Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley is an American actress. She played Jessie Spano in the television series Saved by the Bell and Nomi Malone/Polly Ann Costello in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls. She voiced the title role of the anime film Armitage III: Poly-Matrix and had supporting roles in the films The First Wives Club and Roger Dodger. In theater, she received critical acclaim for her performance in Hurlyburly. Early life Berkley was born and raised in Farmington Hills a suburb of Detroit in affluent Oakland County, Michigan. She is the daughter of Jere, a gift-basket business owner and Fred Berkley, a lawyer. She has an older brother, Jason. Her family is Jewish. She was raised in a Conservative Jewish household and had a bat mitzvah. She was born with partial heterochromia, a condition of differently colored irises; her right eye is half green and half brown and her left eye is all green. She graduated from Calabasas High School in Calabasas, California. From a young age, she danced and practiced in a room her parents set up for her in the basement. She auditioned for the lead role in the film Annie. When she became interested in pursuing dance professionally, she traveled to New York City to train with dancers and choreographers. She performed in several ballets, including Swan Lake, and in 1983 she appeared in some musicals.