Molly Ringwald, star of “16 Candles” and “The Breakfast Club”, signing copies of Getting the Pretty Back
6/16/10 7:00 PM at Book Soup – Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA.
Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She became popular with teenage audiences in the 1980s, as a result of her starring roles in the John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. She returned to the public eye with her role as Anne Juergens in the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
Early life
Molly Kathleen Ringwald was born in Roseville, California, just outside of Sacramento, the daughter of Adele Edith (née Frembd), a housewife and chef, and Robert Scott “Bob” Ringwald, a blind jazz pianist. Ringwald has two siblings, Elizabeth and Kelly. She started her acting career at age 5, starring in a stage production of Alice in Wonderland as the dormouse. By the time she was 6 years old, she had recorded “I Wanna Be Loved by You”, a music album of Dixieland jazz with her father and his group, the Fulton Street Jazz Band.
Acting career
As a young actress, Ringwald appeared in numerous local TV commercials and stage plays in the Sacramento area. In 1978, at the age of 10, she was chosen to play Kate in the West Coast production of Annie, performing in Los Angeles. In 1979, Ringwald appeared in the TV series Diff’rent Strokes and was selected to become a cast member of the spin-off Facts of Life. Molly played “Molly Parker”, a perky, fun-loving student at Eastland Girls School. Although essentially a supporting role, one entire episode, “Molly’s Holiday” revolved around her character dealing with the effects of her parents’ divorce. After the first thirteen episodes, the producers restructured the show to be more like the popular film Little Darlings, so Ringwald and three other girls were written out of the series in 1980. However, she made a final guest appearance at the start of the second season.
In 1980, Ringwald performed as a lead vocalist on two Disney albums. On the patriotic album Yankee Doodle Mickey, Ringwald sang “This Is My Country” , “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America”. She later performed one track on a Disney Christmas album. Turning toward motion pictures, she found her breakout role in Sixteen Candles (1984). Molly Ringwald was a member of the so-called Brat Pack of 1980s teen actors. Though she played a high school “princess” in her biggest hit, 1985’s The Breakfast Club, Ringwald specialized in portrayals of moody, awkward, brainy, angst-filled characters. Among Ringwald’s movies are Fresh Horses, The Pick-up Artist and Pretty in Pink. During the mid- to late-1980s, when Ringwald was among Hollywood’s top female teens, she appeared on many covers of such publications as Tiger Beat, Teen, Time and Life.
In the early 1990s, Ringwald’s high profile movie career went into rapid decline. Ringwald reportedly turned down the female lead roles in Pretty Woman and Ghost. During the 1990s, Ringwald lived in France for four years and appeared in French language films. She performed in Horton Foote’s Lilly Dale on Broadway and performed in When Harry Met Sally on the West End in London. In 1994 she starred in the tv adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. In 1995 she played a leading role in the movie Malicious as Melissa Nelson, a disturbed woman who has an affair with a police detective. 1996 saw her return to television, starring on the ABC sitcom Townies. While critically praised, low viewer ratings resulted in the show’s cancellation after nine episodes. She also made one appearance as a blind woman on the critically acclaimed cable series Remember WENN. She also starred with Lara Flynn Boyle and Teri Hatcher in the 1998 made for TV movie Since You’ve Been Gone. In 2000, she appeared in an episode of Showtime’s The Outer Limits.
In 2000, Ringwald appeared in the ensemble restaurant-themed film, In the Weeds; in 2001 she had a cameo in Not Another Teen Movie. In late 2004, she starred in the play Modern Orthodox on Broadway, opposite Jason Biggs and Craig Bierko. In 2006 she starred in the TV movie The Wives He Forgot. Ringwald recently appeared in an episode of the TV series Medium.
Ringwald has appeared in Cabaret, tick, tick… BOOM!, and Enchanted April on Broadway, and in the fall and winter of 2006 she starred as Charity Hope Valentine in the national tour of the Broadway revival of the musical Sweet Charity.
Ringwald is currently starring in the ABC Family network’s series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which debuted on July 1, 2008, playing the title teenager’s mother.
Personal life
Ringwald was married to Valery Lameignère, a French writer, in Bordeaux, France, on July 28, 1999; they divorced in 2002. Ringwald married Panio Gianopoulos, a Greek-American writer and book editor, in 2007. They have a daughter, Mathilda Ereni (born October 22, 2003), and twins, Adele Georgiana and Roman Stylianos (born July 10, 2009). Her pregnancy was written into the storyline of The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
References: http://www.celebritybooksigningsandevents.com/
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