Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer, 2007
Born	Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (1958-04-29) April 29, 1958 (age 54) Santa Ana, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Peter Horton (1981–1988) David E. Kelley (1993–present)
Children	2
Relatives	Dedee Pfeiffer (sister)

Michelle Marie Pfeiffer ( /ˈfaɪfər/;^[1] born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983). Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work. She received six consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations, winning the Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama award in 1990 for The Fabulous Baker Boys. She also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Dangerous Liaisons, and the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Love Field, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards for the same films.

Pfeiffer rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with 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), Batman Returns (1992), and The Age of Innocence (1993).

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 6, 2007. The star is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard and is recognised as STAR 2,345.^[2]

Early life[link]

Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California, the second of four children of Richard Pfeiffer, a heating and air-conditioning contractor,^[3] and Donna (née Taverna), a housewife. She has one elder brother, Rick (born 1955), and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer, a television and film actress,^[4] and Lori Pfeiffer (born 1965).^[5] Her father was of German, Dutch, and Irish descent, and her mother was of Swiss and Swedish ancestry.^[6] The family moved to Midway City, where Pfeiffer spent her childhood.^[7] She attended Fountain Valley High School, graduating in 1975.^[8] She worked as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket, attended Golden West College.^[9] and is a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she decided upon an acting career.^[10] She won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978, and participated in Miss California the same year, finishing in sixth position.^[11] Following her participation in these pageants, she acquired an acting agent and began to audition for television and films.^[12]

Film career[link]

First television and film appearances[link]

Pfeiffer's early acting appearances included television roles in Fantasy Island,^[8] 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 critical or box office success. Pfeiffer later said of her early screen work: "I needed to learn how to act... in the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks."^[8] She appeared in a television commercial for Lux soap,^[13] and took acting lessons at the Beverly Hills Playhouse,^[14] before appearing 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. She then landed her first major film role as Stephanie Zinone in Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical Grease (1978).^[15] 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."^[16] 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."^[15]

Mainstream attention[link]

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.^[3] The film was considered excessively violent by most critics, but became a commercial hit and gained a large cult following in subsequent years.^[17] 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..."^[18] while Dominick Dunne, in an article for Vanity Fair titled "Blonde Ambition", wrote, "[s]he is on the verge of stardom. In the parlance of the industry, she is hot."^[19]

Following Scarface, she accepted the roles of Isabeau d'Anjou in Richard Donner's fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985) opposite Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick, 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 1987 adaptation of John Updike's novel The Witches of Eastwick, alongside Jack Nicholson, Cher and Susan Sarandon. The film grossed $63,766,510 domestically (equivalent to $130.4 million in 2012 dollars ^[20]).^[21]

Critical acclaim[link]

Michelle Pfeiffer in 1985

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,^[5] and received her first Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, beginning a six-year streak of consecutive Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes.^[22][23] 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 has ever worked with.^[24]

At Demme's personal recommendation,^[15] Pfeiffer joined the cast of Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons (1988) alongside Glenn Close and John Malkovich, playing the virtuous victim of seduction, Madame Marie de Tourvel. Her performance won her widespread acclaim; Hal Hinson of the Washington Post saw Pfeiffer's role as "the least obvious and the most difficult. Nothing is harder to play than virtue, and Pfeiffer is smart enough not to try. Instead, she embodies it. Her porcelain-skinned beauty, in this regard, is a great asset, and the way it's used makes it seem an aspect of her spirituality."^[25] She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role^[26] and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.^[27]

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 for four months, and performed all of her character's vocals.^[28] The film was a modest success, grossing $18,428,904 domestically (equivalent to $34.6 million in 2012 dollars ^[20]).^[29] Pfeiffer's portrayal of Susie, however, drew raves from critics. Janet Maslin, from The New York Times, wrote of the performance "[...]she proves to be electrifyingly right. Introducing Ms. Pfeiffer's furiously hard-boiled, devastatingly gorgeous Susie into the Bakers' world affects the film the way a match might affect a fuse,"^[30] 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."^[31] 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."^[32] 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 Award for Best Actress and the Chicago Film Critics Association. At the Academy Awards, she was favored to win the Best Actress Oscar,^[33] but the award went to Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy in what was considered a surprise upset.^[34] 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.^[35]

International success[link]

Pfeiffer at the Academy Awards, 1990

Pfeiffer continued to build on her A-list status in Hollywood, accepting and also turning down many high-profile roles, beginning with the title role in Pretty Woman (1990), which earned Julia Roberts a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.^[36] She took the part of the Soviet book editor Katya Orlova in the 1990 film adaptation of John le Carré's The Russia House, opposite Sean Connery, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama.^[37] 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;^[38] Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice.^[39] Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]."^[40] Pfeiffer was once again nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance. During this period, she turned down the role of Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which won Jodie Foster the Academy Award for Best Actress, the role of Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct (1992), ultimately played by Sharon Stone,^[8][41] and the role of Louise in Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise, that eventually went to Susan Sarandon.^[42]

Pfeiffer earned an Academy Award nomination for Actress in a Leading Role and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance as Lurene Hallett in the nostalgic independent drama Love Field (1992). The 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."^[43] For her portrayal of the eccentric Dallas housewife, she won the Silver Bear Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival.^[44][45]

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'."^[15] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised her for giving the "feminist avenger a tough core of intelligence and wit" and called her a "classic dazzler."^[46] 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."^[47] The movie met a big office success, grossing over $266 million worldwide (equivalent to $440.5 million).^[48]

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 Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture.^[49] That same year she was awarded the Women in Film Los Angeles' Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.^[50]

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.^[51] The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling".^[52] The movie engrossed US$65 million (equivalent to $101.9 million) in the domestic box office and US$131 million worldwide (equivalent to $205.4 million).^[53] Her next role was that of high school teacher and former US Marine LouAnne Johnson in the surprise box office hit Dangerous Minds (1995).^[54] She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, 'Gangsta's Paradise' by Coolio (featuring L.V.), which was used by the producer Jerry Bruckheimer for television advertising. A 60-second version was aired on music channels, while a 30-second cut was aired in the rest of the networks.^[55] The song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance,^[56] and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video.^[57] In 1996, she turned down the Golden Globe Award-winning role of Eva Perón in the biopic Evita, which went to Madonna.^[58] Pfeiffer then portrayed 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, Monster: Living Off the Big Screen.^[59]

She took the role of Gillian Lewis in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996), which was adapted by her husband David Kelley from Michael Brady's play of the same name.^[60] She served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parke in the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996) opposite George Clooney,^[61] Subsequent performances included 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,^[62] Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago,^[63] Titania the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci,^[64] and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy-drama The Story of Us (1999) opposite Bruce Willis.^[65]

During the 1990s, Pfeiffer attracted comment in the media for her beauty. In 1990, she appeared on the cover of People magazine's first 50 Most Beautiful People In The World issue. She was again featured on the cover of the annual issue in 1999, having made the "Most Beautiful" list a record six times during the decade (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999). Pfeiffer is the first celebrity to have appeared on the cover of the annual issue twice, and the only person to be featured on the cover twice during the 1990s.^[66]

The Hitchcockian thriller What Lies Beneath (2000) with Harrison Ford, was a commercial success, opening number one at the box office in July 2000.^[67] She then accepted the role of highly-strung lawyer Rita Harrison in I Am Sam (2001) opposite Sean Penn.^[68] The movie received unfavorable critics,^[69] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever".^[70]

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."^[71] 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."^[72] 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 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003).

Return to film[link]

After a four-year hiatus, during which she remained largely out of the public eye to devote time to her husband and children,^[73] she turned down the role of the White Witch in the 2005 fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,^[74] 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, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah,^[75] and as ancient witch Lamia in fantasy adventure Stardust (2007) opposite Claire Danes, Charlie Cox and Robert De Niro.^[76]

Pfeiffer then accepted the roles of Rosie in Amy Heckerling's I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007) with Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan,^[77] and Linda in Personal Effects (2009), which she starred opposite Ashton Kutcher and Kathy Bates, and was premiered at Iowa City's Englert Theatre.^[78] 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.^[79] 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."^[80] 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."^[81] 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."^[82] After another short break from film, Pfeiffer appeared in Garry Marshall's 2011 romantic comedy New Year's Eve (Marshall also directed Pfeiffer in 1991's Frankie and Johnny), and will have a role with Chris Pine in People Like Us. She appeared in an adaptation of former television series Dark Shadows, directed by Tim Burton (who Pfeiffer had previously worked with, in 1992's Batman Returns), alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Chloe Moretz. In the film, she plays the family Matriarch, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Pfeiffer is reportedly in negotiations to play the "tough mother" and wife of actor Robert Di Nero's character in Luc Besson's mob-comedy Malavita which begins production in August 2012, with release set for 2013.^[83]

Theater[link]

In 1989, Pfeiffer made her stage debut 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.^[84] 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."^[43] Rich praised Pfeiffer's performance in what was then her most recent film, the screwball comedy Married to the Mob, but stating it was "unfortunate that the actress has been asked to make both her stage and Shakespearean comic debut in a role chained to melancholy and mourning."^[43]

Personal life[link]

Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband, David E. Kelley at the 47th Emmy Awards in 1994

At the start of her career, Pfeiffer met actor Peter Horton at an acting class taught by Milton Katselas in Los Angeles.^[3] 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.^[85] 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);^[86] and in 1987, the real-life couple 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.^[3]

After her marriage to Horton, Pfeiffer had a three-year relationship with actor/producer Fisher Stevens. They met when Pfeiffer was starring in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night, in which Stevens played the part of Sir Andrew Aguecheek.^[87][88]

In January 1993, Pfeiffer was set up on a blind date with television writer and producer David E. Kelley, who took her to the movies to see Bram Stoker's Dracula the following week, and they began dating seriously.^[89] 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.^[90] Pfeiffer and Kelley have two children, Claudia and John. Pfeiffer had entered into private adoption proceedings before she met Kelley.^[91] In March 1993, she adopted a newborn daughter, Claudia Rose,^[92] who was christened on Pfeiffer and Kelley's wedding day.^[93] In August 1994, Pfeiffer gave birth to a son, John Henry.^[89]

Having been a smoker for ten years and having a niece who suffered from leukemia for ten years, she decided to support the American Cancer Society.^[94] Her charity work also includes her support for the Humane Society.^[3]

Filmography[link]

References[link]