Jewel Shepard, a multifaceted American creative, has made a significant mark in the entertainment industry with her versatility as a writer, photographer, and actress.
With a journey that began in the early 1980s, Shepard arrived in California, where she pursued a variety of occupations to support herself, including working as a stripper in numerous Los Angeles strip clubs and modeling for car shoots. It was during this time that she crossed paths with renowned genre filmmaker Dan O'Bannon.
After securing small television roles, Shepard made her film debut in H. B. Halicki's The Junkman (1982). This marked the beginning of a string of over a dozen B-movie appearances, with 1985's Return of the Living Dead, directed and written by O'Bannon, being a notable highlight.
In 1992, Shepard leveraged her "B-girl" status by authoring Invasion of the B-Girls, a book featuring interviews with cult actresses such as Kitten Natividad, Linnea Quigley, Yvette Vickers, Haji, and Mary Woronov. Additionally, she has contributed to esteemed publications like Premiere, Cosmopolitan, Details, and The Associated Press.
Shepard's autobiography, If I'm So Famous, How Come Nobody's Ever Heard of Me?, published in 1996, provides a candid look at the less glamorous aspects of filmmaking and her experiences in adult entertainment.
Unfortunately, Shepard has been battling invasive breast cancer since 2011, undergoing chemotherapy, lymph node removal, and a double mastectomy.
