A quirky blonde actress capable of projecting a diamond hardness or intense fragility, Melora Walters has enjoyed her best screen roles (to date) in collaboration with writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. The actress made her first screen appearance in "Dead Poets Society" (1989) and then segued to a recurring role as a pal of the title character on the ABC sitcom "Roseanne" in 1990. Several small roles followed in films ranging from big studio fare (e.g., "Beethoven" 1992) to low-budget indies (i.e., "Twenty Bucks" 1993) to the in-between ("Ed Wood" 1994). She had perhaps her widest exposure as the unlikely love interest of Chris Elliott in the disastrous "Cabin Boy" (1994). Anderson rescued her from these roles which did little to tap into her capabilities when he cast her as the floozy who hooks up with Samuel L. Jackson in "Hard Eight/Sydney" (1997). The writer-director subsequently created the roles of a porn star married to another adult film actor (Don Cheadle) in "Boogie Nights" (1997) and a high-strung drug abuser who finds romance with a cop in "Magnolia" (1999). The latter role especially allowed Walters to cut loose as she traversed a gamut of emotions. Her relationship with John C. Reilly formed the center of the film and she got to deliver the line that inspired the film, "Now that I've met you, would you object to never seeing me again?" Walters memorable work in the film was often cited for praise, even by those reviewers who had reservations about the film as a whole.
In between feature work, Walters remained active on the small screen in TV-movies and episodic work. She did a two-episode stint on "NYPD Blue" in 1995 and made a guest appearance on "Brooklyn South" which featured her real-life husband Dylan Walsh. Walters had her widest exposure as the slightly ditsy receptionist Felicity on the CBS medical drama "L.A. Doctors" (1998-99), appearing in 23 of the series' 24 episodes. She also excelled as a rival to Molly Ringwald in the Lifetime fantasy "Twice Upon a Time" (1998).