Born in Memphis, Tennessee on February 18^th 1950 to William and Patty Shepherd, her parents derived her name from the name of her grandfather, Cy and her father Bill. Her education included Hunter College in New York until 1969 and then College of New Rochelle also in New York until 1970 and then finally graduating from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 1973.Before entering the world of acting Cybill had a close encounter with fame when she entered the Miss Teenage America pageant where she took the runner up position. This led to several modeling roles which saw Cybill gracing the cover of numerous glamour magazines and becoming the face of Cover Girl make up.

With her celebrity status came attention from other celebrities and Cybill, at the age of nineteen dated Elvis Presley on a few occasions.It was during her modeling days that Cybill was spotted by film director Peter Boqdanovich who auditioned, and selected her for a small role in his 1971 movie ‘The Last Picture Show’ which also starred Jeff Bridges, Cloris  Leachman and Ben Johnson.

Following her first movie for Boqdanovich she became romantically involved with Peter which also resulted in her career reaching a quiet period until she was cast in her most popular starring role as Maddie Hayes in ‘Moonlighting’ along with new comer Bruce Willis in which he played her reluctant partner in a struggling detective agency. It became no secret that Willis and Shepherd disliked each other immensely during the series, which resulted in tantrums, firings and endless power struggles.Before her career took off Cybill married her first husband, David Ford, in 1978 but after the couple produced a daughter together, Clementine, they parted company and divorced in 1982.

Not being deterred from marriage, within five years Cybill went on to marry her second husband in 1987, chiropractor, Bruce Oppenheim and it was during this time while she was starring in the fourth season of ‘Moonlighting’ that she became pregnant with twins, Zack and Ariel. With her professional career developing, her marriage deteriorated and once again Cybill found herself divorced  in 1990.Starring in ‘Martha Inc; The Story of Martha Stewart’, the role called for Cybill to display her temper which she subsequently disclosed came quite easy to her as she had her own rage problems. Cybill said she met Stewart

Throughout her career, Cybill Shepherd has been an outspoken activist for such issues as gay rights, abortion rights, and other politically relevant topics. She was present at the opening of the National Civil Rights Museum in her hometown of Memphis, for which she lent some financial support. It has been rumored for years that she is interested in running for political office. She heightened her political profile when she oopposed Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid to become Governor of California in August 2003.