Tracey Needham
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
As the only girl in a family of four children,
Tracy Needham found that her height gave
her a leg up whenever she would play football with the boys. I grew up
being very competitive with guys", says Needham, who is 5'11". "I was
always jumping into football games and wanted to be treated equally and
not have boys take it easy on me because I was a girl. But I usually
ended up with my nose bloody". Needham was born on a March 28 in
Dallas, Texas, where her father was a home builder. When she was 8, the
Needhams moved to Denver, and her father's work dictated that the
family move back and forth between the two cities. Needham was fully
grown by the eighth grade, and later, when she took to heart a
high-school theater director's snippy advice that she was too tall to
appear on stage, she worked on the technical crew instead. After her
high-school graduation, Needham traveled through Europe and Australia.
In 1988, she went to Los Angeles to study acting and audition for
roles. She made her TV acting debut on
Jake and the Fatman (1987).
After a few more acting classes, she landed the part of "Paige
Thatcher", the big sister on
Life Goes On (1989) (1989-93),
beginning in the series's second season.
Life Goes On (1989), I learned
for the first time how to hit a mark, developed confidence, and became
comfortable with myself," she says.
