Elisabeth Shue
Shue at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Elisabeth Judson Shue October 6, 1963 (1963-10-06) (age 46) Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–present
Spouse(s)	Davis Guggenheim (1994-present)

Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American film actress who was famous for playing the role of the character Sera in the film Leaving Las Vegas where she won five awards.

[edit] Early life

Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Her mother, Anne Harms (née Wells), was a bank executive who was the vice president of the private division of the Chemical Banking Corporation. Her father, James Shue, a lawyer and real estate developer, was the president of the International Food and Beverage Corporation and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Congress in New Jersey in 1970, as a liberal Republican.^[1][2][3] Shue's mother was a descendant of Pilgrim leader William Brewster, while her father's family immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in the early 1800s.^[4][5] Shue's younger brother, Andrew, is also an actor.

Shue grew up in Bergen and Essex counties in New Jersey. Her parents divorced while she was in the fourth grade.^[6] Shue graduated from Columbia High School, in Maplewood, New Jersey, and attended Wellesley College and Harvard University, from which she withdrew to pursue her acting career. She returned to Harvard to finish her degree in Government in 2000.^[7] Shue was awarded entrance into Columbia High School's Wall of Fame in 1994, along with her brother Andrew.^[8]

[edit] Career

[edit] 1980s and Early 1990s

During her studies at Columbia and after her parents' divorce, she found a way to make extra money by acting in television commercials. Shue became a common sight in ads for Burger King, DeBeers diamonds, and Hellman's mayonnaise.

After having turned down the role of Deborah Gelly in Sergio Leone's final film, Once Upon a Time in America, her first movie role happened in 1984, when she co-starred in The Karate Kid as the onscreen girlfriend of Ralph Macchio and had a role as the teenage daughter of a military family in the short-lived series Call to Glory. She continued with Adventures in Babysitting (her first starring role), Cocktail as the love interest of Tom Cruise and the comedies Soapdish and The Marrying Man, playing the daughters of Sally Field and Alec Baldwin, respectively. She also appeared in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III as Jennifer Parker, replacing original actress Claudia Wells, who declined to reprise the role from Back to the Future due to a family illness. In 1993, she played Robert Downey Jr's girlfriend in the supernatural rom-com ensemble Heart and Souls also featuring Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgwick.

[edit] 1995–present

Elisabeth Shue, 2007.

Although often typecast as a girl next door,^[9] Shue starred as a prostitute in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas with Nicolas Cage. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She was also nominated for a BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Actress, and won Best Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and the National Society of Film Critics Awards. Her career flourished after her Oscar nom landing her a diverse lot of roles: she starred in The Trigger Effect in 1996; The Saint (1997) with Val Kilmer proved to be another box-office success; Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry amply showcased her comedic chops amongst heavyweight co-stars Billy Crystal, Demi Moore, Robin Williams and Stanley Tucci; the thriller Palmetto (1998) afforded her the chance to play a noir-ish femme fatale opposite Woody Harrelson; and Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man (2000) with Kevin Bacon proved another summer blockbuster.

In 1999, Shue starred with Aaron Eckhart in Molly as an autistic young woman who undergoes an operation that allows her to become more "normal." She had strong supporting roles in Cousin Bette with Jessica Lange, Hide and Seek, opposite Robert De Niro, and Mysterious Skin as the dysfunctional mother of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Shue reportedly was set to co-star with Jim Carrey in The Number 23 but became pregnant just weeks before filming and ended up losing the part to Virginia Madsen.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, Shue and her two brothers produced Gracie. She had a role in the film loosely based on her own experiences as the only girl on a boys' soccer team.

In 2008, Shue starred in Hamlet 2 as a fictionalized version of herself. In the film, she has quit acting to become a nurse and is the favorite actress of Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan).

In 2009, Shue appeared on the seventh season of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm as an actress competing with Cheryl Hines's character for – and winning – the part of George's ex-wife for the Seinfeld reunion.

In 2010, the indie Don McKay, also starring Thomas Haden Church and Melissa Leo, was released after acquiring much fanfare at the previous years Tribeca Film Festival. In contrast, Shue also toplined the big-budget horror flick Piranha 3D as Sherriff Julie Foster.^[10]

[edit] Personal life

Known to her friends and family as "Lisa", Shue is married to Davis Guggenheim, director of the HBO TV series Deadwood as well as the movies An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud and Gracie.^[11] Their son, Miles William, was born on November 11, 1997. She gave birth to her first daughter, Stella Street, on March 19, 2001. Her third child, Agnes Charles, was born on June 18, 2006. Her son's middle name is in honor of her second brother, William, who died in 1988 at the age of 26 in a swimming accident while on family vacation.^[12]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elisabeth Shue

• Elisabeth Shue at the Internet Movie Database
• Elisabeth Shue at FEARnet