Boyle's mother, who is also her manager, is one of her daughter's staunchest supporters. When People magazine did a cover story on television actresses whom they pointed to as being dangerously thin, Boyle's name was mentioned along with those of Courteney Cox Arquette, Jennifer Aniston, and Calista Flockhart. Sally Boyle came to her daughter's defense by explaining, "She's Irish and she has that fast metabolism. A lot of people would kill for her metabolism." It is a remark that caused Boyle a bit of grief. "I heard all kinds of retorts that there is no such thing as 'an Irish metabolism,'" she said. "But all of the Irishmen I know are thin. And it's not the golf and Guinness that are making them thin. We are just a thin people." In her family especially, said Boyle. "My dad and his brothers were six-foot-three beanstalks."
    As for all of the tabloid attention she commands these days, whether for her weight or for her relationship with Nicholson, Boyle said, "I just don't go into grocery stores as often."

The Jury is In
More than compensating for the hurt wrought by the rumor mill is the positive feedback she receives from the show's fans. "I love receiving fan mail," she said. Unaware that The Practice was aired in Ireland, she screamed with delight when I informed her that the show had built a fan base in the land of her ancestors. "I love that," she said.
    Wherever it airs, the show seems to draw an audience. "People get so into it. They stop me on the street to talk about some of the cases we have handled on the show." And far from feeling violated when she is approached in public, Boyle welcomes it. "It is a great compliment to go out and be recognized. Although, because I basically go home and go to work, there isn't much opportunity for that kind of thing to happen."
    Without the benefit of much free time, Boyle relishes the scarce opportunities she has to do the things she truly enjoys, like playing with her two dogs, throwing dinner parties for friends, going to basketball games, and going to the opera. Listening to Irish musicians rates high on her list as well, with favorites being Sinead O'Connor, the Pogues, and Van Morrison. Given her proclivity for Irish music, it is not surprising that she is a big fan of the Alan Parker film The Commitments. "Have I seen The Commitments?" she asked, repeating my question. "Have I seen The Commitments? I was obsessed with that movie. I just watched it again about two weeks ago."
    Although she has worked with Alan Parker as well as with some of the most prominent directors in Hollywood, including John Landis, John Hughes, and, of course, Lynch and Kelley, Boyle has no plans to become a director herself. She does concede, however, that one day she might like "to run a studio."
    In addition to a lack of interest in directing movies, Boyle professes that she won't ever be directing a family. "I enjoy and love kids," she said, "but it takes a certain type of woman to be a mother. I don't believe I'm cut out for it. Perhaps because I don't think I could give as much as my mother gave to me."
    Perhaps she also worries about what it might be like bringing up children in the City of Angels—a place that doesn't hold a candle to Chicago when it comes to Irish activities. "In Los Angeles, there are so many different heritages. But there is no St. Patrick's Day parade here. There is no sense of the day whatsoever," she said. Yet, though she is far from her Chicago Irish roots, the stories are always close at hand. She hangs the Irish tricolor in front of her home and treasures an antique sign that used to hang in her great-grandfather's pub, Flynn's Tap, in Rock Island, Ill. "It reads 'No Irish Need Apply,'" said Boyle. "And it's one of my most prized possessions. My friends always ask me, 'What does that mean?'" For Boyle, it is a mark of how far the Irish have come. And of how far they will continue to go.

Reprinted with permission from The World of Hibernia, Winter 1999. All rights reserved.