Amazing Grace

I know no one else knows who you are, but I think you're great." So many fans have said that to Grace Zabriskie lately that she's become possibly the best-known unknown in Hollywood. The archetypal mom, from Matt Dillon's in Drugstore Cowboy to Laura Palmer's in Twin Peaks, Zabriskie finally gets to extend her cult status, as somebody's sister—Isabella Rossellini's in Wild at Heart. "I play an assassin for hire," she explains, "and I accept assignments according to their erotic possibilities." The New Orleans—bom actress has become an integral member of David Lynch's offbeat repertory group. He wrote the Wild at Heart part for her (it wasn't in the novel), giving the character a Cajun accent similar to the one Zabriskie used as Dennis Quaid's mother in The Big Easy. He also lets her go to the limit in the new season of Twin Peaks. She says, "I like the idea of staying not too high-profile and never looking back at a peak." Or two.

M.M.