MELANIE GRIFFITH
Name: Melanie Griffith
Born: 9 August 1957 New York City, New York
Melanie Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is a Golden Globe award-winning and Oscar-nominated
American film actress.
Griffith was born in New York City, the daughter of actress Tippi Hedren and
producer and former actor/advertising executive Peter Griffith. Her
parents divorced when she was four years old, after which her father remarried
and had two more children, actress Tracy Griffith and set designer Clay A.
Griffith.
Griffith began work at just nine months old in a commercial and later became an
extra on Smith! (1969) and The Harrad Experiment (1973). Her first major role
was in Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975), which drew her attention and typecasted
her as a sexy nymphet in films such as Smile, The Drowning Pool (both also 1975),
and One on One (1977). Griffith also lived up to her image in the press as she
appeared nude in the October 1976 issue of Playboy with her then husband Don
Johnson. Substance problems derailed her career for nearly a decade, until she
starred in the Brian De Palma thriller Body Double (1984). The film won her the
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, and also led
to her starring role in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild (1986), which became a
cult favorite. She achieved mainstream success when she played the character of
Tess McGill in Mike Nichols' 1988 film Working Girl, which won Griffith the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and an
Academy Award nomination for "Best Actress". Other films include Brian De Palma's
The Bonfire of the Vanities and John Schlesinger's Pacific Heights (both 1990);
Milk Money (1994); Fernando Trueba's Two Much (1995) - in which she met her
husband Antonio Banderas - and John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented (2000).
Griffith's television work includes playing actress Marion Davies in the HBO
television movie RKO 281 (1999), for which she received an Emmy nomination as "Best
Supporting Actress". She was also seen on The WB sitcom Twins (2005-2006), in
which she played Lee, the mother of the show's main characters, played by Sara
Gilbert and Molly Stanton.
Later in her career, Griffith made her stage debut at the Old Vic in London,
England, where she acted with Cate Blanchett in the Vagina Monologues in
February 1999. Four years later, she made her Broadway debut playing Roxie in
the musical "Chicago". An untrained performer in song and dance, Griffith still
managed to get a rave review from "The New York Times" theatre critic Ben
Brantley, who wrote: "Ms. Griffith is a sensational Roxie, possibly the most
convincing I have seen" and "[the] vultures who were expecting to see Ms.
Griffith stumble...will have to look elsewhere". Griffith's celebratory
reviews made it a box office success. At the same time Griffith was
performing in "Chicago", her husband Antonio Banderas was appearing across the
street in another musical, "Nine".
Name: Melanie Griffith
Born: 9 August 1957 New York City, New York
Melanie Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is a Golden Globe award-winning and Oscar-nominated
American film actress.
Griffith was born in New York City, the daughter of actress Tippi Hedren and
producer and former actor/advertising executive Peter Griffith. Her
parents divorced when she was four years old, after which her father remarried
and had two more children, actress Tracy Griffith and set designer Clay A.
Griffith.
Griffith began work at just nine months old in a commercial and later became an
extra on Smith! (1969) and The Harrad Experiment (1973). Her first major role
was in Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975), which drew her attention and typecasted
her as a sexy nymphet in films such as Smile, The Drowning Pool (both also 1975),
and One on One (1977). Griffith also lived up to her image in the press as she
appeared nude in the October 1976 issue of Playboy with her then husband Don
Johnson. Substance problems derailed her career for nearly a decade, until she
starred in the Brian De Palma thriller Body Double (1984). The film won her the
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, and also led
to her starring role in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild (1986), which became a
cult favorite. She achieved mainstream success when she played the character of
Tess McGill in Mike Nichols' 1988 film Working Girl, which won Griffith the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and an
Academy Award nomination for "Best Actress". Other films include Brian De Palma's
The Bonfire of the Vanities and John Schlesinger's Pacific Heights (both 1990);
Milk Money (1994); Fernando Trueba's Two Much (1995) - in which she met her
husband Antonio Banderas - and John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented (2000).
Griffith's television work includes playing actress Marion Davies in the HBO
television movie RKO 281 (1999), for which she received an Emmy nomination as "Best
Supporting Actress". She was also seen on The WB sitcom Twins (2005-2006), in
which she played Lee, the mother of the show's main characters, played by Sara
Gilbert and Molly Stanton.
Later in her career, Griffith made her stage debut at the Old Vic in London,
England, where she acted with Cate Blanchett in the Vagina Monologues in
February 1999. Four years later, she made her Broadway debut playing Roxie in
the musical "Chicago". An untrained performer in song and dance, Griffith still
managed to get a rave review from "The New York Times" theatre critic Ben
Brantley, who wrote: "Ms. Griffith is a sensational Roxie, possibly the most
convincing I have seen" and "[the] vultures who were expecting to see Ms.
Griffith stumble...will have to look elsewhere". Griffith's celebratory
reviews made it a box office success. At the same time Griffith was
performing in "Chicago", her husband Antonio Banderas was appearing across the
street in another musical, "Nine".