Michelle Williams (actress)
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| Michelle Williams | ||||||
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| Birth name | Michelle Ingrid Williams | |||||
| Born | September 9 1980 Kalispell, Montana , Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States | |||||
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Michelle Ingrid Williams (born September 9, 1980) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. Williams broke into stardom on the teen series Dawson's Creek and later graduated to full length features, such as Brokeback Mountain, for which she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Williams, the eldest of five children, was born in Kalispell, Montana, the daughter of Carla, a homemaker, and Larry Williams, a renowned commodities trader.[1] She also has a half sister named Sara Williams, who is the vice principal of Loma Vista Elementary School in Brentwood, California.[citation needed] When Williams was nine, her family moved to San Diego, California. At an early age, Williams took interest in acting. With her parents' disapproval, at age fifteen Williams emancipated herself from her parents and graduated from high school, in order to pursue her acting career.
Williams' father is a noted stock and commodities trader and had taught her about trading. In 1997, at age sixteen, she won the Robbins World Cup Trading Championship, the same as her father won in 1987.[2] She turned $10,000 into $110,000 over the course of a year and that gain (as of 2006) is the fourth highest in the competition (her father's being the highest).[3]
[edit] Career
Williams' career began in television, appearing in programs such as the 90's version of Lassie, Baywatch and Home Improvement. Williams' first film role was in the motion picture Species. Soon after, she won additional roles, including the Jessica Lange-Michelle Pfeiffer film A Thousand Acres and the 1998 movie Halloween: H20. However, it was in 1998 when Williams was cast as Jen Lindley on the hit WB show Dawson's Creek, that helped to put her on the map.
During and after the show's six season run, Williams made strong turns in several notable indie films. Her first starring role was as Arlene in the film Dick, a satire of the Watergate scandal, opposite Kirsten Dunst. She starred opposite Christina Ricci in Prozac Nation, and also appeared in the HBO film If These Walls Could Talk 2, and several acclaimed indie pictures such as The United States of Leland, Me Without You and Imaginary Heroes with Sigourney Weaver. For her performance in The Station Agent, Williams along with the rest of the cast received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for Best Acting Ensemble. It was in 2005 when critics and audiences took note of Williams' performance in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. For her performance, she won a Critic's Choice Award and received Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress.
Since then, Williams has quickly gained employment in several highly anticipated films. Later in 2006, she appeared in the drama The Hawk is Dying, with Paul Giamatti, and in 2007 had roles in The Hottest State, opposite Ethan Hawke, and the Bob Dylan biopic titled I'm Not There by director Todd Haynes, which also features Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, and Heath Ledger.
[edit] Personal life
Williams was engaged to Australian actor Heath Ledger and gave birth to their daughter, Matilda Rose Ledger, on October 28, 2005. The child's godfather is Jake Gyllenhaal and her godmother is Busy Philipps, Michelle's co-star on Dawson's Creek. The couple met on the set of the film Brokeback Mountain, in which they played husband and wife. During their time together they lived in Brooklyn, New York. On September 2, 2007, People.com reported that Williams and Ledger, after a three-year-relationship, had decided to split.[4]
On September 4, 2007, Williams' father confirmed to Sydney Daily Telegraph that Ledger & Williams have indeed split.[5]
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Lassie | April Porter | |
| 1995 | Species | Young Sil | |
| 1997 | Killing Mr. Griffin (TV) | Maya | |
| A Thousand Acres | Pammy | ||
| 1998 | Halloween H20: 20 Years Later | Molly Cartwell | |
| Dawson's Creek | Jen Lindley | TV series (1998-2003) | |
| 1999 | Dick | Arlene Lorenzo | |
| But I'm a Cheerleader | Kimberly | ||
| 2000 | If These Walls Could Talk 2 (TV) | Linda | |
| 2001 | Me Without You | Holly | |
| Prozac Nation | Ruby | ||
| 2003 | The United States of Leland | Julie Pollard | |
| The Station Agent | Emily | ||
| 2004 | Land of Plenty | Lana | |
| Imaginary Heroes | Penny Travis | ||
| A Hole in One | Anna Watson | ||
| 2005 | The Baxter | Cecil Mills | |
| Brokeback Mountain | Alma | Academy Award nomination | |
| 2006 | The Hawk Is Dying | Betty | |
| The Hottest State | Samantha | ||
| 2007 | I'm Not There | Coco Rivington | |
| 2008 | The List | TBA | completed |
| Incendiary | Young Mother | completed | |
| Synecdoche, New York | TBA | post-production | |
| Mammoth | TBA | filming | |
| 2009 | Shutter Island | Dolores Chanal | pre-production |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Brokeback Mountain | |
|---|---|
| Short story · Soundtrack · Critical reception · Annie Proulx · Focus Features | |
| Crew: | Ang Lee (director) · Diana Ossana (producer) · James Schamus (producer) · Larry McMurtry (screenwriter) |
| Cast: | Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar · Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist Anne Hathaway as Lureen Newsome Twist · Michelle Williams as Alma Linda Cardellini as Cassie Cartwright · Randy Quaid as Joe Aguirre |
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