Michelle Pfeiffer Biography And Filmography:

While fame had been good to her, actress Michelle Pfeiffer seldom went out of her way to revel in her celebrity. Aside from her film and television roles, Pfeiffer had been known for remaining remote and private in person.  Luckily for Pfeiffer, she had the acting talent to match her striking good looks, giving Oscar nominated performances in “Dangerous Liaisons” (1988), “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (1989) and “Love Field” (1992). But it was her innovative role as Catwoman in “Batman Returns” (1992) that firmly established Michelle Pfeiffer, rising her from a strong supporting actress to certified sexy celebrity and movie star.

Born on Apr. 29, 1958 in Santa Ana, CA, Pfeiffer was raised by her tough father, Richard, an A/C contractor, and her mother, Donna, a homemaker. Pfeiffer often described herself as being “out of control” in her youth, wrecking her first car, skipping classes from Fountain Valley High School to hang out with surfers at Huntington Beach, and failing at bagging groceries for a local supermarket. 

After high school, Pfeiffer studied to be a courtroom stenographer and entered a beauty contest, winning as Miss Orange County in 1978. As a result, she won a small role on the hit 1970s show, “Fantasy Island” (1977-1984), then got her first regular television series role, playing a college undergrad named Bombshell in the short-lived “Animal House” spin-off, “Delta House” (1978-79). Without really trying, Michelle Pfeiffer had become a celebrity.

After a few more small roles on television and in film like the police drama “B.A.D. Cats” (1980-81) and the young teen comedy “Falling in Love Again” (1980) – Pfeiffer started taking her career seriously. She then landed roles in bad films like “Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen” (1981) and “Grease 2” (1982). But Pfeiffer’s fortunes changed when she was cast opposite Al Pacino in Brian De Palma’s brutal “Scarface,” making a brilliant impression as the fed-up, cocaine loving mistress of a Cuban refugee (Al Pacino) drug lord. While not onscreen for long, Pfeiffer made her mark with critics and audiences, giving the actress the opportunity to play bigger and better roles.

Pfeiffer stayed on her upward path during the early-1980s, landing starring roles as a female jewelry smuggler on the lam in “Into the Night” (1985) and as the star in a film about the American Revolution that experiences the Hollywood treatment, much to the shock of the author of the material (Alan Alda), in “Sweet Liberty” (1986). Her next role turned out to be “The Witches of Eastwick” (1987), a fantastic dark comedy about three women (Cher, Susan Sarandon and Pfeiffer) whose friendship is almost ripped apart when they are seduced by Satan, himself (Jack Nicholson). Pfeiffer next found herself between two lifelong friends – one a retired drug dealer (Mel Gibson); the other a celebrity cop (Kurt Russell) – in Robert Towne’s crime drama, “Tequila Sunrise” (1988). Also that year, Michelle Pfeiffer won her first Academy Award nomination for “Dangerous Liaisons” with Keanu Reeves and Glenn Close, getting the nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as a highly moral and married woman who is the romantic target of the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich). Pfeiffer then separated from husband Peter Horton and later divorced him in 1990.

In “Married to the Mob” (1988), Pfeiffer showed great comedy talent as the concerned wife of a mob hit man (Alec Baldwin). She earned considerable praise for her role as a singer who helps to help two piano playing brothers (Beau and Jeff Bridges) in “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (1989). Pfeiffer’s sexy role of “Makin’ Whoopie” while rolling around on a grand piano was more than enough for her to win a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards. Starring opposite Pacino again, Pfeiffer gave a warm performance as a diner waitress with a haunted past who gets involved with an ex-con (Al Pacino) trying to live the straight life in “Frankie and Johnny” (1991). 

In 1992, Pfeiffer gave one of her more odd performances, playing an isolated Texas woman resolute to console Jacqueline Kennedy after her husband’s assassination, in “Love Field.” The actress won her third Academy Award nomination and her second for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Tat same year, Pfeiffer reached superstardom with her outstanding performance as the Catwoman in “Batman Returns.” With her relationship with Stevens ending in 1991, Pfeiffer began to think that her chances for a lifelong partnership – one including children – was becoming an impossibility. So Pfeiffer adopted a baby in 1993, long before the likes of Angelina Jolie and Madonna made it high-profile. Pfeiffer then played a disreputable woman who reacquaints herself with an affluent gentleman (Daniel Day-Lewis) who is marrying her dull and proper cousin (Winona Ryder) in Martin Scorsese’s clever adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence” (1993). On Nov. 13, 1993, Pfeiffer married screenwriter and producer David E. Kelley, and have since lived happily ever after.

Back on the movie screen, Pfeiffer was cast with Jack Nicholson again in the bizarre horror film, “Wolf” (1994), playing the daughter of a publishing executive (Christopher Plummer) who starts a romance with a unemployed book editor (Jack Nicholson) bitten by a wolf and changed into a supernatural creature. Michelle was weak as the schoolteacher in “Dangerous Minds” (1995), then starred as the lead character in “To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday” (1996), a sad story written by husband David E. Kelley about a mourning husband (Peter Gallagher) still dealing with the death of his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) regardless of the damage being done to his relationship with his young teenage daughter (Claire Danes). 

Pfeiffer spent the rest of the 1990s out of the public eye, even stating she would take a break from acting. But she roared back to the movie screen in “One Fine Day” (1996), where she played a career minded single mom who falls in love with a hard working newspaper columnist (George Clooney); then appeared in “A Thousand Acres” (1997) with Jennifer Jason Leigh, based on Jane Smiley’s update of "King Lear", Pfeiffer played Rose, one of three sisters sexually abused by their father (Jason Robards).

Pfeiffer then lent her voice talents to “The Prince of Egypt” (1998) with Sandra Bullock, DreamWorks’ animated story of the life of Moses (Val Kilmer), as told in the Book of Exodus. By now, Pfeiffer had started into the role of producer and had formed her own company, Via Rosa Productions. After a role as Titania in “William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1999), she starred next to Bruce Willis in “The Story of Us” (1999), a romantic comedy about a couple with everything who discover that they no longer love each other and wonder if it is enough to save their marriage. The actress followed with a touching role as a mother trying to bond with her abducted son (Ryan Merriman) in “The Deep End of the Ocean” (1999), she played the stunning wife of a genetic scientist (Harrison Ford) getting over his past extramarital romancs, only to be haunted – literally – by his mistakes in the thriller, “What Lies Beneath” (2000).

Though Pfeiffer continued acting once the 1990s moved into the new century, but her output decreased notably, appearing in only a few films over the course of seven years. She gave  her best performance in years in “I Am Sam” (2002), playing an fanatical, hard-driving lawyer who takes the pro bono case of a mentally-challenged father (Sean Penn) fighting to retain custody of his seven year-old daughter (Dakota Fanning). 

For “White Oleander” (2002), Pfeiffer worked with Noah Wyle and Renee Zellweger, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Screen Actor’s Guild for her performance as an artist mother sent to prison for murder. Michelle then returned to animation in “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” (2003) with Brad Pitt. 

Michelle then took four years off from filmmaking, returning in 2007 with the outrages and funny “Hairspray” boasting an all-star cast including John Travolta, Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron, the fun and light-hearted variation of the Tony Award winning play adaptation of John Waters’ 1988 feature. Pfeiffer played a evil television station manager out to stop the dreams of a plus-sized dancer (Nicole Blonsky) with big hair and a bigger heart. Next was the romantic comedy "I Could Never Be Your Woman" (2007), that follows a mother who falls for a younger man while her daughter falls in love for the first time. Michelle wrapped her year next to Sienna Miller in the romantic adventure "Stardust" (2007), set in a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm.

Michelle moved right along the following year starting with the dramatic "Personal Effects" (2008) starring Ashton Kutcher, and was then cast as Lea in "Cheri" (2009), a romantic drama set in 1920s Paris, where the son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love. The actress wrapped her year with the dramatic comedy "Chasing Montana" (2008), a story about two doctors - a father and his daughter (Michelle Pfeiffer) who go on a vacation to Montana which becomes a poignant and at times amusing voyage of self discovery.

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