Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald
Ringwald in Greece
Born	Molly Kathleen Ringwald (1968-02-18) February 18, 1968 Roseville, California, United States
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer, writer
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Valery Lameignère (m. 1999; div. 2002) Panio Gianopoulos (m. 2007)
Children	3

Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her first major role was in The Facts of Life (1979–80) before making her motion picture debut in the independent film Tempest (1982) that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. After subsequently appearing in the successful John Hughes films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986), Ringwald became a teen icon. She later starred in The Pick-up Artist (1987), and For Keeps (1988). She starred in many films in the 1990s, most notably Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story (1992) and The Stand (1994). Ringwald is part of the "Brat Pack" and she was ranked number 1 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars. She has played Anne Juergens in the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager and released her debut album Except Sometimes in early 2013.

Early life

Ringwald was born in Roseville, California, just outside Sacramento, the daughter of Adele Edith (née Frembd), a housewife and chef, and Robert Scott "Bob" Ringwald, a blind jazz pianist. Ringwald has two siblings, Beth and Kelly, and an older brother who died before she was born. She started her acting career at age five, appearing in a stage production of Alice Through the Looking Glass as the Dormouse. The next year, she recorded "I Wanna Be Loved by You", a music album of Dixieland jazz with her father and his group, the Fulton Street Jazz Band.

Life and career

1978–83: Career beginnings

In 1978, at the age of 10, Ringwald was chosen to play Kate in the West Coast production of Annie, performing in Los Angeles.

In 1979, Ringwald appeared in the TV series Diff'rent Strokes and was selected to become part of a very large cast of the spin-off Facts of Life. She played Molly Parker, a perky, feminist student at Eastland Girls School. At the beginning of the second season, the show underwent a major revamp and most of the cast, including Ringwald, were fired. Ringwald later said that Nancy McKeon replaced her to play a new character named Jo.

In 1980, Ringwald performed as a lead vocalist on two Disney albums. On the patriotic album Yankee Doodle Mickey, Ringwald sang "This Is My Country", "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America". She later performed one track on a Disney Christmas album. Turning toward motion pictures, she was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her role in the 1982 film Tempest.

1984–89: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, and early success

Ringwald rose to prominence with her breakout role in Sixteen Candles (1984). She was cast as Samantha Baker, a girl whose sixteenth birthday is forgotten. Ringwald's performance gained critical acclaim; many called her acting engaging. Ringwald would later say, "It is not a good idea to do remakes of great classic films" when asked if there would be a remake to Sixteen Candles. Ringwald was regarded as a member of the so-called Brat Pack of 1980s teen actors but has said she was not really part of that group. Ringwald gained more success when she was cast in another John Hughes film called The Breakfast Club (1985) which was a commercial and critical success. Ringwald was cast as Claire Standish, a spoiled rich, so-called-sophisticate who is in detention for skipping class. Ringwald's performance gained strong reviews.

The following year she was cast as Andie Walsh in another successful Hughes film called Pretty In Pink (1986). Ringwald's role as Andie went on to become one of her most recognizable performances. When first asked to be in Pretty in Pink, Ringwald was reluctant, but after seeing how hard it was for the producers to find a replacement for her, she decided she would portray Andie in the film. Ringwald was offered a role in another John Hughes film called Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) but she turned down the role as she felt it was too similar to her other films she worked on with Hughes. After Pretty In Pink, Ringwald planned to star in more mature roles. Ringwald was later featured on the cover of Time on May 26, 1986.

Ringwald was set to star in another Hughes film called Oil and Vinegar; the film was scrapped when John refused to rewrite the script. The film would have been about a soon-to-be-married man and a hitchhiking girl talking about their lives during the length of the car ride. In 1987, she was cast as Randy Jensen in The Pick-up Artist, opposite Robert Downey, Jr. in one of his first lead roles. The film was met with mixed reviews while being a moderate commercial success. The Pick-up Artist focused on a womanizer who meets his match when he falls for a woman in debt to the mafia.

The following year she starred in For Keeps which was a commercial success that received mixed reviews by critics but was well received by audiences. It is considered Ringwald's final teen movie. Ringwald portrayed Darcy Elliot, the editor at her high school paper, who gets pregnant by her long term boyfriend Stan, who was portrayed by Randall Batinkoff. Ringwald's performance received positive reviews. The film was praised by some critics for showing the struggles of teen pregnancy. She was later cast in Fresh Horses. The film was met with generally negative reviews and under-performed at the box office. The film also starred Andrew McCarthy, who previously worked with Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.

1990–99: The Stand and continued acting

In the early 1990s, Ringwald reportedly turned down the female lead roles in Pretty Woman and Ghost. In the mid-1990s, Ringwald, who had been educated at a French high school in Los Angeles called Lycée Français de Los Angeles and was fluent in French, moved to Paris and starred in several French movies. She returned home to the US intermittently to appear in American movies and television. In 1990, Ringwald appeared in the James Scott-directed Strike It Rich alongside Robert Lindsay and John Gielgud. That same year she starred in Betsy's Wedding as Betsy Hopper. This film gained generally mixed reviews despite being a commercial success. Ringwald later starred in Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story (1992). The film was based on the life of Alison Gertz.

In 1994, she was cast as Frannie Goldsmith, in the TV adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. Ringwald's performance was generally well received. She later played the leading role in the film Malicious (1995) as Melissa Nelson, a disturbed woman who has an affair with a college star baseball player. She later starred in the ABC sitcom Townies. She also made one appearance as a blind woman on the critically acclaimed cable series Remember WENN. She starred with Lara Flynn Boyle and Teri Hatcher in the 1998 made-for-television film Since You've Been Gone. In 1999, she played the starring role of "Li'l Bit" in Paula Vogel's play How I Learned to Drive at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. In 2000, she appeared in an episode of Showtime's The Outer Limits.

2000–12: Not Another Teen Movie and television roles

Ringwald at the WeHo Book Fair in 2010

In 2000, Ringwald appeared in the ensemble restaurant-themed film, In the Weeds; in 2001, she had a cameo in the commercially successful Not Another Teen Movie that earned her an MTV Movie Award nomination. In late 2004, she starred in the play Modern Orthodox on Broadway, opposite Jason Biggs and Craig Bierko. In 2006, she starred in the television film The Wives He Forgot. Ringwald appeared in Cabaret; Tick, tick... BOOM!; and Enchanted April on Broadway, and in the fall and winter of 2006, she starred as Charity Hope Valentine in the national tour of the Broadway revival of the musical Sweet Charity. She also played a supporting role as Molly McIntire's mother Helen in Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front.

Ringwald starred in the ABC Family network's series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which debuted on July 1, 2008, playing the title teenager's mother. Ringwald read the audiobook edition of the 2012 novel The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg.

2013–present: Except Sometimes, Wishin' and Hopin' and future roles

In early 2013, Ringwald released Except Sometimes, a jazz record. It follows a tradition in jazz for the Ringwald family set by her father. “I grew up in a home filled with music and had an early appreciation of jazz since my dad was a jazz musician. Beginning at around age three I started singing with his band and jazz music has continued to be one of my three passions along with acting and writing. I like to say jazz music is my musical equivalent of comfort food. It's always where I go back to when I want to feel grounded,” Ringwald said in a statement.

Ringwald played Madame Frechette in the 2014 Lifetime Christmas film Wishin' and Hopin'. Ringwald plays Aunt Bailey in Jem and the Holograms, raising Jerrica, her sister Kimber, and adopted daughters.

Ringwald in April 2013

In September 2014, Ringwald began writing an advice column for The Guardian, answering questions about "love, family, or life in general".

Bibliography

• Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family, and Finding the Perfect Lipstick (2010)
• When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories (2012)

Personal life

Ringwald was married to Valéry Lameignère, a French writer, in Bordeaux, France, on July 28, 1999; they divorced in 2002. She married Panio Gianopoulos, a Greek-American writer and book editor, in 2007. They have a daughter, Mathilda (born 2003), and twins, Adele and Roman (born 2009). Her pregnancy was written into the storyline of The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Public image

Ringwald has stated that she was very aware of her public image during her teen years and that she tried to be a good role model for her fans. When asked about For Keeps (1988), Ringwald said, "I didn't want to give the wrong message to teenagers. I sort of felt a certain responsibility -– I mean, I was a very, very famous teenager and I thought a lot of teenagers were looking up to me and emulating me, and I really didn't want to make a movie that said in any way that having a baby at that age was going to be easy." She has been regarded as one of the greatest teen stars on numerous occasions. She was parodied on an episode of Family Guy being Peter Griffins wife in an alternate timeline.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Tempest	Miranda Dimitrius
1983	Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone	Niki
	Packin' It In	Melissa Webber
1984	Sixteen Candles	Samantha Baker
1985	Surviving: A Family in Crisis	Lonnie
	The Breakfast Club	Claire Standish
1986	Pretty in Pink	Andie Walsh
1987	P.K. and the Kid	P.K. Bayette
	King Lear	Cordelia
	The Pick-up Artist	Randy Jensen
1988	For Keeps	Darcy Elliot Bobrucz
	Fresh Horses	Jewel
1990	Strike It Rich	Cary
	Betsy's Wedding	Betsy Hopper
1992	Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story	Alison Gertz
1993	Face the Music	Lisa Hunter
1994	Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade	Theresa Tatum	Short
1995	Baja	Bebe Stone
	Seven Sundays	Janet Gifford
	Malicious	Melissa Nelson
1996	Bastard Children	Susan
1997	Office Killer	Kim Poole
1998	Twice upon a Life	Beth Sager
	Titey	Anne Frank (Voice)	Short
1999	Requiem for Murder	Anne Winslow
	Teaching Mrs. Tingle	Miss Banks
	Kimberly	Nancy
2000	Cut	Vanessa Turnbill/Chloe
	The Brutal Truth
	In the Weeds	Chloe
	The Translator		Short
2001	Cowboy Up	Connie
	Not Another Teen Movie	Flight Attendant
2003	The Tulse Luper Suitcases
2006	The Wives He Forgot	Charlotte Saint John	Television film
	Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front	Helen McIntire	Television film
2008	Guest of Cindy Sherman		Documentary
2014	Wishin' and Hopin'	Madame Frechette	Television film
2014	Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films		Documentary
2015	Jem and the Holograms	Aunt Bailey
2015	Bad Night	The Collector

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979–1980	Diff'rent Strokes	Molly Parker	2 episodes
1979–1980	The Facts of Life	Molly Parker	Main Role (Season 1–2); 14 episodes
1986	Tall Tales & Legends	Jenny Smith	Episode: "Johnny Appleseed"
1994	The Stand	Frannie Goldsmith	Lead Role
1996	Townies	Carrie Donovan	Lead Role
	Remember WENN	Angela Colton	Episode: "Sight Unseen"
1998	Saturday Night Live	Anne Frank (voice)	Episode: "Steve Buscemi/Third Eye Blind"
2000	The $treet	Devyn Alden	Episode: "Propheting on Losses"
	The Outer Limits	Allison Channing	Episode: "Judgment Day"
2006	Medium	Kathleen Walsh	Episode: “The Darkness is Light Enough”
2008–2013	The Secret Life of the American Teenager	Anne Juergens	Main Cast
2011	Psych	Nurse McElroy	Episode: "Shawn, Interrupted"
	RuPaul's Drag U	Herself	Episode: "Like a Virgin"
2014	Rainbow Brite	Dark Princess (voice)	3 episodes

Discography

• Except Sometimes (2013)
• Going Home Alone (2013)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1983	Golden Globes	New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Female	Tempest	Nominated
1983	Young Artist Award	Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Tempest	Nominated
1985	Young Artist Award	Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama	Sixteen Candles	Won
1988	Paris Film Festival	Best Actress	For Keeps	Won
1989	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress		Nominated
1991	Razzie Awards	Worst Actress	Betsy's Wedding	Nominated
2002	MTV Movie Award	Best Cameo	Not Another Teen Movie	Nominated
2005	MTV Movie Awards	Silver Bucket of Excellence Award	The Breakfast Club	Won
2008	TV Land Awards	Favorite Character(s) Who "Went Missing"	The Facts of Life	Nominated
2009	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Parental Unit	The Secret Life of the American Teenager	Nominated

External links

• Official Website

• Molly Ringwald at the Internet Movie Database
• Molly Ringwald at AllMovie
• Broadway.com interview (October 8, 2001)