Melanie Griffith

Acting • Born 1957-08-09

Acting4Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Biography

Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in New York City to actress Tippi Hedren and advertising executive Peter Griffith, she was raised mainly in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the Hollywood Professional School at age 16. In 1975, a then 17-year-old Griffith appeared opposite Gene Hackman in Arthur Penn's film noir Night Moves. She later rose to prominence for her role portraying a pornographic actress in Brian De Palma's thriller Body Double (1984), which earned her a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Griffith's subsequent performance in the comedy Something Wild (1986) garnered critical acclaim before she was cast in 1988's Working Girl, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her a Golden Globe. The 1990s had Griffith in a series of roles that received varying critical reception; she received Golden Globe nominations for her performances in Buffalo Girls (1995), and as Marion Davies in RKO 281 (1999), while also earning a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performances in Shining Through (1992), as well as receiving nominations for Crazy in Alabama (1999) and John Waters' cult film Cecil B. Demented (2000). Other credits include John Schlesinger's Pacific Heights (1990), Milk Money (1994), the neo-noir film Mulholland Falls (1996), as Charlotte Haze in Adrian Lyne's Lolita (1997), and Another Day in Paradise (1998). She later starred as Barbara Marx in The Night We Called It a Day (2003), and spent the majority of the 2000s appearing on such television series as Nip/Tuck, Raising Hope, and Hawaii Five-0. After acting on stage in London, in 2003, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of the musical Chicago, receiving celebratory reviews. In the 2010s, Griffith returned to film, starring opposite then-husband Antonio Banderas in the science-fiction film Autómata (2014) and as an acting coach in James Franco's The Disaster Artist (2017).

Filmography

109 credits

Smile

Movie • 1975

Karen

Working Girl

Movie • 1988

Tess McGill

Roar

Movie • 1981

Melanie

Pacific Heights

Movie • 1990

Patty Palmer

The Harrad Experiment

Movie • 1973

Student (uncredited)

Mulholland Falls

Movie • 1996

Katherine Hoover

Stuart Little 2

Movie • 2002

Margalo (voice)

Something Wild

Movie • 1986

Audrey Hankel

Nobody's Fool

Movie • 1994

Toby Roebuck

Body Double

Movie • 1984

Holly Body

Crazy in Alabama

Movie • 1999

Lucille Vinson

Shining Through

Movie • 1992

Linda Voss

Night Moves

Movie • 1975

Delilah "Delly" Grastner

Stormy Monday

Movie • 1988

Kate

Milk Money

Movie • 1994

Celebrity

Movie • 1998

Nicole Oliver

The Drowning Pool

Movie • 1975

Schuyler

Now and Then

Movie • 1995

Teeny

Lolita

Movie • 1997

Charlotte Haze

The Bonfire of the Vanities

Movie • 1990

Maria Ruskin

The Milagro Beanfield War

Movie • 1988

Flossie Devine

Another Day in Paradise

Movie • 1998

Sid

Cecil B. Demented

Movie • 2000

Honey Whitlock

A Stranger Among Us

Movie • 1992

Emily Eden

Shade

Movie • 2003

Eve

The Night We Called It a Day

Movie • 2003

Barbara Marx

Cherry 2000

Movie • 1987

Edith 'E.' Johnson

Born Yesterday

Movie • 1993

Billie Dawn

Two Much

Movie • 1995

Betty

Tempo

Movie • 2003

Sarah

Forever Lulu

Movie • 2000

Lulu Mcafee

Fear City

Movie • 1984

Loretta

Paradise

Movie • 1991

Lily Reed

A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures

Movie • 2010

Snow (voice)

RKO 281

Movie • 1999

Marion Davies

Light Keeps Me Company

Movie • 2000

Self

Yellow

Movie • 2012

Patsy

Buffalo Girls

Movie • 1995

Dora DuFran

Shadow of Doubt

Movie • 1998

Kitt Devereux

Joyride

Movie • 1977

Susie

Dino Time

Movie • 2012

Tyra (voice)

In the Spirit

Movie • 1990

Lureen

The Garden

Movie • 1977

Young Girl

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

Movie • 2013

Kristin

The Grief Tourist

Movie • 2013

Betsy

Women and Men: Stories of Seduction

Movie • 1990

Hadley

Howard

Movie • 2018

Karen (archive footage)

Happy to Be Nappy and Other Stories of Me

Movie • 2004

Self (voice)

One on One

Movie • 1977

The Hitchhiker

Automata

Movie • 2014

Dr. Susan Dupré / Cleo (voice)

A Night to Die For

Movie • 1995

Self

Underground Aces

Movie • 1981

Lucy

Daddy, I Don't Like It Like This

Movie • 1978

Girl in Hotel Room

Steel Cowboy

Movie • 1978

Johnnie

Day Out of Days

Movie • 2015

Kathy

Lethal Seduction

Movie • 2005

Miranda Wells

Smith!

Movie • 1969

Extra (uncredited)

The Pirates of Somalia

Movie • 2017

Maria Bahadur

The Disaster Artist

Movie • 2017

Jean Shelton

J.L. Family Ranch

Movie • 2016

Laura Lee

The Book That Wrote Itself

Movie • 2000

Melanie Griffith

The Cheryl Ladd Special

Movie • 1979

Ellie - Waitress

Tart

Movie • 2001

Diane Milford

She's in the Army Now

Movie • 1981

Pvt. Sylvie Knoll

The Star Maker

Movie • 1981

Dawn Barnett Youngblood

Nerd Herd

Movie • 2015

Celeste

Golden Gate

Movie • 1981

Karen

Searching for Debra Winger

Movie • 2002

Self

Roar: The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made

Movie • 2017

Self (archive footage)

The High Note

Movie • 2020

Tess

By Design

Movie • 2026

Narrator (voice)

Back to the Jurassic

Movie • 2015

Tyra

The Grand Opening of Euro Disneyland

Movie • 1992

Self - Host (US)

The Little Pageant That Could

Movie • 2024

Self (archive footage)

Thirst

Movie • 2014

Sue