Big was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 29th, 1970. Soon after that, Heather was joined by her baby sister, Aimee, and they attended their very first elementary school in Virginia because her father worked for the FBI and they were forced to relocate quite often.

After having been shuffled around again, Heather and her little sister attended Sumac Elementary. A little while after that, they attended a school called Lindero Canyon Middle School.

By the time Heather got to Agoura High School, she had a hard time making friends, since she was always moving before she had a chance to develop serious friendships.

While studying at Agoura, she was teased because she was a quiet girl and because she wasn't fully developed physically. She was even considered a theater geek by her peers.

Not only was Heather considered uncool at school, but her family life became increasingly uncomfortable as she began to follow her dream of becoming an actress. Although her mother would drive her to Hollywood for auditions, the tension began mounting so high between Heather and her family that she eventually stopped communicating with them altogether.

Heather was relieved to have finally graduated from Agoura, even though she was voted most talented by her senior class. Her start as an actress wasn't glamorous, as are most actors' start.

Heather went from odd job to odd job, eventually landing various roles and bit parts in movies such as License To Drive and the critically acclaimed Drugstore Cowboy, which starred Matt Dillon As well, Heather also appeared on the small screen in the popular television drama Twin Peaks.

After some success in Hollywood, Heather decided to enroll in the University of California at Los Angeles. Her major was in English Literature, but unfortunately she dropped out after only two years. She did, however, come away with something positive.

It was at UCLA that Heather first read one of her favorite books by Dostoevsky, entitled The Brothers Karamazov. It was this book that impressed renowned actor James Woods when he first spotted the blonde bombshell. In 1992, Heather landed a small role in Diggstown; a movie that Woods starred in.

In the next few years that followed, Heather went on to play diverse roles in films such as Six Degrees of Separation, which starred Will Smith, Don't Do It and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. While Heather was furthering her acting career, she piqued the interest of filmmakers like James Toback and Jon Favreau. Apparently, Favreau took Heather swing dancing one night, and a year and a half later, she played Lorraine in his nearly legendary movie Swingers. Toback soon after had his opportunity to work with her and cast her in his film entitled Two Girls and A Guy.

But it was in 1997, that Heather got her breakout role and would not soon be forgotten. She played "Rollergirl," a young porn actress who constantly wore roller-skates everywhere she went, in the true story of renowned porn actor John Holmes' life entitled Boogie Nights.

After that, Heather was in high demand and made a cameo appearance in Scream 2, in which she spoofed Drew Barrymore's role as the popcorn popping first victim of the of the original film. She then appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, which had men everywhere drooling over the latest starlet in Hollywood.

Rolling Stone wasn't the only magazine cover that Heather graced, her face, once obscure and unknown to the world, had begun to grace the covers of a multitude of magazine covers.

Along with a modeling contract with Emanuel Ungaro, Heather has starred in some big budget films including Lost In Space, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Bowfinger, which also stars Eddie Murphyand Steve Martin

We saw more of this swinging sensation in roles like Say It Isn't So, Sidewalks Of New York (in which she co-starred her former boyfriend, Edward Burns), From Hell.

She will next be seen reprising her role of Felicity Shagwell in the third installment of Austin Powers -- Goldmember -- as well as Hope Springs, Killing Me Softly, and The Guru.