LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Michelle Pfeiffer was one of Hollywood’s most prominent stars and highly-paid actresses during the 1980s and 1990s, known for her work in films like ‘Scarface,’ ‘Dangerous Liaisons,’ ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys,’ ‘The Witches of Eastwick,’ ‘Married to the Mob,’ ‘Batman Returns,’ ‘Love Field,’ ‘Stardust,’ ‘The Wizard of Lies,’ ‘French Exit’ and the ‘Ant-Man’ franchise, among many others.
She is also the recipient of various accolades including a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, three Oscar nominations and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Despite her highly successfully career, Pfeiffer decided to prioritize her family and only starred in a handful of selected films during the 2000s. The actress took another hiatus during the early 2010s before returning to prominence in 2017 with ‘Where is Kyra?,’ ‘Mother!,’ and ‘Murder on the Orient Express.’ That same year, she also opened up about her reason of stepping away from Hollywood for over five years.
‘I’ve never lost my love for acting’
Following her break from Hollywood after an appearance on 2013’s ‘The Family', Pfeiffer opened up about her four-year hiatus to Interview magazine, ahead of the release of Darren Aronofsky's ‘Mother!’
“Well, the first thing that comes to mind is I’m an empty nester now. I’ve never lost my love for acting. I feel really at home on the movie set. I’m a more balanced person, honestly, when I’m working. But I was pretty careful about where I shot, how long I was away, whether or not it worked out with the kids’ schedule,” she shared.
“And I got so picky that I was unhirable. And then… I don’t know, time just went on. And now, you know, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I’m more open now, my frame of mind, because I really want to work now, because I can,” the ‘Hairspray’ star added. Pfeiffer, who is married to writer David E Kelley, shares two children Claudia and John with her husband.
‘I didn’t have any formal training’
During the interview Pfeiffer also opened up how she realized her love for acting in her early years despite being away from Hollywood. “I’m from Orange County, Southern California, and couldn’t have been more removed from the entertainment business. In fact, I didn’t really even go to the movies much. My mother didn’t drive. My father couldn’t be bothered. So, I didn’t really go anywhere,” she said.
“But what I did do is I would stay up really late watching old movies on television. I can’t even tell you what they were because I was so young. But I remember watching what they were doing and saying to myself, ‘I can do that,’” the actress recalled. The multi-Oscar nominee also shared that she once took a theater class just to “avoid” her English course. “I was terrible in English,” she stated.
“And all of the kids in the theater department were thought of as being the strange kids on campus. But I felt right at home, which meant, I suppose, that I was one of those strange kids on campus. But nobody told me. And I loved it. I ditched every other class but that one,” Pfeiffer remembered. Despite her successful career, Pfeiffer said she worried ahead of her appearance in ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, thinking the public would brand her a “fraud”
“I think that’s because I started working fairly quickly and I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have any formal training. I didn’t come from Juilliard. I was just getting by and learning in front of the world,” she said. “So I’ve always had this feeling that one day they’re going to find out that I’m really a fraud, that I really don’t know what I’m doing,” the actress concluded.
