Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeifferis an American actress and occasional singer. She began her acting career in 1978 and had her first starring film role in Grease 2, before receiving mainstream attention for her breakout performance in Scarface. Her greatest commercial successes include Batman Returns, Dangerous Minds, What Lies Beneathand Hairspray...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth29 April 1958
CitySanta Ana, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I like understanding what's underneath, what's really motivating people. When I was younger, I wanted to be a psychiatrist, so I think it has to do with that.
My grandmother raised five children during the Depression by herself. At 50, she threw her sewing machine into the back of a pickup truck and drove from North Dakota to California. She was a real survivor, so that's my stock. That's how I want my kids to be too.
The value of a good education has never left me.
I don't believe men want women to have grotesque plastic surgery or be undernourished and bony. All the plastic surgery in the world can't stop you getting older.
I don't know if it's naivete or just narcissism, but I start out with this notion that I can do anything. It's not until I get into it that I realize what I've thrown myself into, and then I will do anything not to humiliate myself. And that, I think, is the secret to my success.
There's always an imbalance with actors and actresses in the industry. And I think because there are just fewer movies overall being made, it's that trickle down effect.
If you're working on something that isn't very demanding, isn't very fulfilling, then you have all this energy to burn, and you can go crazy.
Love humiliates you. Hatred cradles you.
Ultimately, I believe the only secret to a happy marriage is choosing the right person. Life is a series of choices, right?
Acting's an odd profession for a young person; it's so extreme. You work, and the conditions are tough and the process is so immersive, and then it stops, and then there's nothing. So you have to find ways of making you feel productive when you're not actually producing anything. For a young person, that's really challenging.
There are certain scenes you do in a movie that are like catching a wave, and you leave work feeling elated - almost as though you've purged something. That's rare, but you do live for those moments.
I look like a duck. It's the way my mouth curls up, or my nose tilts up. I should have played Howard the Duck.
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.
I'm afraid to be alone, I'm afraid not to be alone. I'm afraid of what I am, what I'm not, what I might become, what I might never become. I don't want to stay at my job for the rest of my life, but I'm afraid to leave. And I'm just tired, you know? I'm just so tired of being afraid.