Sheridan's greatest fame has come from primetime drama: she debuted in 1984's Paper Dolls and was very popular as "Paige Matheson" on the CBS night-time soap Knots Landing. In 1990 she won the Soap Opera Digest Award for "Outstanding Lead Actress: Prime Time" for that role; the following year she won in the "Outstanding Heroine: Prime Time" category.

She is the daughter of British actress Sally Adams (a.k.a. Sally Sheridan), but her father has never been identified. She is not, however, the grand-daughter of the venerated British actress Dinah Sheridan as has been wrongly asserted in the past. She was also the step-daughter of the late actor Telly Savalas during the length of her mother's marriage to Savalas, by whom she has a half-brother, troubled actor Nick Savalas.

Sheridan was recognized by a "worst dressed" accolade from Mr. Blackwell in 2004.
Still from the controversial Desperate Housewives Monday Night Football pregame skit, Terrell Owens with popular TV actress Nicolette Sheridan
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Still from the controversial Desperate Housewives Monday Night Football pregame skit, Terrell Owens with popular TV actress Nicolette Sheridan

On November 15, 2004, Sheridan was cited by the FCC for the introductory skit which opened that evening's Monday Night Football telecast, in which Terrell Owens and the Eagles played the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium. The citation was later dropped on March 14, 2005. The skit � which showed Sheridan in just a towel, which she dropped to attract Owens' attention � was widely condemned as being sexually suggestive (see video[1]) and ABC was forced to apologize for airing it.

Her longest relationship was a six-year involvement (1979 - 1985) with then-teen idol Leif Garrett; she met him when she was fifteen years old and for a time lived with him in his mother's home. Many years later, Sheridan was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to get Garrett off of his drugs dependency.

Sheridan was married to actor Harry Hamlin from 1991 through 1993, and there were rumours that this was a "green card" marriage, lasting exactly two years, the amount of time required under American law for a spouse of an American citizen to receive a permanent (not conditional) green card, but this was not the case. It would hardly have been necessary for her to take such a step since she had a United States citizen step-father (Savalas), and had worked for years on TV, particularly on Knots Landing, without difficulty and the studio could easily have sponsored her for a visa, as studios have done and continue to do for certain entertainers, models, etc.

She also dated singer Michael Bolton for a time, with whom she has again been linked (as of 2006). It has just been announced that the two are engaged. He proposed in the Bahamas. In January 2005, Sheridan announced her engagement to Swedish actor, Nicklas Soderblom, but the engagement was called off in October 2005.

Between the time of Knots Landing and Desperate Housewives, Sheridan's appearance underwent a (see [2]) noticeable change. As a result, Sheridan battled (see [3]) media speculation that she had undergone extensive plastic surgery.

In 2005, Sheridan was featured on the cover of Maxim magazine; the publication later named her #48 on its 2006Hot 100 List.