Oscar-Nominated Actress
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$80 Million
"I act for free, but I demand a huge salary as compensation for all the annoyance of being a public personality. In that sense, I earn every dime I make." Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most enduring and storied performers that Hollywood has ever seen. Nominated for multiple Academy Awards, Pfeiffer has enjoyed a career that has spanned generation. Ever since launching her career in the late '70s, Pfeiffer has been a fixture in mainstream Hollywood.
While Michelle Pfeiffer may be an accomplished actress, far too few people are interested in how she became the performer that she is today. In order to gain some perspective regarding Pfeiffer's career, we are going back to her childhood to explore her journey from the very beginning.
Born in Santa Ana
Believe it or not, Michelle Pfeiffer was not born into A-list celebrity. Instead, Pfeiffer was born in Santa AnA, California on April 29, 1958. Pfeiffer was the second child of her family. Pfeiffer's father was Richard Pfeiffer, a contractor for an air conditioning company. Michelle's mother was Donna Pfeiffer, a housewife charged with raising Michelle and her three siblings. Michelle's siblings were Rick, Dedee, and Lori Pfeiffer. Dedee is the only other child in the family to pursue a career in film. Michelle comes from a distinct and varied background. Her paternal grandfather possessed German ancestry while her grandmother had French, Dutch, Irish, Welsh, and English in her blood.
In her early years, Michelle was raised in Midway City, a prominent area in Orange County. During her childhood, Michelle would spend most of her time either working at the local supermarket or trying to kickstart her career in the entertainment industry. Pfeiffer would attend Fountain Valley High School before graduating in 1976. After high school, Pfeiffer attempted to train herself to become a court stenographer, ostensibly for the decent wage that the career path offers. Pfeiffer ended up dropping the occupation in order to pursue an acting and modeling career. Pfeiffer would also drop out of Golden West College, where she had been pursuing her secondary education while a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
In 1978, Pfeiffer made local headlines when she managed to win the Miss Orange County Beauty Contest. Pfeiffer would go on to compete for the Miss California crown, though she would settle for sixth place. After Pfeiffer's successful showing in the modeling world, she would quickly nab herself an agent. Soon thereafter, Pfeiffer would begin to audition in earnest.
Slow Path to Stardom
While Michelle Pfeiffer was undoubtedly a beautiful actress with the talent to spare, gaining stardom isn't a simple task. Despite landing an acting agent, Pfeiffer had to work her way through Hollywood before making her major break. Pfeiffer would kickstart her career with a one-off appearance on Fantasy Island in 1978. From there, Pfeiffer would land a regular role on the TV series, Delta House (1979). Her early work largely focused on her appearance, though Pfeiffer was committed to improving her craft. It was during this period of time that Michelle began to take acting lessons at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.
After taking acting classes, Pfeiffer would land her first major motion picture. Pfeiffer was nabbed for the lead role in Grease 2 (1982). Pfeiffer auditioned for the role as a complete unknown, but her audition was so convincing that she landed the part. The film would turn out to be an absolute flop, but Pfeiffer was praised across the board. In fact, the New York Times would go so far as to say, "Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast." Despite the heaping of praise laid before her feet, Pfeiffer was scarred by the film's flop. Her agent admitted that the film hurt her career. Still, that didn't mean that Pfeiffer was ready to give up.
When Brian De Palma began casting for Scarface (1983) he had out-and-out refused to allow Pfeiffer a chance to audition for the film. Martin Bregman, the producer of the film, insisted that De Palma allow Pfeiffer to audition for Elvira Hancock, a drug-addled trophy wife. Pfeiffer would score the role and the film would end up becoming an iconic landmark in Hollywood history. Pfeiffer was loved for her work, and she received praise from every major publication at the time.
With Scarface in her back pocket, Pfeiffer was officially on the up-and-up. Pfeiffer would become an 80s icon, and she would secure roles in some of the most memorable films of the decade. Pfeiffer would land commercial acclaim for her starring role in The Witches of Eastwick (1987) before securing a Golden Globe nomination in the film, Married to the Mob (1988). From that point forward, Pfeiffer would land six-straight Golden Globe nominations for the Best Actress category. Despite her decade of dominance, the best of Pfeiffer's career was yet to come.
Michelle took her star status to the next level when, in 1992, she appeared in the hit film of the year, Batman Returns as the character, Catwoman. Pfeiffer became a style icon and a pop-culture wonder in one fell swoop, thus launching her stat status into a completely different stratosphere. Pfeiffer managed to take corny, overwrought dialogue and turn it into a menacing and fully fleshed out character. Her chemistry with co-star Michael Keaton is considered a high-point in comic book adaptations. At this point, Pfeiffer's star was burning hotter than ever, and she would use it to her advantage. Pfeiffer would establish Via Rosa Productions, a film company that operated for more than a decade. Her work with the production company was largely focused on films with strong women as leads.
By the time that the 00s hit, Pfeiffer was beginning to scale back her workload. By this point in time, Pfeiffer was happily married to David E. Kelley. The two had started dating in the 90s, and they had married in 1993. With two children together, Pfeiffer knew that she wanted to spend some time at home. Despite her decision to scale back her work, Pfeiffer would still score critical acclaim in the 2007 film Hairspray and the 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express. Pfeiffer's career would experience a sudden resurgence after being pulled into the coveted Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet Van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). Pfeiffer would appear in Avengers: Endgame (2019) while reprising her role as Janet. Endgame has since become the highest-grossing movie of all time.
Right now, Michelle Pfeiffer has a host of credits currently in production. Among her high-profile future films is Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) and French Exit (2020). It remains to be seen if Michelle's Janet Van Dyne will return for any future appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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