Body Double, Working Girl
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$40 Million
"It's not about my career now. It's just about finding great work and having a good time." Melanie Griffith has been a core member of the pop-culture landscape since she first made her debut in 1969. Since then, Griffith has become a decorated performer with a variety of lauded roles to her name. From her work as an adult actress in the film Body Double (1984) to her Academy nominated performance in Working Girl (1988), there has been seemingly no limit to Griffith's talent.
Despite having over forty years of industry experience to her name, Griffith continues to wow audiences in modern projects with some of the best performers on the planet. If you haven't seen any of Griffith's iconic work, you need to keep on reading in order to understand why Melanie Griffith was one of the biggest 'it' girls in Hollywood history.
Performer From Birth
Melanie Griffith came into this world on August 9, 1957, in Manhattan, NYC. Her mother was Tippi Hedren, the actress, and her father was Peter Griffith, a former child actor, and a marketing executive. Griffith's ancestral roots can be traced back to Europe where she claims Swedish, German, and Norwegian heritage. Due to her family's notable acting background, it wouldn't be long until Griffith began to follow in their footsteps, but we'll get more into that later. Griffith also has two half-sisters including Tracy Griffith and Clay Griffith.
Griffith would see her parents separated when she was just two years old. Shortly after her mother left her father, Griffith and her mother would move to Los Angeles. After setting up shop in Los Angeles, Griffith would begin to test the waters of acting, though she was notably shy. Her mother worked at Shambala, an animal preserve, while her father spent time working in New York. Her parents would officially get divorced two years after their separation.
In Los Angeles, Griffith showed herself to be an astute student. She would begin attending Hollywood Professional school where her abilities as a student shined. Griffith would be allowed to skip grade levels up until her graduation at the age of 16.
Extra to an Award Winner
Being born into a Hollywood family would mean that any pursuit of the arts would carry with it a certain level of expectation. Despite her family's high-profile success in the arts, Griffith would still make her debut as an extra in the project, Smith! (1969). Griffith was only 12 at the time of her film debut, and she wouldn't appear on camera until 1973 in The Harrad Experiment as, you guessed it, an extra. By this point in time, Griffith was fully graduated from school and ready to begin pursuing her career in earnest.
Griffith would get her career going when she made her major performance debut in the film, Night Moves (1975). The film was based on a noir by Arthur Penn of the same name. Griffith played a runaway teen who was being pursued across the country by a detective, played by Gene Hackman. Griffith was praised for her performance despite some of the controversies that surrounded the film. Griffith would land two follow-up projects through the strength of her performance, Smile (1975) and The Drowning Pool (1975). Griffith was praised for her childlike innocence and how it clashed against her leading lady performances.
While Griffith had enjoyed modest success during the early portion of her career, she wouldn't really establish herself as a major player until 1981. In 1981, Griffith appeared in the film, Roar, alongside her mother, Tippi Hedren. Crafting the film took the better part of the decade and it has since been considered one of the most dangerous films ever made. During a shoot on the project, Griffith would end up getting mauled by a lion, and she would have to have reconstructive surgery as a result. Her scars appear several times throughout the film.
Even though Griffith struggled with substance abuse problems in the 80s, she didn't allow those issues to permanently derail her. Griffith would establish herself as a serious performer at the age of 26 with her starring role in the Brian De Palma film, Body Double (1984). Griffith would appear as an adult film star in the project, and she would garner serious praise for her work. Griffith would go on to star in Fear City (1985) as a prostitute who was being stalked by a serial killer. Shortly after this film was shot, Griffith would have her first child, Alexander Bauer.
In 1986, Griffith would gain mainstream acclaim for her starring role in the film, Something Wild. For her work on the project, Griffith was praised by critics like Roger Ebert who called her, "Capable of doing almost anything." Griffith would land a Golden Globe nomination for the performance and it would lead directly into her starring role in Cherry 2000. The mid-90s would be great for Griffith as she would land mainstream roles in projects like The Bonfire of the Vanities, Paradise (1991), Shining Through, and A Stranger Among Us. Griffith would win an Academy Award in 1988 for her portrayal of Tess McGill in Working Girl.
In 2003, Griffith would show up on Broadway for the first time in the play Chicago. Since then, Griffith has seemingly slowed down as a leading performer, despite continuing to make appearances on both television and in film. Griffith continued to cultivate her skills as a stage performer, appearing again on stage in the 2012 Scott Caan play, No Way Around but Through. From there, Griffith would pivot to a recurring spot on Hawaii Five-0 (2016) before scoring a sizable role in the hit James Franco film, The Disaster Artist (2017). Griffith is now attached to several new projects, including SMILF (2019) and the announced feature-film, Akil.
As one of the biggest leading ladies of her era, Griffith ended up attached to several major names during her career. Griffith met and married Don Johnson when she was a teenager. The two would marry and divorce in 1976 before marrying again in 1989. Griffith and Johnson called it quits for good in 1996. From there, Griffith was married to Steven Bauer from 1981 to 1989. In 1996, Griffith would start an almost twenty-year marriage with Antonio Banderas. The two would amicably split up in 2015. Griffith has three children from her relationships. Outside of love and entertainment, Griffith is a staunch supporter of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
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