{{Infobox film | name = Hairspray | image = Hairspray2007poster.JPG | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Adam Shankman | producer = Adam ShankmanCraig ZadanNeil MeronBob ShayeMarc ShaimanScott WittmanToby Emmerich | writer = Thomas MeehanLeslie DixonMark O'DonnellJohn Waters () | starring = Nikki BlonskyJohn TravoltaMichelle PfeifferChristopher WalkenJames MarsdenZac EfronAmanda BynesQueen LatifahBrittany SnowElijah KelleyAllison JanneyTaylor Parks | music = Marc ShaimanScott Wittman | cinematography = Bojan Bazelli | editing = Michael Tronick | studio = Ingenious MediaZadan/Meron Productions | distributor = New Line Cinema | released = | runtime = 116 minutes | country = | language = English | budget = $75 million which the film held until July 2008 when it was surpassed by Mamma Mia! and later in October. Hairspray went on to become the fourth highest grossing musical film in US cinema history, behind the film adaptations of Grease, Chicago, and Mamma Mia!.

Plot

May 3, 1962: Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a cheerful, rotund high school student living in Baltimore, Maryland steps out of her apartment ("Good Morning Baltimore") and endures a day’s worth of school before she and her best friend, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes), can watch their favorite TV show, The Corny Collins Show, a teen dance show broadcast from Baltimore’s station WYZT ("The Nicest Kids in Town").

The teenagers featured on the show attend Tracy and Penny's school, among them the arrogant and wealthy Amber von Tussle (Brittany Snow) and her boyfriend, Link Larkin (Zac Efron), the lead male dancer on the show. Amber’s mother, Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer) manages WYZT and goes out of her way to make sure Amber is featured and that The Corny Collins Show remains a racially segregated program. Corny Collins (James Marsden) and his Council Members are white; black kids are only allowed on the show on "Negro Day", held the last Tuesday of each month and hosted by R&B; DJ Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah), who owns a record shop.

Tracy's reclusive mother, Edna (John Travolta), and Penny's strict, religious mother, Prudy (Allison Janney), disapprove of their daughters' fascination with the program; Tracy's father, Wilbur (Christopher Walken), a joke-shop proprietor, is more lenient. One day, Corny Collins announces that a Council Member is going on a leave of absence, and that auditions for a replacement will be held the next morning during school hours ("It Takes Two"). When Tracy attends, Velma rejects her at the audition for being overweight and supportive of integration ("(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs"). Tracy is sent to detention by Miss Wimsey (Jayne Eastwood) for skipping school, where she learns that the “Negro Day” kids practice their dances in the detention hall. Tracy befriends the students' best dancer, Motormouth Maybelle's son, Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), who teaches Tracy several dance moves. As Tracy leaves detention, she accidentally bumps into Link and dreams of a life with him when he winks at her ("I Can Hear the Bells"). At a record hop, Tracy’s moves attract the attention of Corny Collins ("Ladies' Choice") and he appoints her to the Council ("The Nicest Kids in Town (Reprise)").

Tracy becomes one of Corny's most popular Council Members. This threatens Amber's chances of winning the show's yearly "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant ("The New Girl in Town") and her relationship with Link, as he grows fonder of Tracy. Mr. Pinky (Jerry Stiller), a slightly off-centered salesman, suggests that Tracy be the spokesgirl for his Hefty Hideaway boutique. Tracy convinces Edna to accompany her to the Hefty Hideaway and act as her agent, and in the process helps cure her mother's agoraphobia ("Welcome to the 60s").

At school, Tracy introduces Seaweed to Penny, where the two are instantly smitten. One afternoon, Amber arranges for Tracy to be sent to detention. Link follows by saying "kiss my ass" to Mr. Flak (George King). Seaweed invites the girls and Link to follow him and his sister Little Inez (Taylor Parks) to a platter party at Motormouth Maybelle's record shop ("Run and Tell That"). When Edna finds Tracy at the shop she tries to take her home, until Maybelle convinces her to stay and tells her to take pride in herself ("Big, Blonde and Beautiful"). Maybelle informs everyone that Velma has canceled "Negro Day". Tracy suggests that Maybelle and the others stage a protest march (a parody of the march in Alabama led by Malcolm X), which they plan for the next afternoon, a day before the "Miss Teenage Hairspray" pageant. Realizing that he has a chance at stardom by singing at the pageant, Link does not attend the demonstration, disappointing Tracy. After the party, Edna goes to Wilbur's shop to flirt with him. Velma gets there first and unsuccessfully tries to seduce Wilbur ("Big, Blonde and Beautiful (Reprise)"). Edna arrives and accuses Wilbur of infidelity. Edna, out of hatred for Velma, forbids Tracy from being on the show. Wilbur and Edna soon reconcile ("(You’re) Timeless to Me").

The next morning, Tracy sneaks out of the house to join the protest ("I Know Where I’ve Been"), which comes to a halt at a police roadblock set up by Velma. The protesters are arrested, but Tracy runs to the Pingletons, where Penny hides her in a fallout shelter. Prudy catches Tracy and calls the police before tying Penny to her bed. Seaweed and his friends, having been bailed out by Wilbur, help Tracy and Penny escape. Meanwhile, Link visits Tracy’s house to look for her and realizes that he loves her. Seaweed and Penny also acknowledge their love during the escape from her house ("Without Love").

With the pageant underway ("(It’s) Hairspray"), Velma places police officers around WYZT to stop Tracy. She also changes the pageant tallies so Amber is guaranteed to win. Penny arrives at the pageant with Edna "incognito", while Wilbur, Seaweed, and the Negro Day kids help Tracy infiltrate the studio in time to participate in the Miss Teenage Hairspray dance contest. Link breaks away from Amber to dance with Tracy; later, he pulls Little Inez, who has just arrived at WYZT with Maybelle, to the stage to dance in the pageant.

Little Inez receives the most votes and wins the pageant, officially integrating The Corny Collins Show. Velma loudly declares her frustration, informing her daughter of the tally-switching scheme. Unknown to Velma, Edna and Wilbur have turned a camera on her, and Velma's outburst is broadcast on the air, causing her to be fired from the program. Meanwhile, The Corny Collins Show set explodes into a celebration as Tracy and Link cement their love with a kiss ("You Can’t Stop the Beat").

Cast

Main characters

Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, the film's protagonist. An optimistic, overweight teenage girl who loves to dance, Tracy's racial color-blindness unwittingly leads her to becoming an active supporter for the integration of The Corny Collins Show. Hairspray is newcomer Nikki Blonsky's debut as a professional actress. John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Tracy's mother and agent, an agoraphobe ashamed of her obesity. John Travolta's casting as Edna continues the tradition of having a man in drag portray the character, going back to the original 1988 film, which featured drag queen Divine as Edna and at Hairspray's Broadway version, which featured Harvey Fierstein as Edna. Executives at New Line Cinema originally expected the part to be filled by an actor accustomed to playing comic roles, tossing around names such as Robin Williams, Steve Martin, and Tom Hanks. Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle, the film's antagonist. As manager of station WYZT, the racist, former beauty queen, Velma is primarily interested in keeping her daughter Amber in the spotlight and The Corny Collins Show segregated. Hairspray is the first film featuring Michelle Pfeiffer to be released in five years (Stardust, also featuring Pfeiffer, was filmed before Hairspray, but released three weeks afterwards). The peculiarity of Pfeiffer and Travolta appearing onscreen together (Travolta starred in Grease, Pfeiffer in Grease 2) was not lost on the production staff and Jim Broadbent for the role of Wilbur. Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, Tracy's best friend, a sheltered girl who falls in love with Seaweed, despite the efforts of her racist and stern mother, Prudy. A young actress famous for appearances on Nickelodeon TV shows and in feature films, Bynes was one of the few movie stars cast among the teen roles. James Marsden as Corny Collins. As host of The Corny Collins Show, Corny's politically progressive attitudes lead him to fight his show's imposed segregation. Corny Collins is based upon Baltimore TV personality, Buddy Deane, who hosted an eponymous local teen dance show in the late 1950s and early 1960s. James Marsden beat out both Joey McIntyre and X-Men costar Hugh Jackman for the part. Queen Latifah as "Motormouth" Maybelle, a Baltimore Rhythm and Blues radio disc jockey who hosts "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show. Maybelle also runs a record shop on North Avenue. Queen Latifah appeared in the successful Zadan/Meron movie musical Chicago, and worked under Adam Shankman's direction in Bringing Down the House. She beat out soul legend Aretha Franklin for the role of Maybelle. (Audio) performs "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now". Adam Shankman as William Morris Talent Agent #2 (choreographer and director of the film) (Audio) sings "Tied Up in the Knots of Sin" with Marc Shaiman which is heard when Prudy turns the record player on while she ties up Penny.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the executive producers of the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago, were hired as the producers for Hairspray, and began discussing possibly casting John Travolta and Billy Crystal (or Jim Broadbent) as Edna and Wilbur Turnblad, respectively. Upon learning he had been hired, Shankman arranged a meeting with John Waters, who advised him "don't do what I did, don't do what the play did. You've gotta do your own thing." The 2007 film's script is based primarily on the stage musical rather than the 1988 film, so several changes already made to the plot for the stage version remain in this version. These include dropping several characters from the 1988 version (such as Arvin Hodgepile, Franklin Von Tussle, Tammy Turner, the beatniks, et al.), removing the Tilted Acres amusement park from the story, and placing Velma in charge of the station where The Corny Collins Show is filmed.

"Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now", a popular number from the stage musical, features Tracy, Penny, and Amber arguing with their respective mothers. Neither Adam Shankman nor Leslie Dixon could come up with a solution for filming the song that did not require a three-way split screen — something they wanted to avoid As a result, "Mama" was reluctantly dropped from the film during pre-production, although it is used by Shaiman as an instrumental number when the Corny Collins kids dance the "Stricken Chicken". A special version of the song was recorded for the film's end credits in May 2007, during the final score recording process, which featured vocals from each of the three women most famous for portraying Tracy Turnblad: Ricki Lake from the 1988 film, Marissa Jaret Winokur from the original Broadway cast, and Nikki Blonsky from the 2007 film. Harvey Fierstein, who portrayed Edna as part of the original Broadway cast, has a brief cameo moment in the end credits version of the song as well.

Dixon restructured portions of Hairspray’s book to allow several of the songs to blend more naturally into the plot, in particular "(You're) Timeless to Me" and "I Know Where I've Been". "(You're) Timeless to Me" becomes the anchor of a newly invented subplot involving Velma's attempt to break up Edna and Wilbur’s marriage and keep Tracy off The Corny Collins Show as a result. The song now serves as Wilbur's apology to Edna, in addition to its original purpose in the stage musical as a tongue-in-cheek declaration of Wilbur and Edna's love for each other. An open casting call was announced to cast unknowns in Atlanta, New York City, and Chicago. After auditioning over eleven hundred candidates, Nikki Blonsky, an eighteen-year-old high school senior from Great Neck, New York who had no previous professional acting experience, was chosen for the lead role of Tracy. Relative unknowns Elijah Kelley and Taylor Parks were chosen through similar audition contests to portray Seaweed and Little Inez, respectively. John Travolta was finally cast as Edna, with Christopher Walken ultimately assuming the role of Wilbur.

Since Hairsprays plot focuses heavily on dance, choreography became a heavy focus for Shankman, who hired four assistant choreographers, Jamal Sims, Anne Fletcher, and Zach Woodlee, and put both his acting cast and over a hundred and fifty dancers through two months of rehearsals. The cast recorded the vocal tracks for their songs as coached by Elaine Overholt in the weeks just before principal photography began in September. Hairspray is explicitly set in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and the original 1988 film had been shot on location there, but the 2007 film was shot primarily in Toronto because the city was better equipped with the sound stages necessary to film a musical. The opening shots of the descent from the clouds and the newspaper being dropped onto the stoop are the only times that the actual city of Baltimore is shown in the film. Most of the street scenes were shot at the intersection of Dundas Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue. Some of the signs for the 1960s-era stores remain up along the street. Toronto's Lord Lansdowne Public School was used for all of the high school exteriors and some of the interiors, while the old Queen Victoria School in Hamilton was also used for interiors. Scenes at Queen Victoria were shot from November 22 to December 2, and the school was scheduled to be demolished after film production was completed.

Thinner than most of the other men who have portrayed Edna, John Travolta appeared onscreen in a large fat suit, and required four hours of makeup in order to appear before the cameras. Travolta fought for the ability to give his character curves and a thick Baltimore accent. The dress that Penny wears during the "You Can't Stop the Beat" musical number is made from her bedroom curtains, which can be seen during "Without Love". This is homage to The Sound of Music, where Maria uses old curtains to make play clothes for the von Trapp children. Several scenes involving Tracy, such as her ride atop the garbage truck during the "Good Morning Baltimore" number and her new hairstyle during "Welcome to the 60's", are directly inspired by the Barbra Streisand musical film version of Funny Girl. During "Without Love", Link sings to a photograph of Tracy, which comes to life and sings harmony with him. This is directly inspired from the MGM musical The Broadway Melody of 1938, in which a young Judy Garland swoons over a photo of actor Clark Gable as she sings "You Made Me Love You".

One additional Shaiman/Wittman song, a ballad entitled "I Can Wait", was composed for the film as a solo for Tracy, meant to replace the stage musical's reprise of "Good Morning Baltimore". "I Can Wait" was shot for the film (Tracy performs the number while locked in Prudy's basement), but was eventually deleted from the final release print. The audio recording of "I Can Wait" was made available as a special bonus track for customers who pre-ordered the Hairspray soundtrack on iTunes, and the scene itself was included as a special feature on the film's DVD release.

Post-production took place in Los Angeles. Composer/co-lyricist Marc Shaiman continued work on the film's music, employing the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra to record instrumentation for both the songs and the incidental score. The film earned $27,476,745 in its opening weekend, behind I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This made Hairspray the record-holder for the biggest sales at opening weekend for a movie musical. Hairspray has since gone on to become the fourth highest grossing musical in U.S. cinema history, surpassing The Rocky Horror Picture Show ($112.8 million) and Dreamgirls ($103 million), released seven months prior. This made Hairspray the third musical film in history to cross $200 million internationally, behind 1978's hit Grease ($395 million) and 2002's Chicago ($307 million).

Two weeks after its original release, new "sing-along" prints of Hairspray were shipped to theaters. These prints featured the lyrics to each song printed onscreen as subtitles, encouraging audiences to interact with the film. On January 4, 2008, Hairspray was re-released in New York and Los Angeles for one week because John Travolta was present for Q&A; and autographs.

Critical reception

Hairspray has garnered vastly positive reviews from film critics such as Roger Ebert, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe, as well as a smaller number of reviews comparing it unfavorably to the Waters original. The film is one of the top picks on Metacritic, with an average of 81%. It scored a 91% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, also indicating excellent reviews, making it one of 2007's best-reviewed films. Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor named it the 4th best film of 2007. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post named it the ninth best film of 2007. Ebert also noted that this film is "a little more innocent than Waters would have made it..." New York Daily News critic Jack Matthews called the film "A great big sloppy kiss of entertainment for audiences weary of explosions, CGI effects and sequels, sequels, sequels." The Baltimore Sun review offered Michael Sragow's opinion that "in its entirety, Hairspray has the funny tilt that only a director-choreographer like Shankman can give to a movie," pointing out that Shankman skillfully "puts a new-millennial zing behind exact re-creations of delirious period dances like the Mashed Potato." Dana Stevens from Slate called Hairspray "intermittently tasty, if a little too frantically eager to please." Stevens noted that "Despite its wholesomeness, this version stays remarkably true to the spirit of the original, with one size-60 exception: John Travolta as Edna Turnblad," saying "How you feel about Hairspray will depend entirely on your reaction to this performance..." Denby criticized the dance numbers, calling them "unimaginatively shot," and he considered "the idea of substituting John Travolta for Harvey Fierstein as Tracy’s hefty mother... a blandly earnest betrayal." Zacharek was also displeased with the way Latifah's performance of "I Know Where I've Been" was incorporated into the movie, saying "The filmmakers may believe they're adding an extra layer of seriousness to the material... [but] the inclusion of this big production number only suggests that the filmmakers fear the audience won't get the movie's message unless it's spelled out for them." Adam Shankman protested Naff's proposed boycott, stating that Travolta was not homophobic, as he (Shankman), Waters, Shaiman, Wittman, and several other members of the creative staff were homosexual, and Travolta got along well with the entire crew. "John's personal beliefs did not walk onto my set," said Shankman. "I never heard the word 'Scientology.'" The standard DVD was released in two versions: a one-disc release and a two-disc "Shake and Shimmy" edition.

Bonus features on the two-disc release include two audio commentaries, a feature-length production documentary, featurettes on the earlier versions of Hairspray, dance instruction featurettes, deleted scenes including Tracy's deleted song "I Can Wait" and an alternate version of the "Big, Blonde and Beautiful" reprise, and behind-the-scenes looks at the production of each of the film's dance numbers. The Blu-ray release, a two-disc release, includes all of the features from the two-disc DVD, and includes a picture-in-picture behind-the-scenes feature, which runs concurrently with the film. An HD DVD version of the film was originally slated for release in 2008, but has since been canceled due to New Line Cinema's announcement that it would go Blu-ray exclusive with immediate effect, thus dropping HD DVD support.

Awards

Following is a list of awards that Hairspray or its cast have won or for which they have been nominated. ;Wins

2008 MTV Movie Awards

* Breakthrough Performance (Male) - Zac Efron

2007 Hollywood Film Festival & Hollywood Awards

Hollywood Producers of the Year — Craig Zadan and Neil Meron

Hollywood Supporting Actor of the Year — John Travolta

Hollywood Ensemble Acting of the Year Award — Musical/Comedy

13th Annual Critics' Choice Awards

* Best Acting Ensemble

* Best Young Actress – Nikki Blonsky

;Nominations 65th Golden Globe Awards

* Best Comedy Movie

* Best Family Film

* Best Song "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)"

14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

* Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Cancelled sequel

Due to Hairsprays financial success, New Line Cinema had asked John Waters to write a sequel to the film. Waters reunited with director/choreographer Adam Shankman for the project, and songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman were set to compose the film's musical numbers.

The story would have looked at Tracy's entering the late '60s era of music and the British Invasion, and used the Vietnam War as a backdrop. While no official casting was announced, New Line said that they hoped to "snag much of the original Hairspray cast."

The sequel was set for a mid-July 2010 release by Warner Bros, which owns New Line Cinema. Marc Shaiman has also said that there will be no sequel.

See also

Cross-dressing in film and television

Hairspray (musical)

Hairspray (1988 film)

References

External links

Category:2007 films Category:2000s musical films Category:2000s romantic comedy films Category:American musical comedy films Category:American romantic comedy films Category:American romantic musical films Category:American teen comedy films Category:American teen romance films Category:English-language films Category:Film remakes Category:Films about television Category:Films based on musicals based on films Category:Films based on plays Category:Films set in 1962 Category:Films set in Baltimore, Maryland Category:Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario Category:Films shot in Toronto Category:U.S. Civil Rights Movement in film Category:New Line Cinema films

Name	Zac Efron
Caption	Efron at the 2007 Australia Kids Choice Awards
Birthname	Zachary David Alexander Efron
Birthdate	October 18, 1987
Birthplace	San Luis Obispo, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Yearsactive	2002–present

Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron (born October 18, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s, and became known to young audiences after his roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, the WB series Summerland, and the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray. In 2007, before the release of High School Musical 2, Rolling Stone declared him the "poster boy for tweenyboppers" and featured him in their late August 2007 issue. He is of Jewish ancestry and is an agnostic, having never been religious. His surname, "Efron", means "lark" in Hebrew.

Efron has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, and has also described himself as having been a class clown. Efron's father encouraged him to begin acting when Efron was 11 years old. worked in a theater called The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville, Efron was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.

Education

Efron graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2006, and was then accepted into the University of Southern California, but has deferred his enrollment to work on film projects. Efron also attended Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, a community college located in Santa Maria, California, which provided him with the opportunity to perform as a "young player" during the years of 2000 and 2001.

Career

Early work

In 2002, Efron began to appear in guest roles on several television series, including Firefly, ER, and The Guardian. He portrayed Cameron Bale on the now-cancelled WB series Summerland. Originally introduced as a recurring character, Efron became a regular cast member on the show in the second season in 2004, starring opposite the likes of Kay Panabaker, Lori Loughlin and Jesse McCartney. Since appearing in Summerland, he has also had guest roles on the shows , NCIS, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Replacements. In 2003, Efron starred in the Lifetime original television movie Miracle Run. He played Steven Morgan, one of two autistic twins. For his performance, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-series or Special — Supporting Young Actor. In 2005, he played a main character in Hope Partlow's music video for her song "Sick Inside." Also in 2005, he played horse-loving Patrick McCardle in The Derby Stallion, where his character wants to beat the town bully at the steeple chase race.

Breakthrough

premiere of Me and Orson Welles, September 2008]]

In 2006, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical as Troy Bolton, the popular student and captain of the basketball team. The film, which he initially made with "low expectations", In August 2006, Efron won a Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Star and the TV — Choice Chemistry categories, shared with Vanessa Hudgens. The film's cast, along with Efron, toured Sydney, Australia, London, England, and other locations to promote the film.

Shortly after High School Musical aired, Efron debuted with two simultaneous charted songs on Billboard Hot 100 on February 4, 2006, with "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "Breaking Free", a duet with Vanessa Hudgens from the film. On the following week's chart, Efron had five simultaneous song credits from High School Musical: "Get'cha Head in the Game", "Start of Something New", "What I've Been Looking For: Reprise", "We're All in This Together" and "Breaking Free." "We're All in This Together" was credited to the whole High School Musical cast. "Breaking Free", at the time, made the fastest climb in the history of the Billboard charts, from #86 to #4 between the two weeks; the record was beaten by Beyoncé and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar". Efron also appeared in the 2006 Disney Channel Games as captain of the Red Team.

Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that Drew Seeley's voice was blended with his on the soundtrack of High School Musical. An August 23, 2007 interview in Rolling Stone magazine revealed that he had been cast in High School Musical after the songs were written, and the songs (written for a tenor) were somewhat out of his baritone vocal range.

2007 - present

On April 7, 2007, Efron appeared in an episode of Punk'd. Efron also starred in the music video for Vanessa Hudgens's single "Say OK", where he played her love interest. The video aired on March 16, 2007 on Disney Channel. That year, he was named one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007. A picture and short profile of him was in the section "Coming of Age". In it, he related how he was always the shortest kid in school (he is now 5'8") and was teased for the "huge gap" in his teeth.

In 2006, Efron was cast as Link Larkin in a film version of Hairspray released on July 20, 2007. Efron performed all of his own vocals in the role, which was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, from September 5 to December 2, 2006. He cut and dyed his hair dark brown and gained about 15 pounds for the role. Efron's performance and the film received positive reviews. The film set a new record, becoming the most watched basic cable program in U.S. history, with 17.2 million viewers. Efron also appeared on the cover of the August 2007 edition of Rolling Stone. The article about him revealed that he hoped to someday play an action hero. Efron presented the 2007 Teen Choice Award for "Favorite Movie" along with Queen Latifah, and later that year, he co-hosted the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards with The Veronicas on October 10 in Sydney.

Efron reprised his role in , which was theatrically released on October 24, 2008. His next role was in 17 Again, a high school-set comedy-drama produced by Adam Shankman and based on a pitch by Jason Filardi; the plot involved an adult who is transformed into a 17-year old (played by Efron). 17 Again was released in 2009.

In early 2008, Efron was cast in the lead role in the film Me and Orson Welles. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant. The film was shot in the Isle of Man, London and New York, during February — April 2008. It was introduced to North America via the Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 6, and 11, 2008 and was released in 2009. Efron was also scheduled to star in Paramount's musical remake of the film Footloose, and has said that he would like to add his "own little bit of flair" to the role originated by Kevin Bacon. Efron was quoted as saying that while it was a promising gig, he left the project because he "was looking for a new challenge, and this was another musical."

On April 8, 2009, Efron's participation in a comedic short video entitled "Zac Efron's Pool Party" for the website Funny Or Die was released for public viewing. On April 11, 2009, Efron hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live. In early June 2009 it was confirmed that Efron would be making a guest appearance during the sixth season of HBO's comedy series Entourage.

Efron starred in a series of advertisements along with Kristen Bell and Sean Combs promoting the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and the host, Aziz Ansari. In 2009, Efron signed on to play title character in the movie Charlie St. Cloud. The film was released on July 30, 2010.

In 2009, Efron was revealed to be connected to the live action rendition of the Japanese anime Full Metal Panic, simply entitled Panic. He is also slated to star in the title role of the live-action adaptation of the Jonny Quest cartoons. Additional projects include Einstein Theory and an adaptation of Fire, by Image Comics.

Personal life

Efron owns an apartment in Los Angeles, California. On January 15, 2008, Efron was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an emergency appendectomy. Efron was also on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008, as number 92 with an estimated earning of $5.8 million from June 2007 to June 2008. As of April 5, 2009, his personal wealth equaled about $10 million. People magazine said in 2007 that Efron and Vanessa Hudgens began dating in 2005 during the filming of High School Musical, although Us magazine said, after the two broke up in December 2010, that the two "met in 2005 while making the first High School Musical flick, and became a romantic item about two years later."

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Films ! Year ! Film ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2003 | Melinda's World | Stuart Wasser | |- | 2003 | | Pete Laemke | |- | 2004 | Miracle Run | Steven Morgan | Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special by a Supporting Actor |- | 2004 | Triple Play | Harry Fuller | |- | 2005 | | Patrick McCardle | |- | 2006 | If You Lived Here, You'd be Home Now | Cody | |- | 2006 | High School Musical | Troy Bolton | Disney Channel Original MovieTeen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (shared with Vanessa Hudgens)Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special by a Lead Actor |- | 2007 | Hairspray | Link Larkin | Hollywood Film Award for Ensemble of the Year (shared with Hairspray cast)MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance - MaleYoung Hollywood Award for One to WatchNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best SongNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 2007 | High School Musical 2 | Troy Bolton | Disney Channel Original Movie |- | 2008 | | Troy Bolton | MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - MaleTeen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Music/DanceNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Vanessa Hudgens) |- | 2009 | 17 Again | Mike O'Donnell (teen) | Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - ComedyTeen Choice Award for Choice Rockstar MomentNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male |- | 2009 | Me and Orson Welles | Richard Samuels | |- | 2010 | Charlie St. Cloud | Charlie St. Cloud | |}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2002 | Firefly | Young Simon Tam | Episode "Safe" |- | 2003 | | Luke Tomello | Episode "Without Consent" |- | 2003 | ER | Bobby Neville | Episode "Dear Abby" |- | 2005 | Summerland | Cameron Bale | 16 episodes |- | 2005 | | Seth Dawson | Episode "" |- | 2005 | | Davey Hunkerhoff | Episode "Davey Hunkerhoff / Ratted Out" |- | 2006 | Heist | Pizza Delivery Guy | Episode "Pilot" |- | 2006 | | Trevor | Episode "Odd Couples" |- | 2006 | NCIS | Danny | Episode "Deception" |- | 2008 | Robot Chicken | Billy Joel | Episode "Tell My Mom" |- | 2009 | Robot Chicken | Harry Potter | Episode "I Love Her" |- | 2009 | Saturday Night Live | Himself | 2 episodes |- | 2009 | Entourage | Himself | Episode "Security Briefs" |}

Other awards

2006 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Breakout Star

2007 - Teen Choice Award: Best Male Actor

2007 - Teen Choice Award: Choice Male Hottie

2011 - Favorite Movie Star Under 25

Discography

Soundtracks

Hairspray (2007)

High School Musical 2 (2007)

(2008)

Charted songs

References

External links

Zac Efron at TV Guide

Category:1987 births Category:American agnostics Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American television actors Category:Actors from California Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish agnostics Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish singers Category:Living people Category:People from San Luis Obispo, California Category:Arroyo Grande, California

Name	Michelle Pfeiffer
Caption	Michelle Pfeiffer, March 1985
Birth name	Michelle Marie Pfeiffer
Birth date	April 29, 1958
Birth place	Santa Ana, California, U.S.
Years active	1979–present
Occupation	Actress
Spouse	Peter Horton (1981–1988) David E. Kelley (1993–present)

Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. She made her screen début in 1980, but first garnered mainstream attention with her appearance in Scarface (1983). She rose to prominence during the late 1980s and early 1990s, giving a series of critically-acclaimed performances in the films Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Married to the Mob (1988), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Russia House (1990), Frankie and Johnny (1991), Love Field (1992), and The Age of Innocence (1993), as well as appearing as Catwoman, the feline anti-heroine of Batman Returns (1992).

Pfeiffer has won various awards for her work, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama for The Fabulous Baker Boys, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Dangerous Liaisons, and the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Love Field; each of these films also resulted in a nomination for an Academy Award. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Pfeiffer appeared on the cover of People's first "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" issue in 1990, and again in 1999, having made the list a record six times during the decade.

Early life

Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California, the second of four children of Richard Pfeiffer, a heating and air-conditioning contractor, and Donna (née Taverna), a homemaker. She has one elder brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer and Lori Pfeiffer, both actresses. Her father was of German, Dutch, and Irish descent, and her mother was of Swiss and Swedish ancestry. The family moved to Midway City, California, where Pfeiffer spent her childhood. She attended Fountain Valley High School and graduated within three years, later working as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket. She then attended Golden West College. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she decided upon an acting career, and entered the Miss Orange County Beauty Pageant in 1978 (which she won), and the Miss Los Angeles contest later that year, after which she was signed by a Hollywood agent who appeared on the judging panel. Moving to Los Angeles, she began to audition for commercials and bit parts in films.

Film career

First television and film appearances

Pfeiffer's early acting appearances included television roles in Fantasy Island, Delta House and BAD Cats, and small film roles in Falling in Love Again (1980) with Susannah York, The Hollywood Knights (1980) opposite Tony Danza, and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), none of which met with much success. Pfeiffer took acting lessons, and appeared in three further television movies - Callie and Son (1981) with Lindsay Wagner, The Children Nobody Wanted (1981), and a remake of Splendor in the Grass (as Ginny) - before landing her first major film role as Stephanie Zinone in Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical Grease (1978). The film was a critical and commercial failure, although Pfeiffer herself received some positive attention, notably from the New York Times, which said "although she is a relative screen newcomer, Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast." Despite escaping the critical mauling, Pfeiffer's agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn't get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her."

Screen success

Director Brian De Palma, having seen Grease 2, refused to audition Pfeiffer for Scarface (1983), but relented upon the producer's insistence. She was cast as cocaine-addicted trophy wife Elvira Hancock. The film was considered excessively violent by most critics, but became a commercial hit and gained a large cult following in subsequent years. Pfeiffer received positive reviews for her supporting turn; Richard Corliss of Time Magazine wrote, "most of the large cast is fine: Michelle Pfeiffer is better..." while Dominick Dunne, in an article for Vanity Fair entitled "Blonde Ambition", wrote, "[s]he is on the verge of stardom. In the parlance of the industry, she is hot."

Following Scarface, she accepted the roles of Isabeau d'Anjou in Ladyhawke (1985) opposite Rutger Hauer, Diana in John Landis' comedy Into the Night (1985) opposite Jeff Goldblum, Faith Healy in Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986) opposite Michael Caine, and Brenda Landers in a segment of the 1950s sci-fi parody Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), all of which, despite achieving only modest commercial success, helped to establish her as an actress. She finally scored a major box-office hit as Sukie Ridgemont in the supernatural comedy The Witches of Eastwick (1987), alongside Jack Nicholson, Cher and Susan Sarandon.

Critical acclaim

Pfeiffer was cast against type, as a murdered gangster's widowed moll on the run, in Jonathan Demme's mafia comedy Married to the Mob (1988), opposite Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell and Mercedes Ruehl. For the role of Angela de Marco, she donned a curly brunette wig and a Brooklyn accent, and received her first of six consecutive Golden Globe Best Actress Award nominations. Pfeiffer then appeared as chic restauranteuse Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise (1988) opposite Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell, but experienced creative and personal differences with director Robert Towne, who later described her as the "most difficult" actress he's ever worked with.

At Demme's personal recommendation, She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

, 1990]] Pfeiffer then accepted the role of Susie Diamond, a hard-edged former call girl turned lounge singer, in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), which co-starred Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as the eponymous Baker Boys. She underwent intensive voice training for the role, and performed all of her character's vocals. The film was a modest success, but Pfeiffer's portrayal of Susie drew raves from critics. Pauline Kael wrote of the performance as possessing "the grinning infectiousness of Carole Lombard, [and] the radiance of the very young Lauren Bacall," while Roger Ebert compared her to Rita Hayworth in Gilda and Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, and described the film as "one of the movies they will use as a document, years from now, when they begin to trace the steps by which Pfeiffer became a great star." Variety singled out her performance of 'Makin' Whoopee', writing that Pfeiffer "hits the spot in the film's certain-to-be-remembered highlight... crawling all over a piano in a blazing red dress. She's dynamite." During the 1989–1990 awards season, Pfeiffer dominated the Best Actress category at every major awards ceremony, winning awards at the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association. At the Academy Awards, she was favored to win the Best Actress Oscar, but the award went to Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy in what was considered a surprise upset. The only other major acting award for which she was nominated that she did not take home for The Fabulous Baker Boys was the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which also went to Tandy.

Mid-career

Pfeiffer continued to build on her A-list status in Hollywood, accepting (and also turning down) many varied, high-profile roles. She took the part of Katya Orlova in the film adaptation of John le Carré's The Russia House (1990) opposite Sean Connery, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a third Golden Globe nomination. Pfeiffer then landed the role of damaged waitress Frankie in Garry Marshall's Frankie and Johnny (1991), a film adaptation of Terrence McNally's Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which reunited her with her Scarface co-star, Al Pacino. The casting was seen as controversial by many, as Pfeiffer was considered far too beautiful to play an "ordinary" waitress; Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice. Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]." Pfeiffer was once again nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.

Pfeiffer earned her third Academy Award nomination and fifth Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Lurene Hallett in the nostalgic independent drama Love Field (1992), a film that had been temporarily shelved by the financially-troubled Orion Pictures. It was finally released in late 1992, in time for Oscar consideration. The New York Times review wrote of Pfeiffer as "again demonstrating that she is as subtle and surprising as she is beautiful." For her portrayal of the eccentric Dallas housewife, she won the Silver Bear Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Pfeiffer took the role of Catwoman (Selina Kyle) in Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992) opposite Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito. For the role of Catwoman, she trained in martial arts and kickboxing; one co-star stated that "Michelle had four stunt doubles - but she did all her own whippin'." Premiere retrospectively lauded her performance: "Arguably the outstanding villain of the Tim Burton era, Michelle Pfeiffer's deadly kitten with a whip brought sex to the normally neutered franchise. Her stitched-together, black patent leather costume, based on a sketch of Burton's, remains the character's most iconic look. And Michelle Pfeiffer overcomes Batman Returns' heavy-handed feminist dialogue to deliver a growling, fierce performance."

The following year, she played Countess Ellen Olenska in Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence (1993) opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, receiving the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and a sixth nomination for a Golden Globe award.

Pfeiffer's subsequent career choices have met with varying degrees of success. After The Age of Innocence, she played the role of Laura Alden opposite Jack Nicholson in Wolf (1994), a horror film that garnered a mixed critical reception. Her next role was that of high school teacher and former US Marine LouAnne Johnson in the surprise box office hit Dangerous Minds (1995). She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, 'Gangsta's Paradise' by Coolio (featuring L.V.). The song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video. She then took the role of Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal (1996) opposite Robert Redford; the film's screenplay, co-written by husband and wife team John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion, was intended to be a biographical account of the career of news anchor Jessica Savitch, but the final version had almost nothing to do with Savitch's life, leading Dunne to write an exposé of his eight-year battle with the Hollywood producers, .

Subsequent performances included the title (but technically supporting) role of Gillian Lewis in To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday (1996) opposite Peter Gallagher and Claire Danes, Melanie Parker in One Fine Day (1996) opposite George Clooney, Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres (1997) with Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) opposite Treat Williams, Titania the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci, and Katie Jordan in The Story of Us (1999) opposite Bruce Willis.

Her next film, the Hitchcockian thriller What Lies Beneath (2000) with Harrison Ford, was a commercial success, opening number one at the box office in July 2000. She then accepted the role of highly-strung lawyer Rita Harrison in I Am Sam (2001) opposite Sean Penn. For her performance as murderous artist Ingrid Magnussen in White Oleander (2002), alongside Alison Lohman in her film début, Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn, Pfeiffer garnered a substantial amount of critical praise. Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote that "Ms. Pfeiffer, giving the most complex screen performance of her career, makes her Olympian seductress at once irresistible and diabolical." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described her as "incandescent," bringing "power and unshakable will to her role as mother-master manipulator" in a "riveting, impeccable performance." She earned Best Supporting Actress Awards from the San Diego Film Critics Society and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Pfeiffer also did voice work in two animated films during this period, voicing Tzipporah in The Prince of Egypt (1998), in which she introduced the Academy Award–winning song, 'When You Believe', and Eris in (2003).

Return to films

After a four-year hiatus, during which she remained largely out of the public eye and devoted time to her husband and children, Pfeiffer returned to the screen in 2007 with villainous roles in two major summer blockbusters, as Velma Von Tussle in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Hairspray (2007) with John Travolta and Christopher Walken, and as ancient witch Lamia in fantasy adventure Stardust (2007) opposite Claire Danes and Robert De Niro.

Pfeiffer then accepted the roles of Rosie in Amy Heckerling's I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) with Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan, and Linda in Personal Effects (2009) opposite Ashton Kutcher. Her next film, an adaptation of Colette's Chéri (2009), reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of Dangerous Liaisons (1988), a film for which all three were nominees for (and, in Hampton's case, recipient of) an Academy Award. Pfeiffer played the role of Léa de Lonval opposite Rupert Friend in the title role, with Kathy Bates as his mother. Chéri premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2009, and received a nomination for the Golden Bear award. The Times of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away."

Theatre

In 1989, Pfeiffer made her stage début in the role of Olivia in Twelfth Night, a New York Shakespeare Festival production staged in Central Park. Other film actors appearing in the play included Jeff Goldblum as Malvolio and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Viola. Frank Rich's review in the New York Times was extremely critical of the production, stating "Ms. Pfeiffer offers an object lesson in how gifted stars with young careers can be misused by those more interested in exploiting their celebrity status than in furthering their artistic development." They married in Santa Monica when Pfeiffer was 22, and it was on their honeymoon that she discovered she had won the lead role in Grease 2. Horton directed Pfeiffer in a 1985 ABC TV special, One Too Many, in which she played the high school girlfriend of an alcoholic student (Val Kilmer); and in 1987, the real-life couple then played an on-screen couple in the 'Hospital' segment of John Landis's comedy skit compilation, Amazon Women on the Moon. However, they decided to separate in 1988, and were divorced two years later; Horton later blamed the split on their devotion to their work rather than their marriage.

, 1994]] In 1993, Pfeiffer was set up on a with television writer and producer David E. Kelley (creator of Chicago Hope, Picket Fences, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, The Practice and Boston Legal), but it became a group event and they barely spoke to each other. The following week, Kelley took her to the movies to see Bram Stoker's Dracula, and they began dating seriously. They married on November 13, 1993. Since then, she has made an uncredited cameo appearance in one episode of Kelley's television series Picket Fences and played the title character in To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday, for which Kelley wrote the screenplay.

Other relationships

In between her marriages to Horton and Kelley, Pfeiffer had a three-year relationship with actor/producer Fisher Stevens (Early Edition, Hackers and Short Circuit). They met when Pfeiffer was starring in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night, in which Stevens had the part of Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

Children

Pfeiffer and Kelley have two children, one adopted daughter and one biological son. Pfeiffer, who was by her own admission desperate to start a family, had entered into private adoption proceedings before she even met Kelley. The biracial baby girl she adopted had been born in March 1993, to a young nurse in New York who could not afford to support all of her children. Pfeiffer soon became pregnant and in August 1994, gave birth to a son, John Henry.

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="2" | 1980 | The Hollywood Knights | Suzie Q | |- | Falling In Love Again | Sue Wellington | |- | 1981 | Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen | Cordelia Farenington | |- | 1982 | Grease 2 | Stephanie Zinone | Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Young Motion Picture Actress |- | 1983 | Scarface | Elvira Hancock | |- |rowspan="2" | 1985 | Into the Night | Diana | |- | Ladyhawke | Isabeau d'Anjou | Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress |- | 1986 | Sweet Liberty | Faith Healy | |- |rowspan="2" | 1987 | The Witches of Eastwick | Sukie Ridgemont | |- | Amazon Women on the Moon | Brenda Landers | |- |rowspan="3" | 1988 | Married to the Mob | Angela de Marco | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | Tequila Sunrise | Jo Ann Vallenari | |- | Dangerous Liaisons | Madame Marie de Tourvel | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |- | 1989 | The Fabulous Baker Boys | Susie Diamond | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Award for Best ActressNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |- | 1990 | The Russia House | Katya Orlova | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 1991 | Frankie and Johnny | Frankie | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- |rowspan="2" | 1992 | Batman Returns | Catwoman/Selina Kyle | Nominated - MTV Movie Awards - Most Desirable Female and Best Kiss (with Michael Keaton) |- | Love Field | Lurene Hallett | Berlin Film Festival - Silver Bear for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 1993 | The Age of Innocence | Countess Ellen Olenska | Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 1994 | Wolf | Laura Alden | Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress |- | 1995 | Dangerous Minds | LouAnne Johnson | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress (Drama)Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female |- |rowspan="3" | 1996 | Up Close & Personal | Sally/Tally Atwater | |- | To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday | Gillian Lewis | |- | One Fine Day | Melanie Parker | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress (Comedy/Romance)Executive producer |- | 1997 | A Thousand Acres | Rose Cook Lewis | Producer (uncredited) |- | 1998 | The Prince of Egypt | Tzipporah | Voice |- |rowspan="3" | 1999 | The Deep End of the Ocean | Beth Cappadora | |- | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania | |- | The Story of Us | Katie Jordan | |- | 2000 | What Lies Beneath | Claire Spencer | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress (Suspense)Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actress |- | 2001 | I Am Sam | Rita Harrison Williams | |- | 2002 | White Oleander | Ingrid Magnussen | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Best Supporting ActressSan Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress |- | 2003 | | Eris |Voice |- |rowspan="3" | 2007 | Stardust |Lamia | Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |- | Hairspray | Velma Von Tussle | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture |- | I Could Never Be Your Woman | Rosie | |- |rowspan="2" | 2009 | Personal Effects |Linda | |- | Cheri | Lea de Lonval | |- |rowspan="2" | 2011 | New Year's Eve | |- |Welcome to People | | |}

Television work

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1978 | Fantasy Island | Athena | Episode - "The Island of Lost Women/The Flight of Great Yellow Bird" |- |rowspan="3" | 1979 | Delta House | The Bombshell | 2 episodes ("Hoover and the Bomb", "The Legacy") |- | The Solitary Man | Tricia | |- | CHiPs | Jobina | Episode - "The Watch Commander" |- |rowspan="2" | 1980 | Enos | Joy | 1 episode |- | B.A.D. Cats | Samantha "Sunshine" Jensen | |- |rowspan="4" | 1981 | Fantasy Island | Deborah Dare | Episode - "Elizabeth's Baby/The Artist and the Lady" |- | Callie & Son | Sue Lynn Bordeaux | credited as Michele Pfeiffer |- | Splendor in the Grass | Ginny Stamper | |- | The Children Nobody Wanted | Jennifer Williams | |- | 1985 | One Too Many | Annie | ABC Afterschool Special |- | 1987 | Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Natica Jackson | Natica Jackson |- |rowspan=2| 1993 | The Simpsons | Mindy Simmons || Episode "The Last Temptation of Homer" |- | Picket Fences | Client | Episode "Freezer Burn" |- | 1996 | Muppets Tonight | Herself |(1 episode) |}

References

External links

Category:American film actors Category:Actors from California Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:People from Orange County, California Category:Beauty pageant contestants Category:1958 births Category:Living people