Biography: Demi Moore


Demi Moore

Demi Moore (born Demetria Guynes on November 11, 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico) is an American actress with a trademark husky voice. She is of mixed ancestry including French, Welsh, and Cherokee (Native American) heritage.

Although Moore was born in New Mexico, she spent much of her childhood and teenage years in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. As a child, Moore had a difficult and unstable home life. Her father Charles Harmon, an unemployed gambling addict, left her mother, Victoria, before she was born. Because of this, Moore did not share his last name on her birth certificate. Her stepfather, Danny Guynes, did not add much stability to her life, either. He frequently changed jobs and made the family move a total of 40 times. Her parents also drank, and often fought and beat each other. To make matters worse, operations on her left eye during childhood caused her to wear a patch.

When she was 16, Moore's then-friend, Nastassja Kinski, persuaded her to drop out of Hollywood's Fairfax High School to become an actress. After quitting school, Moore went to work as a pin-up girl, modelled in Europe, and worked at a collection agency.

In 1980 Moore's step-father Danny committed suicide. That same year she married rock musician Freddy Moore, whose last name she adopted; the marriage lasted only 4 years.

In the early 1980s she posed for a series of soft-core photographs featuring full frontal nudity. These photos went unnoticed until after she became a star, eventually being published in a German magazine and then later in North America. They are widely available now on the internet.

Moore's big break came playing the part of Jackie Templeton on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital, a role she played from 1982 to 1983. Her character was frequently romantically paired with actors twice her age.

Moore used her General Hospital salaries for partying and snorting cocaine. Her drug abuse lasted more than three years, until 1985, when director Joel Schumacher fired her from the set of St. Elmo's Fire when she arrived on the set intoxicated. She soon received withdrawal treatment and returned clean after a week and stayed clean. (Incidentally, Moore's character in St. Elmo's Fire, Jules, was also a cocaine addict.) Moore had to sign a contract stipulating that she would stop her own alcohol and drug abuse, an agreement that caused her life to turn around. In the 1980s, she appeared in several youth oriented films, and was listed among the "Brat Pack." She was engaged to fellow Brat-Packer Emilio Estevez for three years.

In November, 1987, Moore married actor Bruce Willis, after a highly publicized whirlwind romance. They had three daughters together, Rumer Glenn, Scout LaRue, and Tallulah Belle, but divorced in 1998.


Vanity Fair (September, 1991)In August, 1991, Moore again appeared nude on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine while seven-months pregnant with her daughter Scout LaRue, with enormous attendant publicity. The image was endlessly parodied (including by Spy magazine, which placed her then-husband Bruce Willis's head on her body), but also spawned honest imitators as other pregnant celebrities posed nude. Moore again appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in August 1992, wearing only a body painted "suit".

For a time during the 1990s, Moore was the highest paid actress in Hollywood; she was the first actress to reach the USD$10 million mark for salary. Moore was coming off of the heels of a string of box office hits such as Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal. Not all of the attention she received during this period was positive, however; for example she was spoofed with a cartoon version (called "Dewmi Moore") in the popular video game Leisure Suit Larry, and had numerous other parodies played on her name and likeness. Moore's career suffered though when starring vehicles like The Scarlet Letter, The Juror, Striptease, and G.I. Jane (a movie in which Moore went as far as shaving her head) failed at the box office and mostly garnered poor reviews.

After a break from her acting career, Moore returned to the screen as a former member of Charlie's Angels in the film Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle. As the film was about to be released, media attention focused on how the 40 year old mother of three repeatedly had plastic surgery to remove fat on her hips, abdomen and buttocks, as well as breast enlargement.

In addition, Moore became the subject of much tabloid fodder thanks to her romantic relationship with actor Ashton Kutcher, who is 15 years Moore's junior. Both would eventually spoof the public's fascination with their age difference during the monologue on the March 19, 2005 episode of Saturday Night Live. Kutcher, who served as guest host, brought Moore on stage while Moore was made up to appear like a very elderly woman, who constantly babied Kutcher. Moore and Kutcher were married on Saturday, September 24, 2005 in a lavish private ceremony attended by about 100 close friends and family.

Her primary residence is currently in Hailey, Idaho, near the famous Sun Valley resort, although she spends a lot of time in the L.A. area with Kutcher.

 

Trivia

According to an article in the now defunct Buzz magazine, she was so demanding when it came to perks and fringe benefits, her nickname around Hollywood studio executives was "Gimme Moore."
Her birthplace of Roswell, New Mexico is near the alleged 1947 UFO crash site.
It is rumored that she will appear nude again on the cover of a major magazine in early 2006.

Filmography

Demi Moore with Patrick Swayze in Ghost (1990)
Moore as Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter (1995)Choices (1981)
Parasite (1982)
Young Doctors in Love (1982)
Blame It on Rio (1984)
No Small Affair (1984)
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
About Last Night... (1986)
One Crazy Summer (1986)
Wisdom (1986)
The Seventh Sign (1988)
We're No Angels (1989)
Ghost (1990)
Nothing But Trouble (1991)
Mortal Thoughts (1991) (also co-producer)
The Butcher's Wife (1991)
A Few Good Men (1992)
Indecent Proposal (1993)
A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
Disclosure (1994)
Your Studio and You (1995) (short subject)
The Scarlet Letter (1995)
Now and Then (1995) (also producer)
The Juror (1996)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (voice)
Striptease (1996)
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) (voice)
G.I. Jane (1997)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
I Think I Cannes (1997) (Cameo)
Passion of Mind (2000)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
Half Light (2005)
Bobby (2006) (announced start of production)