiosity. Her resume since the late '80s, when she first got her start in television, consists of projects that likely seemed more interesting than commercially viable. One of her earliest roles was in the miniseries "Lonesome Dove," which initially had been written off due to the declining popularity of the Western. Instead, the series was a hit, and although her role was minor, it led to more work in television movies throughout the early '90s. The year 1995 brought even bigger things: along with her first starring role in a feature, the lovers-on-the-run drama "A Boy Called Hate," she appeared as a sympathetic high school student in the supernatural-themed "Powder," which was a minor hit. One year later, she had a recurring role as defendant Sharon Rooney, a scorned mistress turned murderer, in the critically acclaimed series "Murder One." After finishing out the '90s alternating between the big and small screens, in the subsequent decade she played a psychic in the science-fiction series "The Others" and guest-starred in many popular shows. Crider also had key roles in both David Lynch's mysterious '01 thriller"Mulholland Dr.," and the critically-reviled romance "Gigli." In the former, she played a waitress who might also be a character in the main protagonist's dream.