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Melanie Griffith
Melanie Griffith at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000
Born	(1957-08-09) August 9, 1957 (age 67) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1969–present
Height	5 '
Spouse(s)	Don Johnson (1981; 1989-1996, divorced) Steven Bauer (1982-1987, divorced) Antonio Banderas (1996-present)
Children	Alexander Bauer Dakota Johnson Stella Banderas
Parent(s)	Peter Griffith (deceased) Tippi Hedren
Relatives	Tracy Griffith (half-sister) Clay A. Griffith (half-brother)

Melanie Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for her performance in the film Working Girl (1988). She is the daughter of actress Tippi Hedren, and the wife of actor Antonio Banderas.

Early life

Griffith was born in New York City to actress Tippi Hedren and producer, former actor, and advertising executive Peter Griffith. Her parents divorced when she was four years old, after which her father married model/actress Nanita Greene and had two more children: actress Tracy Griffith and set designer Clay A. Griffith. Her mother married agent and producer Noel Marshall, and Griffith grew up with three stepbrothers. During her childhood and adolescent years, she divided her time between living in New York with her father and in Antelope Valley, California, where her mother formed the animal preserve Shambala. She also skipped a grade and graduated from Hollywood Professional School when she was 16 years old.

Career

Griffith began work at just nine months old in a commercial and made her film debut as an extra in Smith! (1969). Her first credited roles were in Smile, The Drowning Pool, and Night Moves (all 1975), in which she did racy nude scenes at age 17. She also had a supporting role in the made-for-television movie Steel Cowboy (1978).

After many years in the business, in 1984 Griffith was cast in her first major role as a porn actress in the Brian De Palma thriller Body Double. The film, although a commercial failure, earned her the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress, and led to her first leading role in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild (1986), which became a cult favorite. Griffith also starred in the cult science fiction film Cherry 2000, which went straight to video in 1988. She achieved mainstream success when Mike Nichols cast her as spunky secretary Tess McGill in the hit 1988 film Working Girl. Griffith's performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and won her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

Griffith's next starring role was in the urban thriller Pacific Heights (1990) with Matthew Modine. She worked continuously in mainstream films throughout the 1990s, starring in features such as The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), A Stranger Among Us (1992), Born Yesterday (1993), Milk Money (1994), Now and Then (1995), and Two Much (1996), where she co-starred with future husband Antonio Banderas. Griffith received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the successful TV movie Buffalo Girls (1995), alongside Anjelica Huston. In 1998 she appeared in Woody Allen's Celebrity with Kenneth Branagh and Leonardo DiCaprio. Later that year, she starred as a free-spirited heroin user in Another Day in Paradise (1998), a performance that some critics wrote was the best of her career.

In 1999, Griffith starred in Crazy in Alabama, a film that was directed by Banderas and produced by Greenmoon Productions, the company that she and Banderas formed together. In the film, Griffith played an eccentric woman who kills her husband and heads to Hollywood to become a movie star. Also in 1999, Griffith made her stage debut at the Old Vic in London, England, where she acted with Cate Blanchett in The Vagina Monologues. In the HBO film RKO 281, she played actress Marion Davies, and received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal. Griffith's career cooled down in the early 2000s following her last major roles to date in the independent films Cecil B. Demented and Forever Lulu (aka Along for the Ride). In 2002, she voiced the character of Margalo the bird in Stuart Little 2. Since then, her appearances in films have been very infrequent and low-profile.

In 2003, Griffith made her Broadway debut playing Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago. Untrained in song and dance, she still impressed New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley, who wrote: "Ms. Griffith is a sensational Roxie, possibly the most convincing I have seen" and " vultures who were expecting to see Ms. Griffith stumble...will have to look elsewhere". Griffith's celebratory reviews made it a box office success. She returned to the stage in 2012 in a play that Scott Caan wrote titled "No Way Around but Through."

Griffith starred on the short-lived WB sitcom Twins (2005–06). Her career continued to suffer when her 2007 series Viva Laughlin was canceled after two episodes, and her 2012 television pilot This American Housewife (produced by Banderas) was not picked up by Lifetime. In the interim, Griffith guest-starred on Nip/Tuck and Hot in Cleveland. In January 2012, Griffith was cast in the comedy film The Hot Flashes with her real-life friends Daryl Hannah (who also appeared with her in Two Much) and Brooke Shields. Filming began on February 23, but just five days later, Griffith pulled out of the production due to "creative differences."

Philanthropy

Griffith supports the efforts of Children's Hospital Los Angeles helping to lead Walk for Kids, a community 5k, to raise funds as part of the hospital's community awareness efforts in support of the opening of a new state-of-the-art pediatric inpatient facility. Griffith also participated in the hospital's 2012 Noche de Niños gala as a presenter of a Courage to Care Award.

Personal life

At age 14, Griffith began dating her mother's 22-year-old Harrad Experiment co-star, Don Johnson. The relationship culminated in a six-month marriage in 1976. Tatum O'Neal has alleged in her 2004 autobiography that around that time, she (then 12) and Griffith (then 18) had a sexual encounter in a Paris hotel room while high on opium and hashish.

In May 1982, Griffith married Steven Bauer, her co-star from the TV film She's in the Army Now. They have a son, Alexander, born on August 22, 1985. The couple divorced in 1987. Griffith later admitted to having problems with cocaine and liquor after her divorce from Bauer. "What I did was drink myself to sleep at night," she said. "If I wasn't with someone, I was an unhappy girl."

She checked into rehab in 1988. After becoming sober, she reunited with Johnson and remarried him in June 1989 when she was already five months pregnant. Their daughter, Dakota Johnson, was born on October 4, 1989. They separated in March 1994, reconciled later that year, but separated again in May 1995.

Griffith and Antonio Banderas began a relationship in May 1995 when they started filming Two Much. At that time, Banderas was married to Ana Leza. After their respective divorces were finalized, the couple married on May 14, 1996. Their daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas Griffith, was born on September 24, 1996. In 2000, Griffith had her husband's first name "Antonio" encircled in a heart tattooed on her right shoulder. In 2002, the couple received the Stella Adler Angel Award for their extensive charity work.

Her father, Peter Griffith, died at age 67 on May 14, 2001.

Griffith returned to rehab in 2000 for a painkiller addiction. In August 2009, she returned to rehab again for what her publicist called "part of a routine plan." She emerged after a three-month stay and underwent surgery for skin cancer in December of that year.

Discussing Griffith’s treatment in rehab, Banderas said in April 2010, “The whole family took part, Stella included. I was there three times a week at a stretch, and we participated in group therapy with our daughter. It strengthened our relationship in many ways. We participated very directly, all of us." Griffith’s son Alexander and daughter Dakota were there, as was her former stepson, Jesse Johnson, and Griffith's mother, Tippi Hedren.

Filmography

References

1. Melanie Griffith Biography (1957-) Film Reference.com
2. Ancestry of Melanie Griffith Warg.com
3. Alumni Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts web site
4. ^ Melanie Griffith biography
5. Clark, Graeme. "Something Wild". Retrieved July 26, 2012.
6. Bio Yahoo Movies
7. "The Vagina Monologues in Madrid". April 15, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
8. "Melanie Griffith Emmy Nominated". Emmys.com. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
9. "Ben Brantley". The New York Times.
10. "B.O. rises; 'Chi' SRO Broadway Grosses". Variety.com. 2003-08-17. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
11. Bubbly B.O. perf. (Analysis).(Melanie Griffith stars in "Chicago")(Brief Article)
12. Pogrebin, Robin (September 18, 2003). "A Long Shot In 'Chicago' Pays Off; For Melanie Griffith, Last Laugh Is Sweet". The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
13. ^ The Sunday Conversation: Melanie Griffith returns to the stage
14. "Melanie Griffith in viva laughlin". accesshollywood.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
15. Schneider, Michael (October 22, 2007). "CBS cancels 'Viva Laughlin'". variety.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
16. Melanie Griffith - Melanie Griffith Quits New Comedy Over 'Creative Differences'. Contactmusic.com February 29, 2012.
17. ^ Chin, Paula (1994-06-20). "Not So Magic Johnson - Marriage, Substance Abuse, Coping and Overcoming Illness, Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith". People.com. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
18. O'Neal, Tatum (2004). A Paper Life. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-054097-4.
19. "Melanie Griffith - Tatum O'neal Corrupted By Griffith" 13 October 2004, Contactmusic.com
20. "Think you recognize that young Steve Bauer". The Palm Beach Post. October 26, 1984.
21. "Not So Magic Johnson" June 20, 1994, Vol. 41, No. 23, People
22. "Oh, Stop It Already!". People.com. 1995-09-11. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
23. "Winning a Tony". People.com. 1995-06-19. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
24. "'Much' a Deux". Entertainment Weekly. February 23, 1996.
25. "Melanie and Antonio: How the 'Working Girl' fell for Spain's sexiest import". Hello (magazine). 20 May 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
26. "More trouble than you'd ink". BBC News. November 28, 2000.
27. "Antonio And Melanie Receive Hollywood Charity Award". Hellomagazine.com. 2002-06-04. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
28. "NewsLibrary.com - newspaper archive, clipping service - newspapers and other news sources". Nl.newsbank.com. 2001-05-17. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
29. "Melanie Griffith back in rehab". Inquisitr.com. 2009-08-25. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
30. "Melanie Griffith: Return to Rehab Was Planned" interview, August 26, 2009, Parade
31. "Melanie Griffith has skin cancer surgery". CNN. December 18, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
32. "Melanie Griffith’s Marriage Strengthened By Rehab Stay" April 19, 2010, Inquisitr.com

External links

• Melanie Griffith at IMDb
• Melanie Griffith at the Internet Broadway Database
• Template:Amg name
• Template:Ymovies name
• Griffin's weblog
• Melanie Griffith at Emmys.com

Template:Persondata

• 1957 births
• Actresses from New York City
• American bloggers
• American child actresses
• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
• Living people
• People from Manhattan
• People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
• Skin cancer survivors
• Stella Adler Studio of Acting alumni
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses