Elizabeth Berkley Lauren (born July 28, 1972) is an American actress. Berkley's most notable roles were as Jessie Spano in the television series Saved by the Bell, and as Nomi Malone in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls.
Berkley was born and raised in Farmington Hills, a community located among Detroit's northern suburbs in the somewhat affluent Oakland County, Michigan. She is the daughter of Jere, a gift basket business owner, and Fred Berkley, a lawyer. Berkley's family is Jewish, she was raised in the Conservative tradition of Judaism, and at age 12 became bat mitzvah. Berkley was born with heterochromia, the condition of differently colored irises; her right eye is half green and half brown, and her left eye is all green. She also has a mole on her forehead which she covers with camouflage makeup, citing it was a bother to her growing up, after name calling. She graduated in 1990 from North Farmington High School in Farmington Hills after previously having attended the Cranbrook Kingswood School, a private school in Bloomfield Hills.