Michelle Pfeiffer

1970s and 1980s

Pfeiffer made her acting debut in 1978, in a one-episode appearance on Fantasy Island.^[7] Other roles in television series followed, including Delta House, CHiPs, Enos, and B.A.D. Cats.^[12] She transitioned to film with the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), alongside Tony Danza, appearing as high school sweethearts. She subsequently played supporting roles in Falling in Love Again (1980) and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), neither of which met with much critical or box office success. She appeared in a television commercial for Lux soap^[13] and took acting lessons at the Beverly Hills Playhouse,^[14] before appearing in three 1981 television movies—Callie and Son, with Lindsay Wagner, The Children Nobody Wanted, and Splendor in the Grass.

Pfeiffer obtained her first starring film role as the female lead in Grease 2 (1982),^[15] the sequel to the 1978 smash-hit musical film Grease.^[16] 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".^[17] The film was a critical and commercial failure, but Pfeiffer's performance was noted as a standout.^[18] 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."^[19] Her agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn't get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her."^[16] On her early screen roles, Pfeiffer stated: "I needed to learn how to act ... in the meantime, I was playing bimbos and cashing in on my looks."^[7]

The 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 the cocaine-addicted trophy wife Elvira Hancock.^[20] The film was considered excessively violent by most critics but became a commercial hit and gained a large cult following in subsequent years.^[21] Pfeiffer received positive reviews for her supporting role: Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote, "most of the large cast is fine: Michelle Pfeiffer is better ...",^[22] 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."^[23]

Following Scarface, Pfeiffer played Diana in John Landis' comedy Into the Night (1985), Isabeau d'Anjou in Richard Donner's fantasy film Ladyhawke (1985), Faith Healy in Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986), 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 received positive reviews and grossed over $63.7 million domestically, equivalent to $181 million in 2025 dollars,^[24][25] becoming one of her earliest critical and commercial successes.^[26][27] Praising their comic timing, Roger Ebert wrote that Pfeiffer and her female co-stars each "have a delicious good time with their roles",^[28] while the Los Angeles Times film critic Sheila Benson said Pfeiffer makes her role "a warm, irresistible character".^[29]

Pfeiffer was cast against type as a murdered gangster's widow in Jonathan Demme's mafia comedy Married to the Mob (1988). For the role of Angela de Marco, she donned a curly brunette wig and a Brooklyn accent,^[3] and she 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.^[30][31] Pfeiffer starred as the restaurateur Jo Ann Vallenari in Tequila Sunrise (1988) but experienced creative and personal differences with director Robert Towne, who later described her as the "most difficult" actress he had worked with.^[32] She attributed her negative experience making the film to minor injuries sustained from a poorly constructed hot tub and high staff turnover, to the point that she said she had asked to be fired from the production.^[33]

At Demme's personal recommendation,^[16] Pfeiffer joined the cast of Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons (1988), playing Madame Marie de Tourvel, a virtuous victim of seduction. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post saw her 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."^[34] For this appearance, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role^[35] and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.^[36]

Pfeiffer then accepted the role of Susie Diamond, a hard-edged former call girl turned lounge singer, in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), which also 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.^[37] The film was a modest success, grossing $18.4 million in the US and Canada (equivalent to $48 million in 2025 dollars ^[24]).^[38] Her portrayal of Susie, however, drew unanimous acclaim from reviewers. 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".^[39] During the 1989–1990 awards season, Pfeiffer won as Best Actress 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, and the Chicago Film Critics Association. Her performance as Susie is considered to be the most critically acclaimed of her career.^[40][41] The scene in which her character seductively performs "Makin' Whoopee" atop a grand piano is considered memorable in modern cinema.^[42][43][44]

1990s

In 1990, Pfeiffer formed her own film production company, Via Rosa Productions, with business partner Kate Guinzburg, whom she had met on the set of Sweet Liberty (1986). The company was under a picture deal with Touchstone Pictures, a film label of Walt Disney Studios. That year, Pfeiffer began earning $1 million per film^[45] and took on the part of the Soviet book editor Katya Orlova in the film adaptation of John le Carré's The Russia House, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.^[46] Pfeiffer then landed the role of the 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.^[47] Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice.^[48] Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]".^[49] She was once again nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her performance.

Pfeiffer took on the role of Selina Kyle–Catwoman in Tim Burton's superhero film Batman Returns (1992), after Annette Bening dropped out due to pregnancy. For the role, she trained in kickboxing.^[50] Pfeiffer received unanimous critical acclaim for her portrayal, which was subsequently referred to as the greatest performance of Catwoman of all time by critics and fans.^{[51][52][53][54][55]} Premiere retrospectively stated: "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."^[56]

The first film Pfeiffer's company produced was the independent drama Love Field (1992), in which she starred. Reviewers embraced it, and The New York Times stated that Pfeiffer was "again demonstrating that she is as subtle and surprising as she is beautiful".^[57] For her portrayal of an eccentric Dallas, Texas housewife, she earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.^[58][59] In Martin Scorsese's period drama The Age of Innocence (1993), a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel, Pfeiffer portrayed 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.^[60] That year, she was awarded the Women in Film Los Angeles' Crystal Award.^[61]

Pfeiffer starred with Jack Nicholson in the 1994 horror film Wolf, portraying the female interest of a writer who becomes a werewolf at night after being bitten by a creature. The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling."^[62] Pfeiffer's next role was that of the high school teacher and former United States Marine LouAnne Johnson in the drama Dangerous Minds (1995),^[63] which was co-produced by her company. She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, featuring L.V..^[64] While Dangerous Minds received negative reviews, it was a box office success, grossing $179.5 million around the globe.^[65] In 1996, Pfeiffer portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal;^[66] took on the titular role in the drama To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, which was adapted by her husband, David Kelley, from Michael Brady's play of the same name;^[67] and she executive-produced and starred in the romantic comedy One Fine Day.^[68]

Subsequent performances included Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres (1997);^[69] Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998);^[70] Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999);^[71] and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy drama The Story of Us (1999).^[72] A Thousand Acres and The Deep End of the Ocean were produced by Via Rosa Productions. Pfeiffer voiced Tzipporah, a shepherdess who becomes the wife of Moses, in DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt (1998), a musical adaptation based on the Book of Exodus.^[73][74] She also recorded the film's theme song, "When You Believe".^[75]

2000s

Pfeiffer began to dissolve her film production company, Via Rosa Productions, in 1999, and moved into semi-retirement to spend more quality time with her children and family. The company's final production was Original Sin (2001), in which Pfeiffer was originally intended to star but which instead featured Angelina Jolie..

In What Lies Beneath (2000), a Hitchcockian thriller directed by Robert Zemeckis, Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford starred as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past.^[76] Pfeiffer then accepted the role of Rita Harrison, a lawyer helping a father with a developmental disability, in the drama I Am Sam (2001), with Sean Penn.^[77] Despite grossing $97.8 million worldwide,^[78] the film was unfavorably reviewed by critics;^[79] Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever."^[80] 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."^[81]

Pfeiffer took on the role of a murderous artist in the drama White Oleander (2002). 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."^[82] 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".^[83] Pfeiffer won 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.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Pfeiffer lent her voice to the character of goddess of chaos Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, an animated film.^[84] Following the film's release, 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.^[85]

Pfeiffer returned to cinemas in 2007 with villainous roles in two summer blockbusters, Hairspray and Stardust, which was hailed as a successful comeback by the media.^{[86][87][88][85]} In the former, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, she starred as Velma Von Tussle,^[89] the racist manager of a television station.^[90] Pfeiffer described Velma as the most difficult role she had played at the time, because of her character's racism. She was drawn to the film's important message of anti-bigotry, accepting that "in order to do a movie about racism, somebody has got to be the racist".^[86] Her performance was critically acclaimed,^[91][92] with the film critic David Edelstein of NPR calling her "sublime".^[93] The cast of Hairspray was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture and 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. In the fantasy adventure Stardust, Pfeiffer plays Lamia, an ancient witch who hunts a fallen star (Claire Danes) in search of eternal youth.^[94] The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden wrote that Pfeiffer was "as deliciously evil a witch as the movies have ever invented", adding that she "goes for broke with the relish of a star who figures she has nothing to lose."^[95]

Pfeiffer starred in Amy Heckerling's romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007),^[96] portraying Rosie, a forty-year-old divorced mother working as a scriptwriter and producer for a television show, who falls in love with a much younger man (Paul Rudd). She then starred in Personal Effects, in which she sparks up an unlikely romance with a much younger Ashton Kutcher.^[97]

Her next film, an adaptation of Colette's Chéri, reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Pfeiffer played the role of the aging retired courtesan Léa de Lonval, with Rupert Friend in the title role.^[98] The Times of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache".^[99] 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".^[100] 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."^[101]

2010s

Following a two-year sabbatical from acting, Pfeiffer joined a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), her second collaboration with the filmmaker after Frankie and Johnny. In 2012, she appeared in the drama People Like Us as the mother of a struggling New York City corporate trader. Rolling Stone found her to be "luminous" in the film,^[102] and The New York Times noted that hers and Elizabeth Banks's performances "partly compensate for the holes in a story whose timing is hard to swallow".^[103]

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, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch of the Collins family. Critical response towards the film was mixed, but writers acclaimed the actors' performances. IGN found her to be "commanding" in her role.^[104] In Luc Besson's 2013 mob-comedy The Family, Pfeiffer played the "tough mother" in a Mafia family wanting to change their lives under the witness protection program.^[105]

Pfeiffer stated that her lack of acting throughout the 2000s was due to several reasons, including family matters and her approach to choosing roles.^[107][108] She said that she intended to "work a lot" once her children left for college,^[109] mentioning that she felt her best performance was "still in her", saying how that's what she felt kept her going.^[110]

In the 2017 independent drama Where Is Kyra?, she starred as a sensitive and fragile woman who loses her mother and "faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover". Her role as Kyra was called the "performance of her life" by The Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri,^[111] and "the performance of her career" by Rolling Stone.^[112]

Pfeiffer landed the role of Ruth Madoff for the HBO Films drama The Wizard of Lies (2017), in which she played the wife of the disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, portrayed by Robert De Niro.^[113] The Tolucan Times remarked that Pfeiffer "steals the show as Madoff's wife, Ruth, and is a remarkable lookalike",^[114] while The Los Angeles Times asserted: "As Ruth, Pfeiffer convincingly portrays a pampered woman left with utterly nothing—she's lost her homes, status and, most important, her relationship with her sons."^[115] She received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Movie, in addition to a Golden Globe nomination.^[116][117]

In Darren Aronofsky's 2017 psychological horror film Mother!, Pfeiffer portrayed one of the mysterious guests who interrupt the tranquil life of a couple, played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem.^[118] Although Mother! divided critics and audiences,^[119][120] reviewers praised Pfeiffer unanimously,^[121][122] and some found her performance worthy of an Oscar nomination.^[123][124] Vulture remarked: "Out of the main actors, it's Pfeiffer who is able to root the character in meaning — she bracingly marries the exploration of Biblical creation, mythological overtones, and hellish domestic commentary. There's a gravity to Pfeiffer's performance that allows her to succeed where the other main actors fail, save for brief spurts — she straddles the boundaries between embodying a symbol and granting the character enough interiority to feel like a flesh and blood woman, too."^[125]

Pfeiffer played a widowed socialite in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express (2017), the fourth screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name. Featuring an ensemble cast, the mystery film follows the world-renowned detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) attempting to solve a murder while stranded with several suspects on the Orient Express during the 1930s.^[126] She also recorded the original song "Never Forget" for the film's soundtrack. Although some critics found the film's large cast underused, Pfeiffer's acting was praised, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times saying she delivered the film's best performance.^[127] The New Yorker's Anthony Lane found that only Pfeiffer appears to be enjoying the material,^[128] while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle credited the film with reminding audiences that Pfeiffer is one of the industry's best actresses.^[129] David Edelstein of Vulture described her as "a hoot and a half ... stealing every scene".^[130]

Pfeiffer debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, in the Ant-Man (2015) sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).^[131][132] Variety's Owen Gleiberman described her performance as "lovely" and "wistful",^[133] while Josh Spiegel of /Film believed the film suffers from a lack of the actress.^[134] In 2019, Pfeiffer briefly reprised the role in Avengers: Endgame,^[135] and she later starred alongside Angelina Jolie in the dark fantasy film Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, playing the villainous Queen Ingrith.^{[136][137][138]} The Plain Dealer's Laura DeMarco felt that both Jolie and Pfeiffer "clearly relish their roles".^[139]

2020s

Pfeiffer headlined the 2020 dark comedy French Exit, based on the novel of the same name by Patrick deWitt, directed by Azazel Jacobs.^[140][141] In the film, which co-stars Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts, Pfeiffer played a widow who moves to Paris with her son (Hedges) and cat, who happens to be her reincarnated husband (Letts).^[142] Peter Debruge of Variety remarked that Pfeiffer gave a performance "for which she'll be remembered".^[143][144] She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her performance.^[145]

Pfeiffer portrayed the former First Lady Betty Ford in the anthology drama television series The First Lady, which premiered on Showtime in April 2022.^[146][147] The following year, she reprised the role of Janet van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.^[148] Manohla Dargis declared her the film's MVP.^[149]

In 2022, she was cast in Wild Four O'Clocks, penned and directed by Peter Craig, and produced by Marc Platt and Adam Siegel.^[150]

In 2025, she starred in the Christmas comedy film Oh. What. Fun. as a Texan housewife whose feelings of being taken for granted by her family drive her to appear on a morning talk show.^[151] The film received negative reviews,^[152] with reviewers agreeing that Pfeiffer's performance was failed by the script.^{[153][151][154]}

Pfeiffer stars in Taylor Sheridan's The Madison^[155] as well as in the Apple TV series Margo's Got Money Troubles.^[156]

Product and endorsements

In 2005, Pfeiffer served as the face of Giorgio Armani's spring campaign; the designer has often dressed her for public appearances.^[238][172]

In 2019, she launched a collection of fragrances called Henry Rose.^[239] It is the first fragrance line to be both Cradle to Cradle Certified and EWG Verified.^[240]

In 2025, Pfeiffer fronted the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent's Summer 2025 collection.^[241]

Philanthropy

Having been a smoker for ten years (she quit in 1992) and having a niece who suffered from leukemia for ten years, Pfeiffer is a supporter of the American Cancer Society.^[242] She also supports the Humane Society.^[20] In 2016, she attended the Healthy Child Healthy World's L.A. Gala for people who lead organizations for children's environmental health.^[243] In December of that year, Pfeiffer, who was vegan at the time, joined the board of directors for the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization based in Washington. D.C.^[244]