Molly Ringwald Biography

Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Having appeared in the John Hughes films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986), Ringwald is part of the 80's "Brat Pack" and has been called the greatest teen star of all time. She has also played Anne Juergens in the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Early life

Molly Kathleen Ringwald was born in Roseville, California, just outside of 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, Elizabeth and Kelly. She started her acting career at age five, starring in a stage production of Alice in Wonderland 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.

Acting career

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 a cast member of the spin-off Facts of Life. She played "Molly Parker," a perky, fun-loving student at Eastland Girls School. Although she had essentially a supporting role, one entire episode, "Molly's Holiday" revolved around her character dealing with the effects of her parents' divorce.

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. She then found her breakout role in Sixteen Candles (1984). Ringwald was a member of the so-called Brat Pack of 1980s teen actors. Among Ringwald's 1980s films were The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Pick-up Artist and Fresh Horses. She was considered to be the muse of writer/director John Hughes.

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 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 1994, she starred in the TV adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. In 1996, she played a leading role in the film Malicious as Melissa Nelson, a disturbed woman who has an affair with a college star baseball player. 1996 saw her return to television, starring on 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 2000, she appeared in an episode of Showtime's The Outer Limits.

In 2000, Ringwald appeared in the ensemble restaurant-themed film, In the Weeds; in 2001, she had a cameo in Not Another Teen Movie. 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 has 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.

Ringwald is starring 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.

Music career

2013: Except Sometimes

Except Sometimes is 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 [pianist Bob Ringwald]. 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.

The closing track of the album is a cover version of Simple Minds "Don't You (Forget About Me)" which was part of the soundtrack of the movie The Breakfast Club which starred Ringwald. Ringwald dedicated this track "to the memory of J.H.". This refers to John Hughes, Ringwald's director in The Breakfast Club and many of her other films.

Bibliography

Ringwald has written two books:

• , a "memoir and girlfriend-y guide to girlfriend-y things "? style, food, relationships, motherhood."
• , "a novel told in stories centered around Phillip and Greta, a couple whose marriage is floundering."

Personal life

Ringwald was married to Valery 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 Ereni (born October 22, 2003), and twins, Adele Georgiana and Roman Stylianos (born July 10, 2009). Her pregnancy was written into the storyline of The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Filmography

Features
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1982	Tempest	Miranda Dimitrius	Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year " Actress Nominated"?Young Artist Award for Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
1983	Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone	Niki
	Packin' It In	Melissa Webber
1984	Sixteen Candles	Samantha Baker	Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film
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	Paris Film Festival Award for Best Actress
	Fresh Horses	Jewel
1990	Strike It Rich	Cary
	Betsy's Wedding	Betsy Hopper	Nominated"?Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1992	Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story	Alison Gertz
1993	Face the Music	Lisa Hunter
1995	Baja	Bebe Stone
	All Day Sunday	Janet Gifford
1996	Bastard Children	Susan
	Malicious	Melissa Nelson
1997	Office Killer	Kim Poole
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
2001	Cowboy Up	Connie
	Not Another Teen Movie	Flight Attendant	Nominated"?MTV Movie Award for Best Cameo
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
Short
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade	Theresa Tatum
1998	Titey	voice
2000	The Translator
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979"1980	The Facts of Life	Molly Parker	Nominated"?TV Land Award for Favorite Character(s) Who "Went Missing"
1986	Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends: Johnny Appleseed	Jenny Smith
1994	The Stand	Frannie Goldsmith
1996	Townies	Carrie Donovan
2006	Medium	Kathleen Walsh	1 episode "The Darkness is Light Enough"
2008"2013	The Secret Life of the American Teenager	Anne Juergens	Main cast Nominated"?Teen Choice Award for Choice TV: Parental Unit
2011	Psych	Nurse McElroy	1 episode
	RuPaul's Drag U	Herself