Michelle Pfeifer

In 2020, the Kenosha News voted Pfeiffer America's 26th favorite actress. Despite her popularity, Krizanovich dubbed Pfeiffer Hollywood's most underrated actress. Similarly, Matthew Jacobs of HuffPost Canada believes Pfeiffer continues to be underappreciated by the public despite her accolades, since her fame never quite rivaled those of her contemporaries. Describing Pfeiffer as an "Unheralded Comedy Maven", Jacobs hailed her as "one of the great comedic actors of our time, though she is rarely recognized as such". The author identified her subtlety as one of her best attributes since her "magnetism never overwhelms the movies she's in. Even when she is the most talented person on-screen (and she usually is), she still allows room for the ensemble to shine." Jacobs concluded Pfeiffer's power is "She finds humor in bleakness and bleakness in humor."

In October 2019, she began work on the dark comedy French Exit (2020), based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Patrick deWitt, directed by Azazel Jacobs. In the film, which co-stars Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts, Pfeiffer played a widow who moves to Paris, France, with her son (Hedges) and cat, who happens to be her reincarnated husband (Letts). The film premiered at the New York Film Festival. Pfeiffer's performance garnered critical acclaim, with many critics feeling it was deserving of an Academy Award nomination. Peter Debruge of Variety remarked that she gave a performance "for which she'll be remembered." Pfeiffer received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her performance.

Making her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Pfeiffer starred as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), the sequel to 2015's Ant-Man. Playing Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) wife, Ant-Man and the Wasp follows the original film's characters as they attempt to retrieve Janet from the Quantum Realm, where she has been lost for several decades. Ant-Man and the Wasp was touted as Pfeiffer's return to superhero films, being her first comic book role since Batman Returns' Catwoman 26 years prior. Critics felt Pfeiffer used her limited screen time well. Variety's Owen Gleiberman described her presence as "lovely" and "wistful", while Josh Spiegel of /Film believes the film suffers from a lack of the actress, describing her appearance as "cruelly brief". She briefly reprised the role the following year in Avengers: Endgame. In 2019, Pfeiffer starred alongside Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in the dark fantasy sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil as the villainous Queen Ingrith, mother of Aurora's (Fanning) fiancée Prince Philip. Despite the film earning mixed reviews, critics mostly praised Pfeiffer and Jolie's performances. Describing Pfeiffer as a scene stealer, The Plain Dealer's Laura DeMarco wrote that both veteran actresses "clearly relish their roles."

Following another hiatus, in 2017 she earned rave reviews for the independent drama Where Is Kyra? (2017) before returning to prominence with supporting roles in the polarizing horror Mother! and mystery Murder on the Orient Express, while receiving her first Emmy Award nomination for portraying Ruth Madoff in the biopic The Wizard of Lies. She also ventured into blockbuster franchises, debuting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and a conniving queen in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), before earning acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination for starring in French Exit (2020).

Having been a smoker for ten years, and having a niece who suffered from leukemia for ten years, Pfeiffer decided to support the American Cancer Society. Her charity work includes as well her support for the Humane Society. In 2016, she also attended the Healthy Child Healthy World's L.A. Gala for people who lead the organizations for children's environmental health and protect those most vulnerable. In December that same year, Pfeiffer, who is a vegan, joined the board of directors for Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington. D.C.

Culture commentators noted that in 2014, Pfeiffer, who was not promoting any movies at the time, had become a "pop-music muse" and was mentioned by name in the lyrics of two popular songs at the time: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, and "Riptide" by Vance Joy. Joy told reporters that the Pfeiffer film moment which led him to include her name in his song was her portrayal of Selina Kyle in Batman Returns. He said, "She comes back to her apartment after being thrown out the window by Christopher Walken and she goes mental. Her apartment's all pink and beautiful, and kind of creepy and infantile, then she just smashes it all up and spray paints stuff and transforms into Catwoman. It's this really kind of sexual scene; it's amazing." Pfeiffer is also mentioned in Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's 2014 song, "Uptown Funk" ("This hit, That ice cold, Michelle Pfeiffer, That white gold"). In an interview, Ronson told a reporter his favorite Pfeiffer movie was "The Fabulous Baker Boys. I also liked her in Scarface and Tequila Sunrise. She was such a babe." Hip hop vocalist Mahawam released the song "Michelle Pfeiffer" in 2019. Singer Ethel Cain released a song "Michelle Pfeiffer" in 2021 explaining, "I've always idolized Michelle Pfeiffer and thought she was a picture perfect bombshell, [...] [s]o when I was in the back of my Uber with the windows down, headed to the studio bright and early that first morning and humming a little chorus melody to myself, I felt like a bombshell of my own. It felt like my life had finally started."

Pfieffer reunited with Tim Burton, her Batman Returns director, in Dark Shadows (2012), based on the gothic television soap opera of the same name. In the film, co-starring Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Chloë Grace Moretz, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch of the Collins family. Critical response towards the film was mixed, but writers acclaimed the actors' performances—most notably Depp and Pfeiffer's. IGN found her to be "commanding" in her role and felt that the main characters were "played by one of Burton's best ensemble casts yet". While Dark Shadows grossed a modest US$79.7 million in North America, it ultimately made US$245.5 million globally. In Luc Besson's mob-comedy The Family (2013), co-starring Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo, she played the "tough mother" in a Mafia family wanting to change their lives under the witness protection program. Although reviews for the film were mixed, THV11 said on the cast's portrayals: "The core actors of The Family were really solid, and the whole film comes together to make a solid movie." Meanwhile, The Huffington Post felt that "De Niro, Pfieffer and Jones all brought 100% to their roles." The film grossed US$78.4 million worldwide.

Following a two-year sabbatical from acting, Pfeiffer made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), her second collaboration with Marshall after Frankie and Johnny. The film, also starring Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others, saw her take on the supporting role of Ingrid Withers, an overwhelmed secretary befriending a deliveryman (Efron). While the film was panned by critics, it made US$142 million worldwide. In 2012, she appeared with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in the drama People Like Us, as the mother of a struggling New York City corporate trader (Pine). Rolling Stone found her to be "luminous" in the film, and The New York Times, positively pointing out Pfeiffer and Banks, noted that their performances "partly compensate for the holes in a story whose timing is hard to swallow". People Like Us debuted to US$4.26 million, described as "meager" by Box Office Mojo, and only made US$12 million in North America.

Pfeiffer's next film, an adaptation of Colette's Chéri (2009), reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Pfeiffer played the role of aging retired courtesan Léa de Lonval, with Rupert Friend in the title role, with Kathy Bates as his mother. Chéri premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, where it 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."

Pfeiffer returned to the screen in 2007 with villainous roles in two major summer blockbusters — Hairspray and Stardust. In the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Hairspray, she starred with John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron and Queen Latifah, in the role of Velma Von Tussle, the racist manager of a television station. Travolta requested that Pfeiffer play the part of the villainess, which was her first film role in five years. A widely positive reception greeted the film upon its release, while it made an impressive US$118.9 million and US$202.5 million worldwide. The cast of Hairspray was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture, but won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast, the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year and the Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Ensemble Cast. Her next film release, the fantasy adventure Stardust, with Claire Danes, Charlie Cox and Robert De Niro, saw her play the ancient witch Lamia. Filmed before Hairspray, the film premiered three weeks afterwards; it garnered largely positive reviews but, budgeted at US$70 million, it made a modest US$135.5 million globally.

In 2005, Pfeiffer served as the face of Giorgio Armani's spring campaign; the designer has often dressed her for public appearances. In the March 2019 issue of InStyle, she announced her intention to launch a collection of fine fragrances called Henry Rose. The line launched in April 2019.

Pfeiffer lent her voice for the character of goddess of chaos Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), an animated film featuring Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad the Sailor. She had struggles with finding the character's villainies. Initially the character was "too sexual", then she lacked fun. After the third rewrite, Pfeiffer called producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and told him "You know, you really can fire me," but he assured her that this was just part of the process. Following the release of the film, she took a four-year hiatus from acting, during which she remained largely out of the public eye to devote time to her husband and children. At the time, she turned down the role of the White Witch in the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), which went to Tilda Swinton.

Pfeiffer took on the role of a murderous artist, named Ingrid Magnussen, in the drama White Oleander (2002), with Alison Lohman (in her film début), Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright. The film was an arthouse success and 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.

In the Hitchcockian thriller What Lies Beneath (2000), Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford starred as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it opened atop at the box office in July 2000, and went on to gross US$291 million worldwide. She then accepted the role of Rita Harrison, a highly strung lawyer helping a father with a developmental disability, in the drama I Am Sam (2001), with Sean Penn. Despite grossing $97.8 million worldwide, the movie received unfavorable reviews; Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever." Meanwhile, SF Gate observed: "In one scene, she breaks down in tears as she unburdens herself to him about her miserable life. It's hard not to cringe, watching this emotionally ready actress fling herself headlong into false material."

Pfeiffer chose to begin the process of dissolving her film production company, Via Rosa Productions, in 1999, and moved into semi-retirement in order to spend more quality time with her children and family, meaning that she would continue to star in films sporadically into the 2000s and beyond. Pfeiffer handed her producing partner Guinzburg one final film to produce under the Via Rosa Productions header. The film was called Original Sin (2001). It was originally intended to star Pfeiffer, who later changed her mind as she was looking to work less for a while. The film was produced by her company, but instead starred Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.

Pfeiffer 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. Under their Via Rosa Productions header, Pfeiffer and Guinzburg produced the films One Fine Day (1996), A Thousand Acres (1997) and The Deep End of the Ocean (1998). She voiced of Tzipporah for animated film The Prince of Egypt (1998). She served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parker in the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996) with George Clooney, 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; Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago; 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 Rob Reiner's comedy-drama The Story of Us (1999) with Bruce Willis.

Pfeiffer's next role was that of high school teacher and former United States Marine LouAnne Johnson in the drama Dangerous Minds (1995), which was co-produced under her company Via Rosa Productions. 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. While Dangerous Minds received negative reviews, it was a box office success, grossing US$179.5 million around the globe. Pfeiffer portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal (1996), with Robert Redford.

In Martin Scorsese's period drama The Age of Innocence (1993), a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel, Pfeiffer starred with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, portraying a Countess in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. For her role, she received the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture. Also in 1993, 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.

Pfeiffer took the role of Catwoman in Tim Burton's superhero film Batman Returns (1992), with Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, after Annette Bening withdrew due to pregnancy. For the role of Catwoman, she trained in martial arts and kickboxing. Pfeiffer has received universal critical acclaim for the role, and her performance is consistently referred to as the greatest portrayal of Catwoman of all time by critics and fans, and is also one of the best regarded performances of her career. 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." Batman Returns was a big box office success, grossing over US$267 million worldwide.

Pfeiffer continued to establish herself as a leading lady with roles in The Russia House (1990) and Frankie and Johnny (1991). In 1992, Pfeiffer starred as Catwoman / Selina Kyle in the superhero film Batman Returns, one of the most admired portrayals of the comic book character, while receiving her third Academy Award nomination for her performance in the drama Love Field. She continued to earn praise for her performances in the dramas The Age of Innocence (1993) and White Oleander (2002), and the horrors Wolf (1994) and What Lies Beneath (2000), while producing several successful films under her production company Via Rosa Productions. After a hiatus from acting in 2002, she returned in 2007 with the musical Hairspray and fantasy Stardust.

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 intense voice training for the role for four months, and performed all of her character's vocals. The film was a modest success, grossing $18.4 million in the US (equivalent to $38 million in 2019 dollars ). Her portrayal of Susie, however, drew unanimous acclaim from critics. Critic Roger Ebert compared her to Rita Hayworth in Gilda and to Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, adding that the film was "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". 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. Pfeiffer's performance as Susie is considered to be the most critically acclaimed of her career.

Pfeiffer was cast against type, as a murdered gangster's widow, in Jonathan Demme's mafia comedy Married to the Mob (1988), with 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 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. Pfeiffer then appeared as chic restaurateuse Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise (1988) with 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.

Following Scarface, she played Diana in John Landis' comedy Into the Night (1985), with Jeff Goldblum, Isabeau d'Anjou in Richard Donner's fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985), with Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick, Faith Healy in Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986), with 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, with Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Susan Sarandon. The film grossed over $63.7 million domestically, the equivalent to $143.5 million in 2019 dollars, becoming one of her earliest critical and commercial successes. Praising their comedic timing, Roger Ebert wrote that Pfeiffer and her female co-stars each "have a delicious good time with their roles", while the Los Angeles Times film critic Sheila Benson said Pfeiffer makes her character "a warm, irresistible character."

Director Brian De Palma, having seen Grease 2, refused to audition Pfeiffer for Scarface (1983), but relented at the insistence of Martin Bregman, the film's producer. 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 titled "Blonde Ambition", wrote, "[s]he is on the verge of stardom. In the parlance of the industry, she is hot."

Pfeiffer obtained her first major film role as the female lead in Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical film Grease (1978). With only a few television roles and small film appearances, the 23-year-old Pfeiffer was an unknown actress when she attended the casting call audition for the role, but according to director Patricia Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect". The film was a critical and commercial failure, but The New York Times remarked: "[A]lthough 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, her agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn't get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her." On her early screen roles, she asserted: "I needed to learn how to act ... in the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks."

Considered a Hollywood sex symbol, several media outlets have cited Pfeiffer among the world's most beautiful women, with her physical appearance being heavily discussed by journalists since the beginning of her career. Notoriously private about her personal life, Pfeiffer has been married twice: to actor Peter Horton from 1981 to 1988, and television writer David E. Kelly since 1993.

In a profile on the actress, Lynn Hirschberg of W wrote that Pfeiffer's "best roles always seem to involve a woman at war with herself ... Pfeiffer has a way of pitting her characters' wit and self-awareness against their flaws and trauma." During the 1980s, Pfeiffer typically played smart, funny, sexually attractive and strong female characters. According to Rachel Syme of The New Yorker, such characters were often "both ditzy and wily, high-femme and high-maintenance, scrappy and ... armed with claws". Adam Platt of New Woman observed that Pfeiffer's characters tends to "play the world at a distance, mostly, and are often wise beyond their years. They get romanced, but are not overtly romantic. They may be trashy ... but they all retain an air of invulnerability, a certain classical poise." In a film review for the Miami New Times, director and film critic Bilge Ebiri observed that Pfeiffer "often played women who were somewhat removed from the world", elaborating, "It wasn't so much unapproachability or aloofness that she conveyed, but a reserve that suggested ... melancholy, pain, dreams deferred", even in some of her more comedic performances. Comparing her resumé to actress Barbara Stanwyck, Elizabeth Kaye of The Daily Beast wrote that Pfeiffer's vulnerable characters share a common theme: "the only reasonable expectation is to not expect much." Observing parallels between Pfeiffer's roles and "concern with getting others to look beyond their own first impressions of her", Backstage contributor Manuel Betancourt wrote the actress "has long been perfecting the ability to embody women whose inner contradictions are both revealed and concealed by their very gestures."

Pfeiffer began to pursue an acting career in 1978 with minor television appearances before earning her first leading role in the musical film Grease 2 (1982). Disillusioned with being typecast based on her appearance, she actively sought more serious material until landing her breakthrough role as gangster moll Elvira Hancock in the crime drama Scarface (1983). She achieved further success in the fantasy The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and the comedy 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; she won widespread acclaim and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her portrayal of lounge singer Susie Diamond in the latter.

Pfeiffer attended Fountain Valley High School, graduating in 1976. She worked as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket, and attended Golden West College where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she decided upon an acting career. She won the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978, and participated in the Miss California contest the same year, finishing in sixth place. Following her participation in these pageants, she acquired an acting agent and began to audition for television and films.

Michelle Pfeifer was born on July 16, 1966 in Spring Valley, New York, USA.

Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (/ˈ f aɪ f ər / ; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress. Known for pursuing eclectic roles in a wide range of film genres, she has consistently received acclaim for her versatile performances. One of the most prolific actresses of the 1980s and 1990s, her accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and one Primetime Emmy Award.