Michelle Pfeiffer

Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (/ˈfaɪfər/; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. Known for playing eclectic roles from a wide variety of film genres, she is recognized as one of the most prolific actresses of the 1980s and 1990s. Pfeiffer has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Born and raised in Santa Ana, California, Pfeiffer briefly studied to be a court stenographer before deciding to pursue acting. She began her acting career in 1978 with minor television and film appearances before attaining her first leading role in Grease 2 (1982), a critical and commercial failure in which Pfeiffer was noted as a positive exception. Disillusioned with being typecast in nondescript roles as attractive women, she actively sought more challenging material, earning her breakout role in 1983 as gangster moll Elvira Hancock in Scarface. She achieved further success with roles in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Married to the Mob (1988), for which she was nominated for her first of six consecutive Golden Globe Awards. Her performances in Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) earned her two consecutive Academy Award nominations, for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress respectively, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for playing lounge singer Susie Diamond in the latter. She also won National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Chicago Film Critics Association and Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards for the same performance.