Birthdate: April 29, 1958

Birthplace: Santa Ana, California

Michelle Pfeiffer was born on April 29, 1958 in Santa Ana, CA. Her father, Dick, was a heating and air conditioning contractor, and her mother, Donna, a housewife. Michelle is the second of four children, and has an older brother, Rick and two younger sisters, Dedee and Lori.

As a child, No one seemed to see her acting potential when she was young. She was a rebellious little girl, and by her own admissions, strong willed, stubborn and dramatic.

Although born in Santa Ana, the family soon moved to Midway City, where Michelle would graduate from Fountain Valley High School in 1976. She spent a year at Golden West College studying court reporting, and did a stint as a supermarket checker at Vons, a large Southern California grocery chain.

She had heard that talent scouts were often judges at beauty pagents, so she promptly entered, and won, the Miss Orange County beauty pagent of 1978. She lost the Miss Los Angeles title, but won the agent she had been seeking. Her first role was a one line walk on for the tv show "Fantasy Island". TV commercials and more bit parts would follow.

The public at large first took notice of Michelle in the 1982 film GREASE II, sequel to the 1978 mega-blockbuster GREASE. But with a weak script and lack of big names, the film quickly bombed. Agent Ed Limato, now the vice-chairman of ICM met Pfeiffer through another agent when both were with the William Morris Agency. Their meeting was brief, as Limato was on the phone at the time, and the two did little more than wave to one another. The following week a casting director told Limato that she was looking for a fresh face to play Al Pacino's drug-addicted wife in Brian DePalma's SCARFACE. He didn't represent Pfeiffer, but told the casting director he had just the actress she was looking for.

For the next few years she worked steadily, she starred in the offbeat comedy MARRIED TO THE MOB and received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for the her portrayal of Madame De Tourvel in DANGEROUS LIAISONS. She followed that in 1989 with her second Oscar nomination, as best actress, for her work as lounge singer Suzie Diamond in THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS. (In 1992 she was nominated a third time for the little seen film LOVE FIELD.)

Michelle Pfeiffer has come a long way since working the supermarket check out lines in El Toro, California. But those days are still clear in her mind. "When I was a boxgirl, all I wanted was to be a checker," she recalls dreamily. "When I became a checker, the only other move was to be a store manager."

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