# Cybill Shepherd
**Cybill Shepherd** is an American actress, producer, singer, and former model, born in 1950 in [Memphis, Tennessee](https://www.edgepedia.org/memphis-tennessee), whose screen debut in *The Last Picture Show* (1971) made her a film star at 21 and whose later television leads in *Moonlighting* (1985–1989) and *Cybill* (1995–1998) earned her [Golden Globe Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-globe-awards) and Emmy nominations.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) • [2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/) Her full name is Cybill Lynne Shepherd, and she was named after her grandfather, Cy, and her father, Bill.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950, Memphis, Tennessee, to Patty, a homemaker, and William Shepherd, a small business owner[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) |
| Modeling start | Won "Miss Teenage Memphis" in 1966 and "Model of the Year" in 1968; later appeared on major magazine covers and served as a L'Oreal spokesperson[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) |
| Breakthrough film | *The Last Picture Show* (1971), directed by Peter Bogdanovich; nominated for Most Promising Newcomer[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) |
| Signature TV roles | Maddie Hayes on *Moonlighting* (ABC, 1985–89), opposite Bruce Willis; title role as Cybill Sheridan on *Cybill* (CBS, 1995–98)[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/) • [3](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cybill-shepherd) |
| Golden Globes | Two Golden Globe Awards for *Moonlighting* and a third for *Cybill*, which she also produced[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) |
| Emmy nominations | Four Primetime Emmy nominations: Lead Actress in a Drama Series, *Moonlighting* (1986); Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, *Cybill* (1995, 1996, 1997)[4](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cybill-shepherd) |
| Other work | About 10 albums of jazz and pop standards since the mid-1970s; the 2000 memoir *Cybill Disobedience*; a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/cybill-shepherd/) • [6](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/cybill-shepherd-bruce-willis-jerk-grateful-she-reached-out-former-co-star-moonlighting) • [2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/) |
## Early life and modeling
Shepherd grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and began competing in beauty and modeling contests as a teenager, winning the "Miss Teenage Memphis" contest in 1966 and the "Model of the Year" contest in 1968.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) She became a fashion icon who appeared on the covers of major magazines and acted as a spokesperson for L'Oreal.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) Director Peter Bogdanovich spotted her picture on the cover of *Glamour* magazine and cast her in his 1971 film *The Last Picture Show*, just as she was barely out of her teens.[7](https://ecms.newportbeachca.gov/Web/0/edoc/1295413/1985-03-27%20-%20Orange%20Coast%20Pilot.pdf)
## 1970s film career
Her feature debut as Jacy Farrow in *The Last Picture Show* made an immediate splash, and she followed it with the romantic comedy *[The Heartbreak Kid](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-heartbreak-kid-1972-film)* (1972).[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd) The critical and commercial failures of Bogdanovich's *Daisy Miller* (1974) and *At Long Last Love* (1976) nearly derailed her career, and a string of flops led her to temporarily retire from the business in 1978.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd) A pivotal role in Martin Scorsese's *Taxi Driver* (1976), opposite [Robert De Niro](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-de-niro), provided what one career survey called a brief reprieve amid that decline.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd) During this period she also dated [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley) and was involved romantically with Bogdanovich, whose marriage to producer Polly Platt broke up during the affair.[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html)
She later returned to the character world of *The Last Picture Show* in *Texasville* (1990), the film's sequel.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-27-tv-551-story.html)
## The long way back
Between her film setbacks and her television comeback, Shepherd left Hollywood and moved back to Memphis to raise her daughter [Clementine](https://www.edgepedia.org/clementine), developing her acting skills in regional theater.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-27-tv-551-story.html) She returned briefly to Hollywood in 1983 for NBC's short-lived series *The Yellow Rose*, her first television acting job, and for a guest appearance on *Fantasy Island*.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-27-tv-551-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) In a 1991 interview she said the theater years were a crucial step toward the comedy she later did on television: "Then at a certain point audiences suddenly found me funny."[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-27-tv-551-story.html)
## Moonlighting and Cybill
**Moonlighting.** Offered the role of former model Maddie Hayes in 1985, Shepherd co-starred with [Bruce Willis](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-willis) on the ABC comedy-drama *Moonlighting*, which ran five seasons, from 1985 to 1989.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd) • [6](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/cybill-shepherd-bruce-willis-jerk-grateful-she-reached-out-former-co-star-moonlighting) The on-screen chemistry between Shepherd and Willis helped the show last its five seasons, and it earned her an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe Awards.[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/) Memorable episodes she later discussed included "Atomic Shakespeare" and the black-and-white "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice," which was introduced by [Orson Welles](https://www.edgepedia.org/orson-welles).[3](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cybill-shepherd) In an interview about the role, she described its premise: "The main thing was that Maddie was very smart. The whole idea [was] that you can have that physical beauty and be very smart and funny."[3](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cybill-shepherd) In her 2000 memoir *Cybill Disobedience*, she wrote about tensions with Willis, whom she characterized at the time as a "jerk"; decades later she told *People* that the two had mended their relationship before Willis retired from acting in the wake of his aphasia diagnosis.[6](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/cybill-shepherd-bruce-willis-jerk-grateful-she-reached-out-former-co-star-moonlighting)
**Cybill.** Her sitcom *Cybill* premiered on CBS on January 2, 1995, and quickly became one of the few successful midseason replacements for a network seeking new hits.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html) Shepherd played Cybill Sheridan, a twice-divorced actress and single mother, and served as executive producer on the series, which ran from 1995 to 1998.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html) • [3](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cybill-shepherd) Created by [Chuck Lorre](https://www.edgepedia.org/chuck-lorre), the show tackled subjects rarely seen in sitcoms of the period, including menopause and older women's sexual appetites, much of it drawn from Shepherd's own life and handled with self-deprecation.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html) Her partnership with co-star [Christine Baranski](https://www.edgepedia.org/christine-baranski), a Tony-winning Broadway actress playing Maryann Thorpe, drew comparisons to Lucy and Ethel and persistent rumors of off-camera rivalry, which both actresses attributed to sexism.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html) The show received 12 Emmy nominations and three Emmys; Baranski won the 1996 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, while Shepherd earned three Lead Actress nominations for the series and won a Golden Globe.[11](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/cybill) Shepherd said she had used her own position to give Baranski, then without a popular success, the role: "Christine had won every award in New York, but she had never had a popular success, and I was in the position to give it to her."[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html) The gossip was strong enough that screenwriter Alan Ball, a former writer on the series, reportedly based [Annette Bening](https://www.edgepedia.org/annette-bening)'s high-strung character in *American Beauty* (1999) on Shepherd.[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/cybill-shepherd/)
## Later work, music, and writing
Beyond her two signature series, Shepherd played [Martha Stewart](https://www.edgepedia.org/martha-stewart) in two television movies, *Martha, Inc: The Story of Martha Stewart* (NBC, 2003) and *Martha Behind Bars* (CBS, 2005), and spent three seasons, from 2007 to 2009, on Showtime's drama *The L Word* as Phyllis Kroll.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd) • [2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/) Her later screen appearances included *Psych* (as Madeleine Spencer) and *The Client List* (2010).[12](https://www.metacritic.com/person/cybill-shepherd/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd)
Singing has run through her career alongside acting. Despite a drubbing over her film *At Long Last Love*, Shepherd maintained a singing career, releasing some 10 albums of jazz and pop standards since the mid-1970s; an album of material tied to her sitcom appeared in 1999 as *Songs From the Cybill Show*.[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/cybill-shepherd/) • [13](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cybill-shepherd-mn0000149345) Her memoir *Cybill Disobedience* was published in 2000, and its frank content included her assessments of former co-stars and relationships.[6](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/cybill-shepherd-bruce-willis-jerk-grateful-she-reached-out-former-co-star-moonlighting) • [13](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cybill-shepherd-mn0000149345)
## Activism and recognition
Shepherd has been an outspoken activist for gay rights and abortion rights. In 2009, the [Human Rights Campaign](https://www.edgepedia.org/human-rights-campaign) honored her in Atlanta with one of two National Ally for Equality awards.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) In 1996, a *Los Angeles Times* profile at the height of *Cybill* described her as an accomplished comic actress and "a public rebuke to the common wisdom of Hollywood" about women of a certain age, quoting CBS Entertainment president Leslie Moonves: "She's remarkable in the way she's reinvented herself."[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html) A note on award counts: the IMDb biography lists two Golden Globes for *Moonlighting* and a third for *Cybill*,[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732) while the 1996 *Los Angeles Times* profile called the January 1996 award her fourth.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html)
## References
1. [Cybill Shepherd, IMDb biography page](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001732)
2. [Cybill Shepherd, Hollywood Star Walk, Los Angeles Times](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/cybill-shepherd/)
3. [Cybill Shepherd, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cybill-shepherd)
4. [Cybill Shepherd, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cybill-shepherd)
5. [Cybill Shepherd, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/cybill-shepherd/)
6. [Cybill Shepherd Once Called Bruce Willis 'A Jerk,' CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/cybill-shepherd-bruce-willis-jerk-grateful-she-reached-out-former-co-star-moonlighting)
7. [Orange Coast Daily Pilot, March 27, 1985](https://ecms.newportbeachca.gov/Web/0/edoc/1295413/1985-03-27%20-%20Orange%20Coast%20Pilot.pdf)
8. [Cybill Shepherd, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cybill_shepherd)
9. [It's Payback Time, Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1996](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-31-ca-53127-story.html)
10. [Moonlighting Mother, Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1991](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-27-tv-551-story.html)
11. [Cybill, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/cybill)
12. [Cybill Shepherd, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/person/cybill-shepherd/)
13. [Cybill Shepherd, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cybill-shepherd-mn0000149345)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Sc to Sl*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license