Melanie Richards Griffith
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Awards
Melanie Griffith won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy for Working Girl 1988 and received an Oscar nomination. She overcame substance abuse battles and was married to actors Don Johnson and Antonio Banderas. Her daughter Dakota Johnson stars in Fifty Shades of Grey.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Melanie Griffith — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Melanie Griffith by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Melanie Griffith — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Melanie Griffith was born on August 9, 1957 in New York City to actress Tippi Hedren and advertising executive Peter Griffith. Her parents divorced when she was four, and she moved to Los Angeles with her mother. She grew up around the set of her mother’s Hitchcock films and later lived with tigers and lions being raised for the film Roar 1981. At 14, she met Don Johnson on the set of The Harrad Experiment and moved in with him.
Griffith’s acting career began with a commercial at nine months and extra roles. Her first major role was in Arthur Penn’s Night Moves 1975 as a runaway nymphet, which typecast her. After struggling with substance abuse, she turned to television and married Steven Bauer, who encouraged her to study at Stella Adler Studio. Her comeback came with Brian De Palma’s Body Double 1984, winning the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Jonathan Demme cast her in Something Wild 1986 without an audition. Her career skyrocketed with Mike Nichols’ Working Girl 1988, earning an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win. She later appeared in Pacific Heights 1990, Nobody’s Fool 1994, and RKO 281 1999. In the 2000s, she moved to Broadway in Chicago and had recurring roles on Hawaii Five-0.
Griffith has been married four times: to Don Johnson 1976, annulled within six months; remarried 1989–1996, Steven Bauer 1981–1989, and Antonio Banderas 1996–2015. She has three children: Alexander Bauer with Steven Bauer, Dakota Johnson with Don Johnson, and Stella Banderas with Antonio Banderas. She has struggled with substance abuse and went to rehab multiple times, including in 2000 and 2009. She remains on good terms with her ex-husbands and supports her daughters’ acting careers.
Griffith was the first Miss Golden Globe to win a Golden Globe Award, for Working Girl in 1988. Her daughter Dakota Johnson followed her into acting. Griffith’s performances in Body Double, Something Wild, and Nobody’s Fool remain highly regarded. She continues to act and appears in recurring television roles.
The complete filmography of Melanie Griffith — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Melanie Griffith — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Melanie Griffith — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
There’s a Bit of a Stripper in Every Woman.
I Don’t Walk Around with Fear. I Walk Around with Strength. I Believe in Cause and Effect.
I Don’t Think I’m Beautiful. When I Look in the Mirror, I Just See Me – And, I’m Pretty Used to Me.
Antonio Is the Best. He Is Compassionate and Humble.
I Would Just Like to Be Able to Give to People Through Acting. If I Can Entertain People by Being Somebody Else and Allow Somebody to Feel Something, Then That Makes Me Feel Good.
I Like Smoking! I Mean, God, I Quit Everything Else, Can’t I Smoke?
By the Time We Were 14, Half of My Girlfriends Had Had Abortions.
It’s a Scary Thing When You’re an Actress and You Depend on Your Face for Work.
Alec Baldwin Is Handsome and Charming, and I Just Had Such a Crush on Him. but He Wouldn’t Go There with Me. I Was Like, ‘Oh Come On, Have a Romance with Me!’ but No, Alec Said, ‘I Can’t Do This with People I Work With.’ He’s a Sweetheart.
Little-known facts about Melanie Griffith — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Fans sometimes mistake Melanie Griffith for actress Meg Ryan; Griffith would sign Ryan’s name to avoid disappointing them. Ryan said the same happened to her.
A $75,000 penalty was taken from Griffith’s Working Girl paycheck after she arrived heavily intoxicated and couldn’t speak her lines. The money funded a reshoot of that day’s scenes.
Griffith claims it was love at first sight when she met Antonio Banderas on the set of Two Much 1995. He sprinted from his trailer to greet her and asked how old she was. They stayed together nearly 20 years; in 2018 Banderas said he would love her until he died, and Griffith reciprocated.
In 1980, Griffith was hit by a car while leaving a restaurant with Ricci Martin. The impact threw her over a dozen feet, and she still experiences pain from that accident.
The miniature doll of her mother Tippi Hedren given to Griffith by Alfred Hitchcock was not intended as a prank—it was a gift in a wooden box, but Griffith was frightened thinking it depicted her mother in a coffin.
Griffith and her daughter Dakota Johnson are the only mother-daughter pair to both be Miss Golden Globe.
In Crazy in Alabama 1999, Griffith’s real-life daughters Dakota Johnson and Stella Banderas played her character’s daughters, and her half-sister Tracy Griffith had a small role.
Griffith was 18 when she first married Don Johnson, who was eight years older. They met on the set of The Harrad Experiment when she was 14.
Her son Alexander Bauer born 1985 is godson to Warren Beatty. Griffith first met Beatty when auditioning for The Parallax View 1974; they had a brief romance in the 1970s.
Griffith stays on good terms with all three ex-husbands because they share children. She attends events with them and posts flattering photos on social media.
Joanne Woodward told a 17-year-old Griffith on the set of The Drowning Pool 1975 that her goals were to marry a movie star, have beautiful babies, and win an Oscar. Griffith adopted those goals: she married Antonio Banderas, had three children, but has not won an Oscar despite a nomination.
In 2002, Griffith told Larry King her best films were Night Moves 1975, Something Wild 1986, Working Girl 1988, and Nobody’s Fool 1994.
Griffith is the daughter of Peter Griffith and Tippi Hedren.
Her mother Tippi was 22 and her father Peter was 18 when they married in 1952; Tippi later wrote they were too young.
Griffith has been directed by eight Academy Award winners: Jonathan Demme, Robert Redford, Mike Nichols, Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, Sidney Lumet, Robert Benton, and Woody Allen.
In her divorce from Banderas, Griffith kept the Aspen house; they sold their L.A. mansion and split the profits. She receives $65,000 monthly spousal support.
Griffith revealed in 2018 that she hit on Working Girl co-star Alec Baldwin but was rejected. They remain friendly, and Baldwin gave an interview for her Biography episode.
Griffith was the first Miss Golden Globe to win a Golden Globe Award.
She gave birth to her daughter Dakota Johnson with Don Johnson on October 4, 1989.
One of her mentors was Bob Fosse, who considered casting her in Star 80 1983 but chose Mariel Hemingway instead.
In December 2009, Griffith underwent surgery for early-stage skin cancer.
Griffith auditioned twice unsuccessfully for director Adrian Lyne: for Flashdance 1983 and Fatal Attraction 1987. Lyne later cast her in Lolita 1997 without an audition.
She has three homes: in Los Angeles, Aspen, and Marbella, Spain.
While addressing the Senate on arts funding, Griffith fell asleep twice during a speech by Senator Spencer Abraham, citing jet lag.
Griffith replaced Madonna in RKO 281 1999 after Madonna left due to the project being scaled down.
Along with Madonna and Demi Moore, Griffith holds the record for most Razzie nominations for Worst Actress 6. She won for Shining Through 1992 and A Stranger Among Us 1992, and also won Worst Supporting Actress for Mulholland Falls 1996.
Griffith admitted she began drinking at age 10; her father and grandfather were alcoholics.
Griffith’s childhood friend Patricia Nedd was cast in Roar 1981 after Griffith initially refused to work with the big cats, but Griffith changed her mind and took back the role, sustaining an injury that required reconstructive surgery.
Griffith was unable to star in the stage play Eden Court 1985 and films The Sheltering Sky 1990 and As Good as It Gets 1997 due to pregnancies; those roles went to Ellen Barkin, Debra Winger, and Helen Hunt who won an Oscar.
She gave birth to her son Alexander Bauer on August 22, 1985 with Steven Bauer.
She gave birth to her daughter Stella Banderas on September 24, 1996 with Antonio Banderas.
Griffith checked into Cirque Lodge in Utah for rehab, the same facility used by Kirsten Dunst and Lindsay Lohan.
A physician gave Griffith’s family a four-week-old African lion cub named Casey, which would snuggle in her bed.
Griffith has been treated for skin cancer recurrence, including removal of basal cell carcinoma from her nose.
Griffith’s first name is the same as her mother’s character Melanie Daniels in The Birds 1963.
She filed for divorce from Antonio Banderas in 2014 after 18 years of marriage.
In a 2002 interview, Griffith admitted giving marijuana to her 16-year-old son Alexander; she later put him in a 12-step program. Her daughter Dakota saw a therapist due to her parents’ substance abuse.
Griffith is friends with many celebrities including Rosanna Arquette, Sandra Bernhard, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Fonda, Goldie Hawn, Daryl Hannah, Angie Harmon, Salma Hayek, Anjelica Huston, Kris Jenner, Diane Lane, Eva Longoria, Demi Moore, Jill St. John, Alana Stewart, and Sharon Stone.
In 1971, a full-grown African lion named Neal lived with Griffith’s family and became her bedmate.
Griffith has dated investment banker Liam Dalton, restaurant developer Bryan Kestner, and movie stars Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Ryan O’Neal.
Several film projects Griffith considered never happened, including adaptations of Dean Koontz’s The Bad Place and J.M. Barrie’s Mary Rose.
She is the older half-sister of Tracy Griffith and Clay A. Griffith.
Her father had English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Scots-Irish ancestry; her mother is half Swedish, quarter German, and quarter Norwegian.
In 2009, Salma Hayek confronted Griffith for smoking near Hayek’s toddler at a restaurant; Griffith argued back.
Griffith returned to work three months after giving birth to Dakota to begin filming Pacific Heights 1990.
In Working Girl, Griffith’s character dates Alec Baldwin at the start and Harrison Ford at the end; both actors have played Jack Ryan.
She was named Star of Tomorrow by the Motion Picture Bookers Club in 1984.
Griffith appeared in five remakes: Paradise 1991, Born Yesterday 1993, Two Much 1995, Lolita 1997, and the TV series Viva Laughlin 2007, none of which performed well.
She pulled out of The Hot Flashes 2013 during filming due to creative differences and was replaced by Virginia Madsen.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Melanie Griffith.
Celebrities similar to Melanie Griffith — same craft, ranked by reach.
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