Elizabeth Berkley

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Elizabeth Berkley

Berkley with husband Greg Lauren
at an art show in 2008
Born July 28, 1974 (1974-07-28) (age 33)[1]
Farmington Hills, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1987-present
Spouse(s) Greg Lauren (2003-present)

Elizabeth Berkley (born July 28, 1974)[2] is an American television, film, and stage actress. Her notable roles are in the television series Saved by the Bell and in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven movie Showgirls. Since the movie's initial failure, she has made a comeback, starring in various movies and television shows, hosting her own dance reality show Step It Up and Dance and taking part in various different forms of charity work.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Elizabeth Berkley was born in Farmington Hills, an affluent suburb of Oakland County, Michigan and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Berkley is Jewish and is of German descent. She attended North Farmington High School and graduated in 1990. From a young age she excelled in dance and practiced every day in a small dance studio that her parents constructed for her in the basement of their home. In 1982, at only age 8, she auditioned for the lead role in the film Annie, but was turned down because she was too tall.[3] As her love for dance increased, she became more interested in pursuing it professionally, even travelling to New York to train with other dancers and top choreographers.[4] She began to take part in several ballets, including Swan Lake and, in 1983, she starred in some musicals.[5]

[edit] Career

Berkley was a teen model for Elite before pursuing an acting career.[6] She made her screen debut in 1987 with a role in the TV movie Frog and following this, made a number of guest appearances on several television shows. In 1989, at the age of fifteen[7], she auditioned for the role of Kelly in Saved by the Bell, but the producers of the show could not decide whether to cast her or Tiffani Thiessen. In the end, they created the character of Jessie, a smart high school girl and committed feminist, especially for Berkley and she played her from 1989 to 1993 as well as in both of the show's TV movie installments. Berkley's performance received praise within the industry and she was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Starring in an Off-Primetime or Cable Series two years in a row, but did not win. The show was so successful that the six main cast members - including Berkley - were immortalised in toy form when a 12 inch doll was made of each of their characters. Nowadays, the dolls are very collectable and sell for much more than they did at the time of their original production and release.[8]

After leaving Saved by the Bell to try and break into cinema, Berkley auditioned for and won (beating various other young actresses including Jenny McCarthy, Denise Richards and Charlize Theron, then relative unknowns) the role of Nomi Malone, the lead character in the infamous 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls. The sex and nudity-laden movie, was given a controversial NC-17 rating in the United States (the first big budget film that was deliberately intended to receive this rating), was a box office bomb, was widely panned by critics, and is generally credited with ruining Berkley's movie career.

Following the failure of Showgirls and her being awarded two Razzie awards for her performance in the film, she decided to audition for smaller roles in quality films, hoping to improve upon her acting skills before accepting another leading role. As a result, she appeared in a small role in The First Wives Club, a comedy starring Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler, before accepting the title role in the straight to video anime Armitage III: Poly Matrix which also starred Kiefer Sutherland. She then played a Madonna body double named Tina in the independent movie The Real Blonde and was prominently featured in the theatrical poster and subsequently on the DVD cover as well.[9]

As time has put distance between Berkley and the infamous film (which has since achieved cult status among film fans and placed number 36 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 50 Cult Movies and is also one of top 20 highest grossing movies of all time for MGM)[10] she has performed well in strong supporting roles in independent movies such as The Taxman, Tail Lights Fade, Roger Dodger (which her manager advised her not to do) and Moving Malcolm. She also had a small role as a call girl hired by Al Pacino's character in Oliver Stone's sports drama Any Given Sunday, as well as a key supporting role in Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.

Berkley appeared on stage opposite Eddie Izzard for her role as Honey in the London stage version of Lenny. She went on to make her Broadway debut in the comedy Sly Fox, opposite Richard Dreyfuss in February 2004, just three months after her marriage to artist Greg Lauren. She replaced Catherine Kellner as Bonnie in the 2005 Off-Broadway production of David Rabe's Hurlyburly, appearing alongside Ethan Hawke, Parker Posey and Bobby Cannavale.

Berkley received much praise for her role in Hurlyburly, with Charles Isherwood of the New York Times even going as far as apologising to her for his past criticisms of her ability, stating that the fact she held "her own among this skilled company of scene-stealers is a testament to how much her talent has grown".[11] Her most recent stage appearance was at the sixth annual 24 Hour Plays alongside Jennifer Aniston, Rosie Perez and Lili Taylor, in which six writers, six directors, twenty-four actors and production crews have twenty-four hours to write, direct and perform six ten-minute plays.[12]

She has been seen in many dramatic television roles, guest starring on series such as CSI, NYPD Blue, Without A Trace, Threshold, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. However, she stayed true to her comic roots with a recurring role in the successful and critically acclaimed sitcom Titus, in which she played the title character's sister, Shannon. She also starred in the Lifetime TV movie Student Seduction, in which she played Christie Dawson, a high school teacher wrongfully accused of sexual harassment by one of her students who becomes obsessed with her.[13] This was followed by another made-for-television movie in 2007, entitled Black Widow in which she played a woman suspected of killing her husbands for their money. The film Meet Market, which she starred in along with Julian McMahon, Krista Allen and Aisha Tyler was released straight to DVD in 2008 after having been in limbo since it was completed in 2004.

In 2008, Berkley signed on to star in a multi-episode arc of CSI: Miami, in which she plays Horatio Caine's (David Caruso) ex-lover, Julia Winston, who is also the Mother of his recently discovered son.[14] The episodes which Berkley appeared in were very highly rated and all of them featured in the top 10 Nielsen ratings chart.[15] She has since appeared in the show's season six finale and has confirmed that she will be returning for season seven in the Fall.[16]

She is the host of Bravo's reality series, Step It Up and Dance, a competition featuring the exploits of ten wannabe dancers who compete against each other to win a cash prize of $100,000 as well as the opportunity to work with and perform for some of the country's top choreographers.[17]

The show premiered in April 2008 on Bravo and was very successful, making history for the Bravo network. The show came out as the network's strongest ever in its time slot (10/11c) with 826,000 viewers, among whom 574,000 were aged 18 to 49.[18] The second episode was also very successful in the ratings, with an average of 633,000 viewers for its regular time slot of 9/10c.[19]

During the press tour for Step It Up and Dance, Berkley appeared on various shows including various morning news programs, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Fuse TV's The Sauce, E!'s Chelsea Lately, CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and ABC's The View. While on The View, she spoke of her admiration for co-host Whoopi Goldberg, calling her "an extraordinary being". Her appearance on the show was unique in that she brought the ladies of the show tap shoes and taught them a short dance routine. This soon resulted in Joy Behar being bleeped when she cried "Not too fast, I don't want to trip over my tits."[20]

Berkley will star in the David Arquette directed short film The Butler's in Love which will be released later this year. She has also been cast (along with original star Daveigh Chase and Step Up 2: The Streets star Briana Evigan) in the sequel to cult hit Donnie Darko, S. Darko, which is scheduled for release in 2009 and is currently being filmed in Utah. She will play Trudy, a former drug addict turned born again Christian who becomes infatuated with her pastor.

[edit] Personal life

Aside from acting, Berkley is well known for her long curly hair (especially during Saved by the Bell and Showgirls) and the fact that she has a rare condition called heterochromia, in that her eyes are two different colours. Her right eye is half green and half brown while her left eye is green.

Following the failure of Showgirls, she decided to attend college to distance herself from acting, graduating from UCLA in the late '90s, with a B.A. degree in English Literature. Following this, she entered the United Talent Agency and resumed her acting career. She later commented that her experience of the film and of her being made a scapegoat for the movie's failure was "definitely a cruel time" but also that it helped her "find out" what she "was made of".

Berkley in an advertisement for PETA
Berkley in an advertisement for PETA

She is a committed animal rights activist and in 1997, donned a $600 form-fitting gown made entirely of collard greens for the "Lettuce Be Lean" campaign, sponsored by PETA to try and encourage people to embrace vegetarianism.[21] In 2008, she was among a number of celebrities to be nominated for Sexiest Vegetarian of the Year.[22]

She is best friends with another actress who also famously starred in a Joe Eszterhas-written film, Jennifer Beals, who starred in Flashdance in 1983 and the pair appeared together in the 2002 independent movie Roger Dodger.[23]

In 2000, she was made the subject of a $45 million lawsuit when actor and screenwriter Roger Wilson took action against Leonardo DiCaprio, claiming that DiCaprio had encouraged his friends to assault Wilson in a street fight after he tried to defend Berkley, who had been the subject of DiCaprio and his friends' unwanted advances.[24]

On November 1, 2003, she married artist and occasional actor Greg Lauren at the Esperanza Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The pair met during a dance class in 2000 and soon formed a close relationship. The entire wedding party (including Berkley and Lauren) was garbed in creations by Greg's uncle, fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Berkley wore a silk sheath dress with pearled spaghetti straps while Lauren wore a white tuxedo jacket and a black bow tie. At the wedding, she and Lauren danced a routine choreographed by the teacher of the dance class in which they met. She formally changed her name to Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, however, she still uses her maiden name professionally. [25]

She volunteers in her free time, working with teen girls in junior high and high schools around the world. She is active in various outreach programs, including dance classes for young teens, volunteer work with the elderly, volunteer work for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as well as many others. [26]

In 2006, after her husband commented on the amount of girls who came to her asking for advice and joked that she should have her own column, she decided to take action and created her own website to help teen girls. The website, which she facilitates herself is a self-esteem program called Ask-Elizabeth. She regularly meets with young girls to discuss different issues and topics and to help them with any problems that they are going through and speaks of her own troubles in the past.[27]

She is developing her own production company, named 5,6,7,8 Productions and hopes to use it for various projects both as an actress and producer.[28]

[edit] Complete filmography

Year(s) Film Role Notes
1986 Gimme a Break! Unknown
1986 Silver Spoons Melissa TV series
1987 Frog Kathy TV movie
1988 Platinum Blonde Unknown
1988 Day by Day Lizabeth TV series
1989–1993 Saved by the Bell Jessica 'Jesse' Myrtle Spano TV series
1990 Valerie Ashley TV series
1990 Married People Isabel TV series
1990 Life Goes On Selena TV series
1991 Point Break Macramé Girl
1992 Raven Deborah TV series
1992 Step by Step Lisa Morgan TV series
1992 Baywatch Courtney Bremmer TV series
1992 Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style Jessica 'Jessie' Myrtle Spano TV movie
1994 Diagnosis Murder Shannon Thatcher TV series
1994 Burke's Law Heather Charles TV series
1994 Bandit: Bandit Goes Country Beth TV movie
1994 Molly & Gina Kimberly Sweeny
1994 Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas Jessica 'Jessie' Myrtle Spano TV movie
1995 White Wolves II: Legend of the Wild Crystal Myers
1995 Showgirls Nomi Malone
1996 The First Wives Club Phoebe LaVelle
1997 Perversions of Science Ruth TV series
1997 Armitage III: Poly Matrix Naomi Armitage Voice
1997 The Real Blonde Tina
1998 The Taxman Nadia Rubakov
1998 Random Encounter Alicia 'Allie' Brayman
1999 Africa Barbara Craig
1999 Last Call Helena
1999 Brother's Keeper Amy TV series
1999 Tail Lights Fade Eve
1999 Any Given Sunday Mandy Murphy
2000 Jack & Jill Gabi TV series
2000 NYPD Blue Nicole Graf TV series
2000 Becoming Dick Maggie TV movie
2001 The Elevator Celeste TV movie
2001 The Curse of the Jade Scorpion Jill
2001 The Shipment Candy Colucci
2001–2002 Titus Shannon TV series
2002 Cover Story Samantha Noble
2002 Roger Dodger Andrea
2003 The Twilight Zone Marisa Sanborn TV series
2003 Control Factor Karen Bishop TV movie
2003 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Renée, Foam Dancer TV series
2003 Detonator Jane Dreyer
2003 Student Seduction Christie Dawson TV movie
2003 Moving Malcolm Liz Woodward
2004 Meet Market Linda
2004 Without a Trace Post-Makeover Lynette Shaw TV series
2005 Threshold Christine Polchek TV series
2005 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Danielle Quinn TV series
2007 Black Widow Olivia TV movie
2008 CSI: Miami Julia Winston TV series
2008 Step It Up and Dance Herself - Host TV series

[edit] Upcoming Films

Year Title Role Notes
2008 The Butler's in Love Unknown Completed[29]
Year Title Role Notes
2009 S. Darko Trudy Filming[30]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Q&A: Elizabeth Berkley | Newsweek Newsmakers | Newsweek.com
  2. ^ Q&A: Elizabeth Berkley | Newsweek Newsmakers | Newsweek.com
  3. ^ Annie (1982) - Trivia
  4. ^ YouTube - Elizabeth Berkley - SIUAD - Get To Know [Part 1]
  5. ^ Elizabeth Berkley - AskMen.com
  6. ^ http://www.eonline.com/celebrities/profile/index.jsp?uuid=0db259dc-bd68-46ea-a655-db370a8c67f7
  7. ^ http://vidcol.hostsnake.com/elizabeth%20berkley/
  8. ^ Jessie Doll
  9. ^ http://www.postersnthings.com/posters/real_blonde.jpg
  10. ^ MGM.com : Official website of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. - Ars Gratia Artis
  11. ^ The Redemption of Elizabeth Berkley - New York Times
  12. ^ Arts, Briefly; Jennifer Aniston In Broadway's '24 Hours' - New York Times
  13. ^ Student Seduction | myLifetime.com
  14. ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "Berkley signs for role on "CSI: Miami"", Reuters, 2007-11-26. 
  15. ^ Nielsen TV Ratings Top CBS Shows, March 24-30, 2008; including CSI:Miami, Two and A Half Men and 60 Minutes
  16. ^ Youtube - Chelsea Lately Plays Game With Elizabeth Berkley
  17. ^ BRAVOtv.com : Step it Up and Dance : About
  18. ^ Bravo Nets Applause For ‘Supermodel,’ ‘Dance’ - 4/4/2008 4:18:00 PM - Multichannel News
  19. ^ Final Thursday Numbers: The Office vs. CSI - They’re Both Great, But
  20. ^ Watching The View » Blog Archive » The View April 18th Recap: Laurence Fishburne and Elizabeth Berkley
  21. ^ http://www.peta.org/pdfs/berkleyveg.pdf
  22. ^ peta2 // Out There // Who's the World's Sexiest Vegetarian 2008?
  23. ^ Jennifer Beals Interview-Roger Dodger Movie
  24. ^ Did Leo DiCaprio lead his posse to war?
  25. ^ Elizabeth Berkley and Greg Lauren Wedding
  26. ^ http://www.ask-elizabeth.com/#bio
  27. ^ Ask-Elizabeth™ - Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, ©2006 All Rights Reserved
  28. ^ The Final Five | Videos | Step It Up And Dance
  29. ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i07a95797894eac568593b25f124852d2
  30. ^ http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/12425

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Stephen Baldwin
Gabriel Byrne
Benicio del Toro
Kevin Pollak
Kevin Spacey
Chazz Palminteri
Pete Postlethwaite
Suzy Amis
Giancarlo Esposito
for The Usual Suspects
National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble
shared with
Bette Midler
Goldie Hawn
Diane Keaton
Maggie Smith
Dan Hedaya
Sarah Jessica Parker
Stockard Channing
Victor Garber
Stephen Collins
Marcia Gay Harden
Bronson Pinchot
Jennifer Dundas
Eileen Heckart
Philip Bosco
Rob Reiner
James Naughton
Ari Greenberg
Aida Linares
for The First Wives Club

1996
Succeeded by
Ian Holm
Caerthan Banks
Sarah Polley
Tom McCamus
Gabrielle Rose
Alberta Watson
Maury Chaykin
Stephanie Morgenstern
for The Sweet Hereafter