This quirky, gifted performer has split her time among theater, TV and film. The Chicago-bred Taylor, who was trained in song and dance, has acted in scores of regional productions with Chicago's North light Theater and the Actor's Theater of Louisville and spent an "exchange" season in Czechoslovakia in 1987. She moved to NYC in 1988 with the show What Did He See?.

Taylor's first film part, a bit in the John Hughes comedy SHE'S HAVING A BABY (1988), passed unnoticed. But she gained well-deserved praise and wide recognition for her next two movies: as the feisty bride-to-be with cold feet in MYSTIC PIZZA (1988) and as the musically-inclined, emotionally-scarred lover in SAY ANYTHING… (1989). Taylor had a small but moving role as a Vietnam war widow in Oliver Stone's BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989) and a starring role as an off-kilter drifter trying to spring her brother from jail in BRIGHT ANGEL (1991). She gained twenty pounds and took the risky career move of playing a dumpy, plain Jane victim of a mean-spirited Marine bet in Nancy Savoca's DOGFIGHT (1991) which co-starred River Phoenix.

These were hardly the actions of a Julia Roberts (a MYSTIC PIZZA co-star) or a Demi Moore, but Taylor was no ordinary starlet. Not unattractive by anyone's standards, except perhaps those of Hollywood, which is overpopulated by Michelle Pfeiffer's and Geena Davis', the fiercely dedicated and intellectual Taylor has lost numerous roles because, as she put it, Hollywood's "beauty standard is so strict … all the feedback I got was that I was very good but I wasn't, basically, attractive enough." She has concentrated on small, generally independent films, interesting "character" roles and frequent forays in theater.

In 1992, Taylor played opposite Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway in the surrealistic French-financed comedy ARIZONA DREAM (not released in the US until 1995) and then co-starred with Tracey Ullman as a religious fanatic in Savoca's ensemble piece, HOUSEHOLD SAINTS (1993). She had a few good moments as the naive wife of randy make-up artist Robert Downey Jr., in Robert Altman's SHORT CUTS before appearing in the atypical sports drama RUDY (both 1993). Ironically, Taylor almost lost the small role of Edna Ferber in Alan Rudolph's enjoyable but rambling MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (1994) because she was considered too pretty. Unfortunately, she had no trouble being cast in Altman's abominable fashion farce READY TO WEAR (PRÊT-À-PORTER) (1994) later that same year. Her next few films made little or no impression on viewers: the horror tale THE ADDICTION (1995), in which she was a philosophy student turned vampire, and FOUR ROOMS (1995), in which she was a member of a coven of witches headed by Madonna. The film was generally acknowledged as one of the worst ensemble comedies since READY TO WEAR. TV has not provided a career outlet; Taylor's only contributions thus far have been a 1987 ABC drama (NIGHT OF COURAGE), a period piece on PBS (the non-Austen SENSIBILITY AND SENSE, 1990) and the 1990 miniseries FAMILY OF SPIES (CBS).