Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: September 9, 1980

Age: 43 years old

Birth Place: Kalispell, Montana

Spouses: Heath Ledger

Partners: Jason Segel

After enjoying initial stardom on the angst-fueled teen series "Dawson's Creek" (The WB, 1998-2003), Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actress Michelle Williams essayed complex, multi-faceted women in such critical and popular hits as "Brokeback Mountain" (2005), "Blue Valentine" (2010), "Manchester by the Sea" (2016) and "Fosse/Verdon" (FX, 2019). Born Michelle Ingrid Williams in Kalispell, Montana on September 9, 1980, she relocated with her younger sister and three paternal half-siblings to San Diego, California when she was nine years of age. There, she became interested in acting after seeing a stage version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and began appearing in local theater productions. In her teenaged years, Williams began traveling to Los Angeles to audition for film and television roles, and made her screen debut as a seductive teenager in a 1993 episode of "Baywatch" (NBC/syndicated, 1989-2001). Appearances in features like "Lassie" (1994) and "Species" (1995) preceded her breakout role on "Dawson's Creek." Williams played Jen Lindley, the most visibly troubled member of the series' quartet of self-analyzing teens; though a ratings hit and a launching board for Williams's appearances in teen-oriented features like "Halloween: H20" (1998) and "Dick" (1999), she longed for more substantive work, and found it between seasons in the Off-Broadway production of Tracy Letts's Killer Joe and the HBO feature "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2000), which cast her and Chloe Sevigny as young gay women in a relationship. When "Creek" ended in 2003, Williams continued to seek out challenging fare: she was a young woman embroiled in a destructive relationship with friend Anna Friel in "Me Without You" (2001), and a small-town librarian involved with reclusive Peter Dinklage in "The Station Agent" (2003) before scoring a personal and professional triumph with Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" (2005). Cast as Heath Ledger's long-suffering wife, she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, while also forging a romantic relationship with Ledger that resulted in the birth of a daughter in 2005. Their union ran aground in 2007, one year before Ledger's tragic death from a prescription overdose; Williams found solace in her work, which included Todd Haynes's film about Bob Dylan, "I'm Not There" (2007) and Charlie Kaufman's unique "Synecdoche, New York" (2008), as well as a near-solo turn as a homeless woman in "Wendy and Lucy" (2008). She capped this string of indies with a potent turn as a woman who committed infanticide in Martin Scorsese's supernatural thriller "Shutter Island" (2010) and as a woman in a troubled marriage to Ryan Gosling in Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine" (2010), the latter of which earned her a second Oscar nomination. A third Academy nod would come the following year with her turn as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn" (2011), which Williams followed with a diverse collection of projects, from Sarah Polley's mature romance "Take This Waltz" (2011) to Sam Raimi's "Oz the Great and Powerful" (2012), which cast her as Glinda the Good Witch. The latter was chosen to appeal to her daughter, Mathilde Rose, and Williams' desire to provide a more constant presence in her life led to stage work that culminated in a 2014 Broadway run as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and a 2016 Tony nomination for Blackbird. She returned to films in 2016 as Casey Affleck's estranged wife in Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea," which netted a fourth Oscar nomination. Its critical success spurred a flurry of activity by Williams, who moved swiftly from the lavish musical "The Greatest Showman" (2017) to Ridley Scott's troubled drama "All the Money in the World" (2018), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as the mother of kidnapping victim J. Paul Getty. A rare foray into big-budget genre films came with "Venom" (2018), an adaptation of the Marvel Comics series with Tom Hardy, provided her with the highest-grossing film of her career, which she followed with an English-language remake of "After the Wedding" (2019). Williams then returned to television for the first time since "If These Walls Could Talk 2" for "Fosse/Verdon," a miniseries based on the tumultuous lives and careers of choreographer and filmmaker Bob Fosse (played by Sam Rockwell) and dancer Gwen Verdon. As Verdon, Williams won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. While filming, Williams began dating director Thomas Kail;it was announced in December 2019 that the couple had gotten engaged and that Williams was pregnant with her second child.

Credits

Snake OilStream

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2023

29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

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2023

Deep Sky

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2023

The FabelmansStream

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Mitzi Fabelman
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2022
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Showing UpStream

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Lizzy
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2022
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Celebrity Name That TuneStream

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2021

Venom: Let There Be CarnageStream

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Anne Weying
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2021
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I Can See Your VoiceStream

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2020

Fosse/VerdonStream

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Gwen Verdon
Miniseries
2019
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Fosse/VerdonStream

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2019
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Fosse/Verdon: Extras

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Gwen Verdon
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2019

After the Wedding

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Isabel
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2019

Today 3rd Hour

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2018

Busy Tonight

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2018

Ridley Scott: Crafting a Historical Thriller

Self
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2018

Entertainment Weekly Cast Reunions

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2018

VenomStream

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Anne Weying
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2018
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I Feel Pretty

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Avery LeClaire
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2018

Access

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2017

Live with Kelly and Ryan

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2017

The Greatest ShowmanStream

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Charity Barnum
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2017
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Wonderstruck

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Elaine
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2017

All the Money in the WorldStream

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Gail Harris
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2017
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Certain Women

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Gina Lewis
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2016

Manchester by the SeaStream

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Randi Chandler
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2016
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The Late Show With Stephen ColbertStream

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2015

Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter

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2015

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors

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2014

Late Night With Seth MeyersStream

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2014

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonStream

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2014

Suite française

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Lucile Angellier
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2014

Oz: The Great and Powerful

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Annie / Glinda
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2013

Oz the Great and PowerfulStream

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Annie/Glinda
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2013
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Movie Talk With Peter Bart

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2012

CBS This Morning

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2012

LIVE with Kelly

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2011

The Chew

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2011

Piers Morgan Tonight

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2011

My Week With MarilynStream

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Marilyn Monroe
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2011
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Take This Waltz

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Margot
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2011

Shutter IslandStream

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Dolores
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2010
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Blue ValentineStream

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Cindy
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2010
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Blue ValentineStream

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2010
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Meek's Cutoff

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Emily Tetherow
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2010

ES.TV

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2009

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

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2009

Mammoth

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Ellen
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2009

DeceptionStream

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2008
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Synecdoche, New YorkStream

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Claire Keen
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2008
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Wendy and Lucy

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Wendy
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2008

Incendiary

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Young Mother
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2008

Lyons & Bailes Reel Talk

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2007

The Graham Norton ShowStream

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2007

I'm Not ThereStream

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Coco Rivington
Movie
2007
77%

Testimonies of Faith: Humble Journey's

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2007

etalk

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2006

The Hawk Is Dying

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Betty
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2006

Made in Hollywood

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2005

Entertainment Tonight Canada

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2005

The Baxter

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Cecil Mills
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2005

Brokeback MountainStream

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Alma Beers Del Mar
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2005
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Land of Plenty

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Lana
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2004

Imaginary Heroes

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Penny Travis
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2004

A Hole in One

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Anna Watson
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2004

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

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2003

The Station AgentStream

Actor
Emily
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2003
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The United States of Leland

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Julie Pollard
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2003

Live With Regis and Kelly

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2001

Me Without You

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Holly
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2001

Perfume

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Halley
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2001

Prozac Nation

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Ruby
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2001

Entertainment Studios.com

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2000

If These Walls Could Talk 2

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Linda
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2000

The Daily Show With Jon StewartStream

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1999

The Daily Show With Jon StewartStream

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1999

Dick

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Arlene Lorenzo
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1999

Kickin' It: With Byron Allen

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1998

Dawson's CreekStream

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Jennifer "Jen" Lindley
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1998

Halloween H20: 20 Years LaterStream

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Molly Cartwell
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1998
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The View

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1997

Killing Mr. Griffin

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Maya
Movie
1997

A Thousand Acres

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Pammy
Movie
1997
24%

Access Hollywood

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1996

My Son Is Innocent

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Donna
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1996

SpeciesStream

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Young Sil
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1995
42%

Timemaster

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Annie
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1995

Lassie

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April Porter
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1994

Late Show With David Letterman

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1993

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

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1992

Step by StepStream

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1991

Home ImprovementStream

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1991

Charlie RoseStream

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1991

Nightline

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1980

CBS News Sunday Morning

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1979

Today

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1952

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