Biography
A member of Hollywood royalty, petite knockout Jordan Ladd has followed her parents' footsteps into the world of show business. Born Jordan Elizabeth Ladd on January 14, 1975, in Hollywood, she is the daughter of actress
Cheryl Ladd (
Charlie's Angels) and producer
David Ladd (
The Mod Squad). Her grandfather is acting great
Alan Ladd (
Shane). At the tender age of two, Ladd made her acting debut opposite
James Garner in a Polaroid commercial. In the early '90s, while still in high school, she began appearing in television films that starred her mother, including
The Girl Who Came Between Them (1990) and Broken Promises: Taking Emily Back (1993). By 1994, Ladd had branched out on her own, guest starring on Saved by the Bell: The New Class and starring opposite
Alyssa Milano in the feature
Embrace of the Vampire (1994). She then landed the lead role in
Gregg Araki's sex-charged teen road film
The Doom Generation (1995), but pulled out of the cast at the last minute due to her mother's disapproval -- an action that provoked the film's producers to add "no thanks to
Cheryl Ladd" to the film's credits. Yet, despite not appearing in
The Doom Generation, the younger Ladd did earn a small role in Araki's follow-up film,
Nowhere (1997).
Ladd portrayed
Bette Davis' stand-in in the low-budget show business drama
Stand-Ins (1997) before starring with her mother in the television film
Every Mother's Worst Fear (1998). A year later, she landed her first high-profile role as a popular teenager who tortures
Drew Barrymore in
Never Been Kissed (1999). Barrymore, who also produced the film, offered Ladd the first crack at a role in her company's big-screen adaptation of
Charlie's Angels (2000). Not wanting to be stuck completely in the shadow of her mother, she politely declined. Instead, after being named one of the world's 100 Sexiest Women by Stuff magazine, Ladd starred as a strung-out actress vying for an Academy Award in E!'s first original movie,
Best Actress (2000). Unfortunately, she followed this clever over-the-top comic performance with The Deadly Look of Love, a trashy television film, and
The Specials (2000), a silly feature about the private lives of superheroes. Yet, over the next few years, Ladd established herself as an independent darling, appearing in films like Boy's Life 3 (2000) (opposite a few other young actors with well-known surnames, Jason Gould,
Alexis Arquette, and
Sara Gilbert) and in the
David Lynch short film
Darkened Room (2002). ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide