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Short Biography

Michelle Marie Pfeiffer(born April 29, 1958) is a Golden Globe- and BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated American actress. In a career spanning more than 25 years, she has starred in films such as Scarface, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Batman Returns, One Fine Day, Dangerous Minds, I Am Sam, What Lies Beneath, Hairspray, Stardust, and Grease 2.
She is considered one of the most beautiful women in the cinema, having appeared on the cover of the first People Magazine`s `50 Most Beautiful People in the World` issue in 1990, and re-appearing a record six times during that decade, making the cover again in 1999. She is married to television writer and producer, David E. Kelley.

Early life

Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California, the second of four children born to Richard Pfeiffer, a heating and air-conditioning contractor, and Donna (n?e Taverna), a homemaker; she has one elder brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer and Lori Pfeiffer, both actresses. The family moved to Midway City, California, where Pfeiffer spent her childhood. She attended Fountain Valley High School and worked as a check-out girl at Vons supermarket. After a short stint training to be a court stenographer, she decided upon an acting career, and entered the Miss Orange County beauty pageant in 1978 (which she won), and the Miss Los Angeles contest later that year, after which she was signed by a Hollywood agent who appeared on the judging panel. Moving to Los Angeles, she began to audition for commercials and bit parts in films.

Film career

First television and film appearances

Pfeiffer`s early acting appearances included television roles in Fantasy Island, Delta House and BAD Cats, and small film roles in Falling in Love Again (1980) with Susannah York, The Hollywood Knights (1980) opposite Tony Danza, and Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), none of which met with much success. Pfeiffer took acting lessons, and appeared in three further television movies - Callie and Son (1981) with Lindsay Wagner, The Children Nobody Wanted (1981), and a remake of Splendor in the Grass (as Ginny) - before landing her first major film role as Stephanie Zinone in Grease 2 (1982), the sequel to the smash-hit musical Grease (1978). The film was a critical and commercial failure, although Pfeiffer herself received some positive attention, notably from the New York Times, which said "although 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, Pfeiffer`s agent later admitted that her association with the film meant that "she couldn`t get any jobs. Nobody wanted to hire her."

Screen success

Director Brian de Palma, having seen Grease 2, refused to audition Pfeiffer for Scarface (1983), but relented upon the producer`s insistence. During her screen test, Pfeiffer accidentally cut leading man Al Pacino with broken glass, after which she subsequently won the role of 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 entitled "Blonde Am