and8 more

Melanie Griffith

Background information

Fullname

Melanie Richards Griffith

Born

August 9,1957 (age 67)
New York City,New York,United States

Nationality

American

Occupation

Actress

Years active

1969–present

Family information

Spouse

Don Johnson (1976;1989–1996)
Steven Bauer (1981–1989)
Antonio Banderas (1996–2015)

Children

With Johnson:
Dakota
With Bauer:
Alexander
With Banderas:
Stella

Parents

Tippi Hedren (mother)
Peter Griffith † (father)

Other relatives

Tracy Griffith (half-sister)
Clay A. Griffith (half-brother)

Melanie Richards Griffith is an American actress, who is best known for her various roles, such as Tess McGill in the1988 comedy-drama filmWorking Girl (in which she won aGolden Globe Award) and Charlotte Haze in the1997 drama film adaptation ofLolita. She also voicedMargalo the canary inStuart Little 2.

ForDisney, she portrayed Emily Eden in the1992 Hollywood Pictures filmA Stranger Among Us and Billie Dawn inBorn Yesterday. She also played Lily Reed in the1991 Touchstone Pictures filmParadise and Betty Kerner inTwo Much.

Griffith was born inManhattan,New York City, to actress Tippi Hedren and Peter Griffith, a former child stage actor and advertising executive. Griffith's paternal ancestry isEnglish, as well as Welsh,Irish, andScottish, while her maternal ancestry isSwedish,Norwegian, andGerman. Her parents separated when she was two years old, after which she relocated toLos Angeles with her mother; they divorced two years later, when Griffith was four. After divorcing Hedren, her father married model/actress Nanita Greene and had two more children: Tracy Griffith, who also became an actress, and Clay A. Griffith, a set designer. Her mother married agent and producer Noel Marshall when Griffith was seven years old.

During her childhood and adolescent years, she lived part of the time inNew York with her father and part-time in Antelope Valley,California, where her mother formed the animal preserve Shambala. Griffith appeared in advertisements and briefly worked as a child model before abandoning the career, citing extreme shyness as the reason. While attending theHollywood Professional School, Griffith was advanced in her studies, which allowed her to skip a grade level and graduate at age 16.