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Melanie Griffith

Acting

Born August 9, 1957 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Also known as Melanie Richards Griffith

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).

Awards & recognition

  • Golden Raspberry AwardWorst Supporting Actress · 1996
  • Golden Raspberry AwardWorst Actress · 1992
  • Golden Globe AwardBest Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy · 1988
  • National Society of Film Critics AwardBest Supporting Actress · 1984
  • Golden Globe Ambassador · 1975
Show all 8 awards →
  • Golden Raspberry AwardWorst Actress · 1991 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1989 · nominated
  • National Society of Film Critics AwardBest Supporting Actress · 1984 · nominated

Filmography50+ titles

The Kardashians

2022as Self

The Simpsons

1989as Melanie Griffith (voice)

Light Keeps Me Company

2000as Self

Hawaii Five-0

2010as Clara Williams

Hollywood Squares

1998as Self - Panelist

Twins

as Lee Arnold

Miami Vice

1984as Christine von Marburg

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962as Self

Raising Hope

2010as Tamara Collins

Keeping Up with the Kardashians

2007as Self

Starsky & Hutch

1975as Julie

Hot in Cleveland

2010as Melanie Griffith

Nip/Tuck

2003as Brandie Henry

The Disaster Artist

2017as Jean Shelton

Lolita

1997as Charlotte Haze

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries

1977

The High Note

2020as Tess

Roar: The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made

2017as Self (archive footage)

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film

2013as Kristin

The Book That Wrote Itself

2000as Melanie Griffith

The Pirates of Somalia

2017as Maria Bahadur

Now and Then

1995as Teeny

Nobody's Fool

1994as Toby Roebuck

Saturday Night Live

1975as Self - Cameo (uncredited)

Howard

2018as Karen (archive footage)

Body Double

1984as Holly Body

Night Moves

1975as Delilah "Delly" Grastner

Working Girl

1988as Tess McGill

The Milagro Beanfield War

1988as Flossie Devine

Something Wild

1986as Audrey Hankel

RKO 281

1999as Marion Davies

Buffalo Girls

1995as Dora DuFran

Shining Through

1992as Linda Voss

Cecil B. Demented

2000as Honey Whitlock

Milk Money

1994as V

Pacific Heights

1990as Patty Palmer

The Drowning Pool

1975as Schuyler

Shade

2003as Eve

Another Day in Paradise

1998as Sid

Paradise

1991as Lily Reed

A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures

2010as Snow (voice)

J.L. Family Ranch

2016as Laura Lee

Crazy in Alabama

1999as Lucille Vinson

Celebrity

1998as Nicole Oliver

Mulholland Falls

1996as Katherine Hoover

Cherry 2000

1987as Edith 'E.' Johnson

Automata

2014as Dr. Susan Dupré / Cleo (voice)

One on One

1977as The Hitchhiker

Smith!

1969as Extra (uncredited)

By Design

2025as Narrator (voice)