Michelle Pfeiffer

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Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Birth name	Michelle Pfeiffer
Born	April 29, 1958 (age 48) Santa Ana, California, USA
Spouse(s)	David E. Kelley
Notable roles	Elvira Hancock Scarface Susie Diamond The Fabulous Baker Boys Catwoman Batman Returns LouAnne Johnson Dangerous Minds Countess Ellen Olenska The Age of Innocence Melanie Parker One Fine Day Laura Alden Wolf
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Actress 1989 The Fabulous Baker Boys 1992 Love Field Nominated: Best Supporting Actress 1988 Dangerous Liaisons
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1990 The Fabulous Baker Boys
BAFTA Awards
Best Supporting Actress 1989 Dangerous Liaisons

Michelle Pfeiffer (born April 29, 1958) is a three-time Oscar-nominated American actress. She was noted for her Hollywood film performances in Scarface (1983) and Batman Returns (1992).

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Academy Award Nominations 5 Filmography 6 TV work 7 External links

[edit] Early life

Michelle Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California and raised in Midway City, Orange County, California (about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles) to Richard Pfeiffer and Donna Taverna. She is the second of four siblings: an older brother, Rick Pfeiffer, and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer (b. 1964, also an actress) and Lori Pfeiffer (b. 1965). Her paternal grandfather, William, was of German ancestry,[1] while her maternal grandfather, Jacob Bernhard Taverna, was of Swiss descent, and her maternal grandmother, Delma Lillian Hill, was of Swedish descent.[2]

Pfeiffer attended Vista View Middle School, Fountain Valley High School and Mater Dei, graduating in 1976. She briefly pursued a career as a court reporter at Golden West Community College before dropping out to pursue an acting career. She won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978, and then entered the statewide competition for Miss California USA. Although unsuccessful in winning the title, the young Pfeiffer acquired an agent, who helped her secure TV commercial parts and small movie roles before she made her mark in Hollywood.

[edit] Career

Pfeiffer's first major screen role was in 1982 in the film sequel, Grease 2. But it was not until 1983 when Pfeiffer co-starred with Al Pacino in Brian De Palma's gangster classic Scarface that she caught the attention of Hollywood. Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, Pfeiffer starred in a string of box-office and critical hits including Ladyhawke, The Witches of Eastwick, Married to the Mob, Tequila Sunrise, The Russia House, Frankie and Johnny, Batman Returns, The Age of Innocence, Dangerous Minds, and One Fine Day. She won the British Academy Award for 1988's Dangerous Liaisons and the Silver Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1993 for Love Field.She famously turned down the role of Clarice in the Oscar-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, a role that eventually went to Jodie Foster as she thought it was too violent and she didn't like the fact that evil overcame good in the end.^{[citation needed]} Michelle had been the director's first choice.^{[citation needed]}.

Pfeiffer's performance as Susie Diamond in The Fabulous Baker Boys gained honours from the Hollywood Foreign Press, New York Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics and Board of Review. Critics compared Pfeiffer's performance, much known for her scorching rendition of "Makin' Whoopee" atop of a piano, to the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and a young Katharine Hepburn. Film critic Pauline Kael raved that Pfeiffer's performance had "the grinning infectiousness of Carole Lombard and the radiance of the very young Lauren Bacall."^{[citation needed]}

In 1995, Pfeiffer was given the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award by Harvard University for her contribution to the performing arts. The award, bestowed annually by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals society, is given to female performers deemed to have made a "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment." The award placed Pfeiffer among the ranks of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Meryl Streep.

Since then, Pfeiffer has continued to maintain her status as one of the film world's reigning screen goddesses, despite working much less in recent years. In 2000, Pfeiffer starred with Harrison Ford in one of the biggest box office hits of the year, Robert Zemeckis's thriller What Lies Beneath. In 2001, she starred opposite Sean Penn in I Am Sam and in 2002 alongside Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn in White Oleander, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Michelle recently turned down the role as the White Witch in blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.^{[citation needed]}

After a long absence from the spotlight, Pfeiffer returned to acting in 2006. Her first round of projects teamed her with director Amy Heckerling in the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (opposite Paul Rudd, released Summer 2006) as well as opposite Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, and Sienna Miller in the science fiction fantasy epic Stardust, due for a 2007 release. Pfeiffer will co-star in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Hairspray as Velma Von Tussle. She will make a cameo appearance in The Prince and the Pauper, a film in which her sister Dedee stars. She is slated to receive her star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame" in 2007.

In an August 2006 In Style interview (her first in many years), Pfeiffer discussed her return to making movies. With her children a little older, Michelle contends, "I'm a better mother if I also work. Leaving home for little spurts is actually a good thing. Things don't fall apart. It empowers them without me hovering, making everyone feel inadequate." Pfeiffer also discussed plastic surgery, Hollywood's obsession with it, and now in her 40s, her own thoughts on going under the knife. "You see some freakish things... I'm hoping I'm courageous enough to age gracefully."Michelle has worked hard at been recognised as a serious actress and has referred to her beauty as a 'curse' as it has often stunted her ability to get serious roles and it has eclipsed her acting ability.

[edit] Personal life

In 1981 Pfeiffer married Thirtysomething actor Peter Horton, but they divorced in 1988 at the height of her career. She has been romantically linked with actors Val Kilmer, John Malkovich, Michael Keaton and Fisher Stevens. In 1993 Pfeiffer married writer-producer David E. Kelley (The Practice, L.A. Law, Ally McBeal and Boston Legal). Earlier that year, before meeting Kelley, Pfeiffer adopted a daughter, Claudia Rose, who was in turn adopted by Kelley after their marriage. The adopted baby was the daughter of a black nurse in New York, who already had 4 kids. There were rumours at the time that when Michelle collected the baby, money changed hands but Michelle has denied this. It was a private adoption. Michelle has recently hit out at claims that the baby was a 'designer baby'. In 1994 Pfeiffer and Kelley had a son, John Henry. Michelle also has been slammed for using the words 'ugly people' in a interview when she talks about how good looking people can be messed up just like 'ugly people'.She was referring to her role as the Lonely waitress in Frankie and Johnny. Currently, Pfeiffer and Kelley divide their time between homes in Los Angeles and Northern California.

[edit] Academy Award Nominations

• 1988 - Best Supporting Actress - Dangerous Liaisons
• 1989 - Best Actress - The Fabulous Baker Boys
• 1992 - Best Actress - Love Field

[edit] Filmography

• Falling in Love Again (1980)
• The Hollywood Knights (1980)
• Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)
• Grease 2 (1982)
• Scarface (1983)
• Into the Night (1985)
• Ladyhawke (1985)
• Sweet Liberty (1986)
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
• Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
• Married to the Mob (1988)
• Tequila Sunrise (1988)
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
• The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
• The Russia House (1990)
• Frankie and Johnny (1991)
• Batman Returns (1992)
• Love Field (1992)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• Wolf (1994)
• Dangerous Minds (1995)
• Up Close & Personal (1996)
• To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)
• One Fine Day (1996) (also executive producer)
• A Thousand Acres (1997) (also producer)
• The Prince of Egypt (1998) (voice)
• The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)
• The Story of Us (1999)
• What Lies Beneath (2000)
• I Am Sam (2001)
• White Oleander (2002)
• Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) (voice)
• I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
• Stardust (2007)
• Hairspray (2007)

Awards
Preceded by Olympia Dukakis for Moonstruck	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1989 for Dangerous Liaisons	Succeeded by Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost
Preceded by Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver, and Shirley MacLaine tied for The Accused, Gorillas in the Mist, and Madame Sousatzka	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1990 for The Fabulous Baker Boys	Succeeded by Kathy Bates tied for Misery

[edit] TV work

• The Solitary Man (1979)
• Delta House (1979) (canceled after 15 episodes)
• B.A.D. Cats (1980) (canceled after 6 episodes)
• Callie & Son (1981)
• Splendor in the Grass (1981)
• The Children Nobody Wanted (1981)
• One Too Many (1983)
• Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Natica Jackson (1987)
• The Simpsons (1993) (Mindy Simmons)

[edit] External links

• Michelle Pfeiffer at the Notable Names Database
• Michelle Pfeiffer at the Internet Movie Database
• Michelle Pfeiffer at TV.com