Shepherd was born February 18, 1950, in
Memphis, Tennessee. She is the second of three children. She had an older sister, Terry, and has a younger brother, William. Cybill was named with a blend of her grandfather Cy and her father Bill's names. While attending
East High School, Shepherd won the "Miss Teenage Memphis" title and represented the city at the 1966
Miss Teenage America pageant at age 16, where she won the congeniality award. She competed at the 1968 "Model of the Year" contest at age 18, resulting in fashion model assignments through high school and afterwards. '' from 1970 According to Shepherd's autobiography, a 1970
Glamour magazine cover caught the eye of film director
Peter Bogdanovich. His then-wife,
Polly Platt, claimed that when she saw the cover in a check-out line in a
Ralphs grocery store in southern California, he said "That's Jacy," referring to the role Bogdanovich was casting—and ultimately given to Shepherd—in
The Last Picture Show (1971).
Celebrity Her first film was
The Last Picture Show, also starring
Jeff Bridges and
Timothy Bottoms. The film became a critical and box office hit, earning eight Academy Awards nominations and winning two. Shepherd was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 1972, Shepherd was cast opposite
Charles Grodin in
The Heartbreak Kid. She played Kelly, a young woman for whom Grodin's character falls while on his honeymoon in Miami. Directed by
Elaine May and written by
Neil Simon, it was another critical and box office hit. Also in 1972, Shepherd posed as a
Kodak Girl for the
camera manufacturer's then-ubiquitous cardboard store poster displays. In 1974, Shepherd again teamed up with Peter Bogdanovich for the title role in
Daisy Miller, based on the
Henry James novella. The film—a period piece set in Europe—was a
box office failure. That same year, she launched a singing career, releasing a studio album
Cybill Does It...To Cole Porter for MCA Records. It was panned by
Village Voice critic
Robert Christgau, who wrote: "Her voice is surprisingly pleasant, but you'd never know how these songs sparkle. Since
Cole didn't like to . . . do it with (or 'to') women very much, maybe the 'do' is as hostile as it sounds." In 1975, she made
At Long Last Love, a
film musical directed by Bogdanovich. The film received scathing negative reviews, named by many as the worst major film of the year, and Shepherd herself received negative reviews. Shepherd returned with good reviews for her supporting work in
Martin Scorsese's
Taxi Driver (1976). According to Shepherd, Scorsese had requested a "Cybill Shepherd type" for the role. She portrayed Betsy, a volunteer for a presidential candidate with whom
Robert De Niro's character, Travis Bickle, becomes infatuated. A series of less-successful roles followed, including
The Lady Vanishes (1979), a remake of
Alfred Hitchcock's
1938 film. Already sitting in on an acting class taught by
Stella Adler, Shepherd was offered work at a dinner theater in
Norfolk, Virginia, and turned to friend
Orson Welles for advice. He encouraged her to get experience on stage in front of an audience, anywhere but Los Angeles or New York City, away from the harsh big-city critics so she moved back to her home town of Memphis to work in regional theatre. In 1981, Shepherd appeared in a play directed by
Orson Bean,
Vanities, staged in
St. Louis, Missouri.
Return to Hollywood In 1982, Shepherd returned to New York and to the stage when she played alongside
James MacArthur in a theatre tour of
Lunch Hour by
Jean Kerr. The following year, Shepherd went back to Los Angeles and was cast as Colleen Champion in the
NBC television drama
The Yellow Rose (1983), opposite
Sam Elliott. Although critically acclaimed, the series lasted only one season. A year later, Shepherd was cast as Maddie Hayes on
Moonlighting (1985–1989), a role that defined her career. The producers knew that her role depended on having "chemistry" with her co-star, and involved her in the selection of
Bruce Willis. A lighthearted combination of
mystery and
comedy, the series won Shepherd two
Golden Globe Awards. She starred in
Chances Are (1989) with
Robert Downey Jr. and
Ryan O'Neal, receiving excellent reviews. She then reprised her role as Jacy in
Texasville (1990), the sequel to
The Last Picture Show (1971), as the original cast (and director Peter Bogdanovich) reunited 20 years after filming the original. She appeared in Woody Allen's
Alice (1990) and
Eugene Levy's
Once Upon a Crime (1992), as well as several television films. In 1997, she won her third Golden Globe award That same year, Shepherd hosted a short-lived syndicated talk show version of the book
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, but left the show in early 2001. In 2003, she guest-starred on
8 Simple Rules as the sister of Cate Hennessy (portrayed by
Katey Sagal). She has played
Martha Stewart in two television films:
Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart (2003) and
Martha: Behind Bars (2005). From 2007 until it ended, Shepherd appeared on
The L Word as
Phyllis Kroll for the show's final three seasons. In 2008, she joined the cast of
Psych as main character
Shawn Spencer's mother,
Madeleine Spencer. On November 7, 2008, Shepherd guest-starred in a February episode of the CBS drama
Criminal Minds. In 2010 Shepherd appeared in an episode of
No Ordinary Family and in November of the same year she guest-starred in an episode of
$♯*! My Dad Says. Shepherd appeared alongside
Jennifer Love Hewitt in the 2010 television film
The Client List and then in the 2012-13
series based on the film. In July 2012, Shepherd made her
Broadway debut in the revival of
Gore Vidal's
The Best Man at the
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre alongside
James Earl Jones,
John Stamos,
John Larroquette,
Kristin Davis, and
Elizabeth Ashley to positive reviews. Shepherd appeared as a mother grieving the death of her daughter in
Do You Believe? (2015), a Christian-themed movie produced by
Pure Flix Entertainment. In 2017, she took on a role as an ex-cop senior struggling with illness who unexpectedly finds love on a road trip in the direct-to-cable
Being Rose. In 2023, Shepherd starred in the
Lifetime film
How to Murder Your Husband: The Nancy Brophy Story, where she portrayed Nancy Brophy, opposite
Steve Guttenberg as Daniel Brophy, in a dramatization of the
Murder of Daniel Brophy. ==Personal life==