Biography - Elisabeth Shue

Academy Award nominee Elisabeth Shue has come a long way from playing Ralph Macchio’s girlfriend in 1984’s “The Karate Kid”. After a decade of girl-next-door roles, the blonde stunner landed the lead in the searing 1995 drama “Leaving Las Vegas”, for which she earned a much-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Since then she has been a powerful and respected leading lady, starring in films like “The Saint” and “Hollow Man”.

Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware on October 6, 1963, and grew up in suburban New Jersey with her comfortably upper-middle-class family. Shue’s parents divorced when she was ten years old, and her father later ran an unsuccessful campaign in New Jersey for the U.S. Senate with the Republican Party. Elisabeth’s brother is Andrew Shue, a successful actor best known for his role on the primetime soap “Melrose Place”.

After graduating from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, Shue acted in several television commercials while attending Wellesley and later Harvard. Well-known for being the face of Burger King’s television campaign, Shue left Harvard in the early 80s to pursue acting full-time. Her first role was in the aforementioned hit “The Karate Kid”, and she later found fame with Chris Columbus’s teen classic “Adventures in Babysitting” and the 1988 Tom Cruise vehicle “Cocktail”. In 1989, Shue took over the role of Jennifer Parker from Claudia Wells for the hit sequel “Back to the Future II”, and she reprised the role the next year for the franchise’s third installment. After a few more sweet, inoffensive performances, Shue took a big chance on the promising “Leaving Las Vegas”, a heavy drama about a prostitute who begins a dangerous affair with a depressed alcoholic portrayed by Nicolas Cage. The film was a surprise hit considering its incredibly downbeat, melodramatic tone, and both actors were rewarded with Oscar nominations for their raw, believable performances.

Shue followed “Vegas” with well-received turns in the Val Kilmer starrer “The Saint”, Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”, the thriller “Palmetto”, “Cousin Bette”, and Paul Verhoeven’s perverse, frantic actioner “Hollow Man”. Among her more recent films, which include “Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story” and “Hide and Seek”, Shue’s most impressive performance to date can be found in Gregg Araki’s heart-wrenching teen drama “Mysterious Skin”. Playing the mother of an emotionally vacant gay hustler played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (in a sadly overlooked performance), Shue gave one of her most subtly rendered, honest performances. Though the film was far too politically hot-button and graphic for a mainstream release, its enormous critical success has already made it a minor cult classic.

Shue is currently married to filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, and has mothered three children with the talented “Inconvenient Truth” director. In 2000 she returned to Harvard after a 15-year absence where she finished her degree in Government. Her first film with Guggenheim, “Gracie”, is set for release in 2007.