American actress Michelle Williams' first screen appearance was at age thirteen in a 1993 episode of the television series Baywatch , and she made her film debut as the love interest of a teenage boy in Lassie (1994). [1] [2] She had guest roles in the sitcoms Step by Step and Home Improvement , and played the younger version of Natasha Henstridge's character in the science fiction film Species (1995). [3] [4] Greater success came to Williams when played the sexually troubled teenager Jen Lindley in the teen drama series Dawson's Creek (1998–2003). [1] [3] In 1999, she made her stage debut with the Tracy Letts-written play Killer Joe . [1]
In the 2000s, Williams eschewed parts in big-budget films in favor of roles with darker themes in independent productions such as Me Without You (2001) and The Station Agent (2003). [5] [6] Despite positive reviews, these films were not widely seen. [7] [8] This changed in 2005 when Williams played the neglected wife of Heath Ledger's character in Brokeback Mountain , a drama about star-crossed gay lovers, which became a critical and commercial success; Williams gained a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. [9] [10] [11] Her career did not progress much in the next few years, but Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), in which she starred as a drifter searching for her missing dog, was critically acclaimed. [7] [8] [12] Martin Scorsese's thriller Shutter Island (2010), starring Leonardo DiCaprio, in which Williams had a supporting part, became her most widely seen film to that point. [8] [11]
Williams received two consecutive Oscar nominations for Best Actress for starring as an unhappily married woman in Blue Valentine (2010) and Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn (2011); she also won a Golden Globe Award for the latter. [13] [14] [15] She next played Glinda in the commercially successful fantasy feature Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). [16] [17] On Broadway, she played Sally Bowles in a revival of the musical Cabaret in 2014, and a sexual abuse survivor in a revival of the play Blackbird in 2016. [18] For the latter, she gained a Tony Award for Best Actress nomination. [19] She earned another Academy Award nomination for playing a grieving mother in Manchester by the Sea (2016). [20] The 2017 musical The Greatest Showman and the 2018 superhero film Venom emerged as two of her highest-grossing releases. [8] [21] She returned to television in 2019 to portray Gwen Verdon opposite Sam Rockwell's Bob Fosse in the FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon , winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress. [22] [23] Williams received her fifth Oscar nomination for starring as a troubled mother in Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical drama The Fabelmans (2022). [24]
† | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
† | Denotes series that have not yet been aired |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Baywatch | Bridget | Episode: "Race Against Time: Part 1" | [66] |
1994 | Step by Step | J.J. | Episode: "Something Wild" | [67] |
1995 | Home Improvement | Jessica Lutz | Episode: "Wilson's Girlfriend" | [68] |
Raising Caines | Trish Caines | Main role; season 1 | [69] | |
1996 | My Son Is Innocent | Donna Winston | Television film | [70] |
1997 | Killing Mr. Griffin | Maya | [71] | |
1998–2003 | Dawson's Creek | Jen Lindley | Main role; 6 seasons | [72] |
2000 | If These Walls Could Talk 2 | Linda | Television film | [73] |
2013 | Cougar Town | Laurie's foster sister | Episode: "Blue Sunday" | [74] [75] |
2019 | Fosse/Verdon | Gwen Verdon | Miniseries; also executive producer | [76] |
TBA | Dying for Sex † | Molly | Upcoming miniseries | [77] |
Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | Killer Joe | Dottie | SoHo Playhouse | [78] |
2002 | Smelling a Rat | Melanie-Jane | Samuel Beckett Theatre | [79] |
2004 | The Cherry Orchard | Varya | Williamstown Theatre Festival | [80] |
2014 | Cabaret | Sally Bowles | Studio 54 | [81] |
2016 | Blackbird | Una Spencer | Belasco Theatre | [82] |
Year | Title | Role | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | The Woman in Me | Narrator | [83] |
Year | Title | Performer(s) | Album | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | "Paradise" | Wild Nothing | Nocturne | [84] |
Soundtrack | Year | Song | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
My Week with Marilyn | 2011 | "When Love Goes Wrong, Nothin' Goes Right / Heat Wave" | Sony Music | [85] |
"It's a Wrap, I Found a Dream" | ||||
"That Old Black Magic" | ||||
The Greatest Showman | 2017 | "A Million Dreams" | Atlantic Records | [86] |
"Tightrope" | ||||
Fosse/Verdon | 2019 | "Razzle Dazzle" | [87] |
Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity, and Roxie Hart in Chicago.
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Roy Scheider. The screenplay, by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse, is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as a dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago. It borrows its title from the Kander and Ebb tune "All That Jazz" in that production.
Robert Louis Fosse was an American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and stage director. Known for his work on stage and screen, he is arguably the most influential figure in the field of jazz dance in the twentieth century. He received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Tony Awards, and the Palme d'Or.
Rachel Hannah Weisz is an English actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received several awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award.
Julie Anne Smith, known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, and for her roles in blockbusters. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Emmy Awards. In 2015, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2020, The New York Times named her one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and raised in Los Angeles, she began playing Jackie Burkhart on the Fox television series That '70s Show (1998–2006) at age 15. She has voiced Meg Griffin on the Fox animated series Family Guy since 1999.
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Her films have grossed over $6.8 billion worldwide, and she appeared on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2009. She was among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2015.
Michelle Ingrid Williams is an American actress. Known primarily for starring in small-scale independent films with dark or tragic themes, she has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for five Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
Sam Rockwell is an American actor. He is known for playing distressed police officer Jason Dixon in Martin McDonagh’s crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated in the same category the following year for portraying George W. Bush in Adam McKay's political satire Vice (2018). In 2019, he portrayed Bob Fosse in the FX biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon, earning a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award, and in 2022, he received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo.
Ann Reinking was an American dancer, actress, choreographer, and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as Coco (1969), Over Here! (1974), Goodtime Charley (1975), Chicago (1977), Dancin' (1978), and Sweet Charity (1986).
Saoirse Una Ronan is an American-born Irish actress. Primarily known for her work in period dramas since adolescence, she has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards and five British Academy Film Awards.
Sweet Charity is a 1969 American musical comedy-drama film directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse in his film directorial debut. It is adapted by Peter Stone from the 1966 stage musical of the same name – also directed and choreographed by Fosse – in turn based on the 1957 Federico Fellini film Nights of Cabiria.
Jessica Michelle Chastain is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in projects with feminist themes, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.
Margot Elise Robbie is an Australian actress and producer. Her work includes both blockbuster and independent films, and her accolades include nominations for three Academy Awards, six BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017, and Forbes named her the world's highest-paid actress in 2023.
Taylor Jane Schilling is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Piper Chapman on the Netflix original comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Television Series Drama. She made her film debut in the 2007 drama Dark Matter. She also starred as Nurse Veronica Flanagan Callahan in the short-lived NBC medical drama Mercy (2009–2010). Her other films include Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011), the romantic drama The Lucky One (2012), the comedy Take Me (2017), and the science-fiction thriller The Titan (2018).
Thomas Kail is an American theatre and television director, known for directing the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, garnering the 2016 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the latter. Kail was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018. He has also directed the television series Fosse/Verdon (2019), for which he was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Nicole Fosse is an American actress and dancer. She is the only daughter of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse.
Fosse/Verdon is a 2019 American biographical drama miniseries, developed by Steven Levenson and Thomas Kail. Based on the biography Fosse by Sam Wasson, the series charts the troubled marriage and professional relationship of director/choreographer Bob Fosse and actress/dancer Gwen Verdon, played by Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams respectively. Norbert Leo Butz and Margaret Qualley are also featured as Paddy Chayefsky and Ann Reinking, respectively.