Michelle Williams is an actress, Hollywood star, Golden Globe winner and multiple Oscar nominee. She has about fifty roles in films and TV shows. Very often Michelle plays women with a difficult fate, going through tragic events or a serious crisis. By coincidence, in the life of the actress herself, there was also a place for drama and the pain of irreparable loss.
Biography: childhood and early career
Michelle Ingrid Williams has Norwegian roots. She was born on September 9, 1980. The family lived in Kalispell, Montana. My mother was engaged in housekeeping, my father traded on the stock exchange. The future actress grew up surrounded by her three paternal half-brothers and her younger sister Paige. Remembering her childhood, she always emphasized a close relationship with her father Larry Williams, who taught her shooting and fishing, instilled a love of reading, and devoted her to the intricacies of stock trading. The head of the family was a very versatile person. He tried his hand at politics: in 1978 and 1982 he ran for the US Senate from the Republican Party. Larry Williams is also known as the winner of the World Championship in Futures Trading with a record profit of 11,300% in 12 months. He won in 1987, and 9 years later, young Michelle repeated his success and became the first woman to win this competition.
In 1989, the family moved to San Diego, California. Michelle found it difficult to get used to the new environment, feeling lonely and lost. She found unexpected consolation in the acting profession. After evaluating their daughter's performance in an amateur production of the musical "Annie", her parents took her to an audition in Los Angeles. Michelle began to play small roles in the series:
- "Malibu safeguards";
- "Lassie";
- "Step by step";
- "Big renovation".
The career of an actress took up more and more time. Williams studied at Santa Fe Christian School until the ninth grade, but felt extremely uncomfortable there. With the approval of her parents, she switched to home schooling. At the age of 15, the girl received a legal exemption from her parents, which allowed her to work on an equal basis with adults. To do this, Michelle had to go through a three-year high school curriculum in 9 months. She later said that she regretted missing out on her education. But at that moment, Williams was finally able to focus on her acting career. First of all, she moved to Los Angeles. She starred in low-budget films, TV series, commercials.
Creativity: the path to success and star roles
The high point for the aspiring actress was the youth series Dawson's Creek, in which she played six seasons from 1998 to 2003. This job provided Michelle with financial stability, so in her free time she preferred roles in independent films. In 1999 Williams tries his hand at the theater stage. In 2000, she appears in the provocative role of a lesbian in the TV movie If Walls Could Talk 2. At the beginning of the 2000s, Michelle gets interesting roles one after another:
- "With and Without You" (2001);
- Prozac Nation (2001);
- Stationmaster (2003);
- "Land of Plenty" (2004).
The actress is increasingly praised by critics, she has the first nominations for well-known film awards. But for the full and unconditional recognition of the public, there is not enough a role in a major Hollywood film that the whole world will talk about. Such a picture for Williams was the sensational drama Brokeback Mountain, which tells about the love of two men. Michelle played the wife of one of the main characters, who is seriously experiencing her husband's betrayal and homosexuality. For this role, she received her first Academy Award nomination, and Brokeback Mountain won three Academy Awards.
In the status of a young Hollywood star, Williams began to be a little more demanding in her choice of roles. The most discussed projects of the actress of the late 2000s:
- “I’m not there” (2007);
- "Contact List" (2008);
- Wendy and Lucy (2008);
- Mammoth (2009);
- "Island of the Damned" (2010).
In these films, Michelle's partners on the set were Evan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Gael Garcia Bernal, Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2008, she temporarily suspended her career due to a tragedy in her personal life. But the director of the movie "Valentine" was patiently waiting for her recovery, because he did not see anyone else in the role of Cindy, the main female character. The plot of the picture told about a family crisis experienced by a young married couple. The on-screen duo of Williams and Ryan Gosling played brightly and convincingly, for which both actors received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations in 2010.
Michelle Williams' top-grossing and popular films are undoubtedly worth adding to the dramatic western "Mika's Walk" (2010), for which she specially trained in shooting and knitting. The long-awaited Golden Globe was given to the actress in 2011 for her role as Marilyn Monroe in 7 Days and Nights with Marilyn. And although Michelle looked little like a sex symbol of the past, she did a great job on herself for the role.
Williams gained a new experience thanks to the role of the good witch Glinda in the fabulous film "Oz: The Great and Terrible" in 2013. Wanting to focus on mothering, the actress accepted an invitation to perform on Broadway. In 2014, she appeared on the stage as Sally Bowles in the acclaimed musical Cabaret. Before the premiere, Michelle rehearsed for a long time with music and dance teachers. In 2016, she starred in a production of Blackbird opposite Jeff Daniels. Williams won a Tony Theater Award for her role as a woman survivor of teenage sexual abuse.
The return to the big screen took place in 2016. Two films with the participation of the actress were released at once: "Several Women" and "Manchester by the Sea". The latter brought her her fourth Oscar nomination. Michelle Williams' newest films:
- A World Full of Wonders (2017);
- All the money in the world (2017);
- The Greatest Showman (2017);
- Venom (2018);
- "Pretty Woman for the Whole Head" (2018).
Personal life
On the set of Brokeback Mountain, Michelle began an affair with the leading actor, Australian actor Heath Ledger. In October 2005, they had a daughter, Matilda Rose. Two years later, the couple announced their separation. Just a few months later, Heath died from lethal intoxication. Michelle was very upset by the death of her daughter's father, attending the funeral and memorial service took a lot of her energy. She took a break from her career to recover a little.
Further, the actress had short-term affairs with actor Jason Siegel and financier Andrew Yumanse. She always spoke extremely little and reluctantly about her personal life, she has no accounts on social networks. However, in 2018, Michelle made an exception for Vanity Fair magazine, announcing her wedding to musician Phil Elverum. The actress's husband is a widower; he single-handedly raised his little daughter after the death of his first wife. The new family settled in Williams' apartment in New York. The fans were sincerely happy for the actress and wished her great happiness, which she deserved like no other.
