Early Life and Career
Schaeffer, the only child of a child psychologist and a writer, was raised in Portland, Oregon where she attended Lincoln High School and aspired to be a rabbi. As a teen, she began modeling and appeared in television commercials and as an extra in a television film. She then moved to New York to pursue acting. After landing the cover of Seventeen magazine, she tested successfully for the part of Patti Russell on the CBS sitcom My Sister Sam.
After the series ended in 1988, Schaeffer went on to appear in Radio Days (although much of her performance was deleted), Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, The End of Innocence and the television film Out of Time. She served as a spokesperson for the children's charity Thursday's Child.
Read more about this topic: Rebecca Schaeffer
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