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Michelle Pfeiffer (born April 29, 1958) is a three-time Academy Award-nominated American actress.

Early life

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). Pfeiffer's paternal grandfather, William Pfeiffer, 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 Fountain Valley High School and Mater Dei and graduated in 1976. She briefly pursued a career as a court reporter at Golden West Community College before dropping out in pursuit of a career in acting. She entered the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978, won, and entered the statewide competition for Miss California. Although unsuccessful in claiming the title, the young Pfeiffer won herself an agent and roles in TV commercials and cameos before making her mark in Hollywood.

Career

Pfeiffer's first major screen role was in the film sequel, Grease 2. However, it wasn't until 1983 when Pfeiffer starred with Al Pacino in Brian De Palma's gangster classic Scarface that she caught the attention of Hollywood. Over the course of the 1980's and 1990's, Pfeiffer starred in a string of box-office and critical hits as 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 received the British Academy Award and also received her first Oscar nomination in 1988 as Best Supporting Actress in Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons. Pfeiffer received her second Best Actress Academy Award nomination in 1992's Love Field, which also won Pfeiffer the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1993. Her role as chanteuse Susie Diamond in 1989's The Fabulous Baker Boys continues to be a highlight of her career. Pfeiffer's performance gained another Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, as well as honors 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, as being in the ranks of Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and the young Katharine Hepburn. In her rave review of the film, Pauline Kael recalled Pfeiffer's performance as having "the grinning infectiousness of Carole Lombard and the radiance of the very young Lauren Bacall."

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 who are 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, Pfeiffer starred opposite Sean Penn in I Am Sam and in 2002 alongside Renee Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn in White Oleander, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

After a long break 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 DeNiro, Claire Danes, and Sienna Miller in the science fiction fantasy epic Stardust, due to be released in 2007. It has been confirmed that she will co-star in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Hairspray as Velma Von Tussle.

In an August 2006 In Style interview, her first given in many years, Pfeiffer discussed her return to making movies. Now with her children a bit 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."

Personal life

In 1981 Pfeiffer married Thirtysomething actor Peter Horton, but they divorced in 1988 at the height of her career. She has been linked romantically 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, Boston Legal). Earlier that year, before she met Kelley, Pfeiffer adopted a daughter, Claudia Rose, who was adopted by Kelley after their marriage. In 1994, Pfeiffer and Kelley had a son, John Henry.

Currently, Pfeiffer and Kelley divide their time between homes in Los Angeles and Northern California.

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)

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)

External links

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