Demi Gene Guynesnote (born November 11, 1962), professionally known as Demi Moore, is an American actress, filmmaker, and model. After appearing on the soap opera General Hospital, she subsequently gained recognition for her work in Blame It on Rio (1984) and St. Elmo's Fire (1985) and for being part of The '80s Brat Pack clique. Her first film to become both a critical and commercial hit was About Last Night... (1986), which established her as a Hollywood star.
Moore starred in Ghost (1990), the highest-grossing film of that year, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. She had a string of additional box-office successes in the early 1990s, including A Few Good Men (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), and Disclosure (1994). In 1996, Moore became the highest-paid actress in film history when she was paid a then-unprecedented fee of $12.5 million to star in Striptease, a film that was a high-profile disappointment. Her next major role, G.I. Jane (1997), for which she famously shaved her head, was followed by a lengthy break and significant downturn in Moore's career.
Moore has married three times. She took her stage name from her first husband, singer Freddy Moore, whom she married from 1981 to 1985. She was married to Bruce Willis from 1987 to 2000 and had three children with him, the eldest of whom, Rumer, is also an actress. Her third marriage was to Ashton Kutcher from 2005 to 2013.
Her credits include:
- General Hospital (1982-84) as Jackie Templeton
- Parasite (1982) as Patricia Welles
- Young Doctors in Love (1982) as New Intern
- Blame It on Rio (1984) as Nicole Hollis
- The Master (1984) as Holly Trumbull
- St. Elmo's Fire (1985) as Julianna "Jules" Van Patten
- About Last Night... (1986) as Debbie Sullivan
- One Crazy Summer (1986) as Cassandra Eldrige
- Wisdom (1986) (1986) as Karen Simmons
- The Seventh Sign (1988) as Abby Quinn
- Moonlighting (1989) as Woman in Elevator
- We're No Angels (1989) as Molly
- Tales from the Crypt (1990) as Cathy Marno
- Ghost (1990) as Molly Jensen
- Nothing but Trouble (1991) as Diane Lightson
- The Butcher's Wife (1991) as Marina Lemke
- A Few Good Men (1992) as Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway
- Indecent Proposal (1993) as Diana Murphy
- Disclosure (1994) as Meredith Johnson
- The Scarlet Letter (1995) as Hester Prynne
- Now and Then (1995) as Samantha Albertson
- The Juror (1996) as Annie Laird
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) as Esmeralda (voice)
- Disney's Animated Storybook: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002)
- Striptease (1996) as Erin Grant
- If These Walls Could Talk (1996) as Claire Donnelly
- Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) as Dallas Grimes (voice)
- Ellen (1997) as The Sample Lady
- G.I. Jane (1997) as Jordan O'Neill
- Deconstructing Harry (1997) as Helen
- Will & Grace (2003) as Sissy Palmer-Ginsburg
- Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) as Madison Lee
- Bobby (2006) as Virginia Fallon
- Mr. Brooks (2007) as Detective Tracy Atwood
- Flawless (2007) as Laura Quinn
- Bunraku (2010) as Alexandra
- Margin Call (2011) as Sarah Robertson
- LOL (2012) as Anne Williams
- Empire (2017-18) as Nurse Claudia
- Rough Night (2017) as Lea
- Animals (2018) as The General (voice)
- Brave New World (2020) as Linda
- Songbird (2020) as Piper Griffin
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) as Herself/Olivia Cage
- Feud: Capote vs. the Swans (2024) as Ann Woodward
Tropes associated with this actress' works and portrayals in media:
- Hollywood Hype Machine: It really got behind her after her stretch in the early 90s — she was appearing on every Entertainment Tonight, and was constantly talked-about in magazines. It eventually switched itself off for her once Striptease and The Scarlet Letter bombed, ruining her credibility. It started again after Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle; really trying to push her as the archetype of "Hot Older Woman," but it sputtered, faded, and died again, and she was once again much more known as "Tabloid Punchline" instead of "Actress."
- Ink-Suit Actor: The Hot Gypsy Woman Esmeralda from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is pretty much Demi Moore with wavy and full bodied hair.
- Money, Dear Boy: Demi Moore admitted in her memoir Inside Out that her agent talked her into doing The Butcher’s Wife simply for the money. However, the experience making the film was so painful and difficult for Demi that she vowed that she would never do films solely for the paycheck again:“My agent at the time talked me into doing The Butcher’s Wife for the money, to get my price up. I’ve never done a movie just for money again. It was never how I’d worked, and it was a disaster of an experience that I didn’t want to repeat. I didn’t feel confident going into it, I didn’t feel confident while I was there, and I didn’t trust the director. The movie rested on me, but I didn’t have half the experience of the other actors, Jeff Daniels, Frances McDormand, and Mary Steenburgen. I was intimidated, and I didn’t have the confidence to ask them for help. Instead, I assumed that everyone was judging me to be a fraud, and that I was letting them down. I had to employ a southern accent, and I worried I sounded ridiculous.”
- Ms. Fanservice: Was one of Hollywood's "go to" girls for nudity in cinema for a good long time. It's part of what kept her from being taken seriously as an actress (well, that and the bomb that was Striptease).
- Production Posse: In her Brat Pack days.
