Leigh Taylor-Young (born January 25, 1945 in Washington, D.C., as simply Leigh Taylor) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress. She is best known for her role as "furniture girl" Shirl in the 1973 cult science fiction film Soylent Green opposite Charlton Heston, and for her television role on Peyton Place. Her sister is actress Dey Young and her brother is director Lance Young.

Biography

Taylor-Young was the daughter of a U.S. diplomat, Carl Taylor, who was stationed in Washington. She was raised in Michigan when her divorced mother, Pauline, remarried an advertising executive, Donald Young. A 1962 graduate of Groves High School in Birmingham, Michigan, she attended Northwestern University in Illinois for a period of time, but instead of graduating she went into acting full time.

Taylor-Young's first professional acting job was in the 1966 Broadway play Three Bags Full, which lasted five weeks. She then went to L.A. and was hired by Peyton Place producer Paul Monash. She was a regular in Peyton Place for 10 months and appeared in the 1968 movie, I Love You Alice B. Toklas, starring Peter Sellers. Her next movies were The Adventurers, The Big Bounce, in which she did several nude scenes and co-starred with husband Ryan O'Neal, The Buttercup Chain, The Horsemen, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, and Soylent Green.

After Soylent Green, Taylor-Young went on hiatus from acting to raise her son, Patrick. In the 1980s, she returned to acting. She appeared in the hit 1985 film "Jagged Edge" and made television guest appearances on McCloud, Dallas, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Spenser for Hire, Hart to Hart, Hotel, Outlaws, Evening Shade, The Young Riders, Empty Nest, Murder She Wrote, Malibu Shores, 7th Heaven, The Pretender, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where she played Yanas Tigan, the shrewd mother of Ezri Dax (Nicole De Boer) in the episode "Prodigal Daughter".

In 1997, Taylor-Young appeared on Aaron Spelling's daytime drama Sunset Beach as Elaine Stevens. She played the role of Katherine Barrett Crane on the NBC soap opera Passions from 2004 until 2006 alongside fellow soap opera veterans John Reilly, Andrea Evans, and Sharon Wyatt.

In 1994, Ms. Taylor-Young won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Mayor Rachel Harris on the CBS series Picket Fences.

Personal life

In 1967, Taylor-Young married actor Ryan O'Neal. On September 14, 1967, the couple had their only child together, Patrick, before divorcing in 1974.

In 1978, she married agent/director Guy McElwayne, but the marriage also ended in divorce in 1984. She is currently dating John Morton.

Taylor-Young is also an ordained Minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. She is often confused with actress Lesley Ann Warren.

References

External links

• Official site
• Leigh Taylor-Young at the Internet Movie Database