Michelle Pfeiffer

Born: 29th April 1958
Where: Santa Ana, California

The three-time Academy Award nominee first came to the attention crooning atop at grand piano in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

The former Miss Orange County chucked in a career in journalism to pursue a career in acting and made her feature debut in The Hollywood Knights.

She then landed the role of Sandy in the sequel Grease 2 and went on to star opposite Al Pacino in Scarface - her first critical hit.

For the next few years Pfeiffer's career moved in the direction of TV movies and series, but eventually in 1987 she scored a major box office hit with The Witches of Eastwick.

In 1988 she received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Madame de Tourvel opposite John Malkovich in Dangerous Liaisons.

The following year she earned another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress, for her role as Susie Diamond in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

Testing out her real acting skills, Pfeiffer turned to the stage in 1989 in Twelfth Night in Central Park, New York.

However, the big screen called again and she starred against type as a dowdy waitress in Frankie & Johnny, again opposite Al Pacino.

Batman Returns in 1992 was enhanced by her portrayal of Catwoman, and in the same year she received her second Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as a woman travelling to the funeral of JFK in Love Field.

It was even reported that she turned down the lead role of Evita for personal reasons, and Madonna took over the part.

Subsequent roles The Age of Innocence (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe), Up, Close and Personal with Robert Redford and the chiller What Lies Beneath opposite Harrison Ford.

She received praise for her performance in the otherwise mawkish I Am Sam with Sean Penn and provided the voice of Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

Recently, she received a SAG Award nomination for White Oleander with Renee Zellwegger.