Alicia Roanne Witt (born August 21, 1975) is an American actress and musician. She first came to fame as a child actress after being discovered by David Lynch, who cast her in Dune (1984) as Alia and Twin Peaks (1990) as Gersten Hayward, a role she reprised in Twin Peaks: The Return (2017). Her 2026 album, Between Heaven and Earth, is a tribute to her relationship to Lynch and was described by the Times UK as ‘gorgeously sung… If this is what “directing from beyond” sounds like, it’s rather beautiful.” Witt was a regular on Cybill Shepherd's sitcom Cybill (1995–1998) for four seasons, playing the title character's daughter, Zoey Woodbine. She had a critically acclaimed role as a disturbed teenager in Fun (1994), appeared as a music student in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) and as a terrorized college student in the horror film Urban Legend (1998). She appeared in Vanilla Sky (2001) as Libby, Two Weeks Notice (2002), Last Holiday (2006), 88 Minutes (2007) as Kim Cummings, I Care A Lot (2020) and Longlegs (2024). Witt has made television appearances in shows such as The Walking Dead, The Sopranos, Friday Night Lights as Cheryl, Twin Peaks: The Return as Gersten Hayward, CSI: Miami, Supernatural, Justified and Orange Is the New Black. She starred in five episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Detective Nola Falacci in Season 7, temporarily replacing actress Julianne Nicholson, who was on maternity leave.
In addition to her acting, Witt is an accomplished pianist, singer, and songwriter. Between 2013 and 2020 she starred in eight Hallmark Christmas films. Many of these include her original Christmas songs. In her Hallmark film Christmas Tree Lane (2020), she was also executive producer and storywriter, and contributed two original songs which her character sings on screen.
Witt was born on August 21, 1975 in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Diane (née Pietro), a junior high school reading teacher, and Robert Witt, a science teacher and photographer. Talking by age two and reading by the age of four, she has been described as a child prodigy. Her acting talent was recognized by director David Lynch in 1983, when casting director Jane Jenkins watched her 1980 appearance reciting Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on the television show That's Incredible! at age five, and brought her to New York City to audition for the role of Alia in Dune. Lynch began working with her in film and television before Witt earned her high-school equivalency credential at age 14. From the ages of 10 to 14, she took four piano lessons a week, including from a Boston University professor, and competed nationally.
Witt's discovery by Lynch led to her casting as the "flame-haired" child in Dune (1984), as Paul Atreides's sister Alia; she turned eight during filming. She worked with Lynch again when she appeared in an episode of Twin Peaks, playing the younger sister of Lara Flynn Boyle's character Donna.
Her acting background led to small parts in Mike Figgis' Liebestraum in 1991 (her brother Ian also appears), the Gen-X drama Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993), and the television film The Disappearance of Vonnie (1994). In 1994, Witt landed her first lead role in a film, playing a disturbed, murderous teenager in Fun and receiving the Special Jury Recognition Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Witt was then cast in Four Rooms as Madonna's lover in the episode "The Missing Ingredient".
Witt was introduced to a larger audience in the role of Cybill Shepherd's daughter, Zoey Woodbine, in the sitcom Cybill. While playing that part from 1995 to 1998, she also had film roles in Stephen Herek's Mr. Holland's Opus, Alexander Payne's Citizen Ruth, Robert Allan Ackerman's Passion's Way (based on the Edith Wharton novel, The Reef) and Richard Sears' comedy Bongwater. After Cybill was cancelled, Witt went on to leading roles in Jamie Blanks' horror film Urban Legend (1998) as Natalie, and in Kevin Altieri/Touchstone Pictures' limited-release animated feature Gen13.
In 2000, Witt had guest starring roles on episodes of the television shows Ally McBeal and The Sopranos, the lead role in the Matthew Huffman comedy Playing Mona Lisa and a part in John Waters' Cecil B. Demented.
Next, she acted in a small part in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001). Witt played "Two", the college graduate discussing loss of her virginity, in Rodrigo García's Ten Tiny Love Stories and played the role of promiscuous Barbie, half-sister of the title character, in American Girl. Witt also appeared in Marc Lawrence's romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice (2002).
In 2003, she portrayed Joan Allen's daughter in the U.S.-based comic drama The Upside of Anger). Later that year, Witt went to South Africa to shoot a film interpretation of the epic poem "Das Nibelungenlied", played one of the central characters, Kriemhild, in the German television film Kingdom in Twilight. Kingdom in Twilight has the title Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King in the U.S. and The Ring of the Nibelungs and The Sword of Xanten elsewhere.
Witt filmed Last Holiday (2006) opposite Queen Latifah, and the thriller 88 Minutes (2007) opposite Al Pacino, and joined the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent for the 2007–2008 season. In the latter she played Detective Nola Falacci, a character temporarily replacing Megan Wheeler as Detective Mike Logan's partner (who was away on maternity leave) and was a recurring character in the 2007–2008 season. Witt appeared in the role of Amy in the film Peep World (2010).
Witt appeared as the character Elaine Clayton in Cowgirls 'n Angels (2012), and in 2013, co-starred in the independent film Cold Turkey (opposite Peter Bogdanovich and Cheryl Hines); therein, she additionally performed an original musical piece over the end credits. Her dramatic performance in this film was critically acclaimed, with New York Magazine's David Edelstein proclaiming her turn one of the top performances of 2013. She appeared in four Christmas films in 2013: the feature film Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas, A Snow Globe Christmas for the Lifetime Channel and A Very Merry Mix-Up as an antique store owner, Alice Chapman for the Hallmark Channel and in 2014, the Hallmark Channel's Christmas at Cartwright's. Also in 2014, Witt appeared in a guest-starring role on the DirecTV series, Kingdom, which aired that October.
In 2014, in the fifth season of the FX series Justified she played Wendy Crowe, the brightest member of a Floridian crime family that gets entangled in the show's events in Kentucky. In April 2016, Witt appeared in two episodes of The Walking Dead; the same month, it was announced that she would also be reprising her role as Gersten Hayward in the 2017 Twin Peaks series. Witt filmed a guest-starring role on season 12 of Supernatural as Lily Sunder, a former enemy of Castiel's. In 2016, Witt joined the cast of ABC's Nashville in a recurring capacity playing established country singer Autumn Chase. Witt performed several songs throughout season four. In 2019, she had a recurring role on the seventh season of Orange Is the New Black as Zelda. She also appeared opposite Rosamund Pike in the 2020 Netflix hit movie I Care A Lot.
In 2022, Witt appeared in the crime thriller Alice. In 2024, Witt starred in Oz Perkins's smash hit horror film Longlegs, opposite Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage; the movie became the most successful independent film of 2024, earning over $128M at the box office alone. Witt has 3 movies filmed and to be released in 2026, including Shiver, and The Big Kill, opposite Skeet Ulrich, Pete Holmes, and Natasha Leggero, from Live Nation Studios and Emmy winning The Daily Show head writer Daniel Radosh, and indie fly fishing drama My Mayfly, from first time director Paula Kay Hornick.
Witt made her stage debut in 2001, at Los Angeles' historic Tiffany Theater, in Robbie Fox's musical The Gift, in which she played a high-priced, albeit disease-carrying, stripper.
While in residence in the UK in 2004, she starred as Evelyn in a stage production of Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things at the New Ambassadors Theatre. In September 2006, Witt returned to the London stage at the Royal Court Theatre, in the critically well-received Piano/Forte, wherein she was "well-cast" in portraying the stammering, emotionally damaged pianist Abigail, sister to "unloved attention-seeker" Louise (Kelly Reilly).