Cynthia Geary is an American actress best known for her role as Shelly Tambo in the television series Northern Exposure. In her Emmy-nominated role, she played a former Miss Northwest Passage beauty queen living with a decades-older lover, Holling Vincoeur . Together they ran Cicely, Alaska's tavern and restaurant, The Brick. Encouraged at an early age by her mother , Geary studied ballet, voice, and piano. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Mississippi, where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. Her acting career began with a series... of national commercials, including spots for Coca-Cola and General Motors. She soon had numerous guest starring roles on a variety of television programs, made-for-television movies and independent films, including a small part in Smoke Signals, a film based on the short stories of Native American author Sherman Alexie. Geary played the mother of Olsen twins in their 1992 made-for-TV-movie To Grandmother's House We Go, appeared in the 1997 movie When Time Expires, and starred in 8 Seconds.
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