Hollywood Actress: Demi Moore
(Demi Moore in a Photoshoot by R. Shoshana in 1984. Image Courtesy of Avaxhome.unblocker.xyz)
Background
Demi Moore's role in the film Striptease, made her at one point Hollywood's highest paid female actress, grossing $12.5 million. Being born in 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico to parents who drank and argued constantly Moore had to work her way to the spotlight. At the age of 16, she quit school and signed with the Elite Modeling Agency, traveling to Europe to work as a pin-up girl. She then enrolled in drama classes after being inspired by her next-door neighbor, 17-year-old German actress Nastassja Kinski, a german actress and model. In 1982, she had her first role as a returning character on the soap-opera General Hospital.
Moore struggled while earning her way to fame. On the set of the 1985 film St. Elmo's Fire, she was almost fired for showing up high on cocaine. She struggled with drugs and alcohol, almost letting the fame get the best of her. Once clean she would pull publicity stunts such as posing naked while pregnant for the magazine Vanity Fair in order to work her way to the top in Hollywood. The publicity stunts worked, and in 1990 Moore got a starring role as Molly Jensen in the film Ghost. Her career continued to skyrocket from there as she got roles in the films A Few Good Men, Striptease and G.I. Jane.
In 2009, Moore and Kutcher launched The Demi and Ashton Foundation (DNA), a nonprofit, non-governmental organization directed towards fighting child sexual slavery. Its first campaign was "Real Men Don't Buy Girls." Currently, the organization is called Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children and is backed by other well known men and women in Hollywood, such as Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake, and Bradley Cooper.
Today, Moore continues to be involved in the Hollywood scene as she joined FOX's hit television series Empire in 2017, with daughter Rumer Willis.
(Demi Moore starring in a beach photoshoot. Image courtesy of Pinterest.com)
Breaking the Sexist Stigma in the 1990's
With Moore's roles in the films A Few Good Men and G.I. Jane women continued to combat the sexist stigma that had developed throughout the history of Hollywood. In A Few Good Men, Moore is Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway for the United States Navy.
She works on a high profile case where two marines are on trial for their lives with actor Tom Cruise. She outranks Cruise whose role in the film is a lieutenant lawyer, and her role within the film leads to the two marines getting to keep their lives as the pair fight on the defense. This role shows power for women. They do not always have to be the "damsel in distress" or someone who plays a lower class role, such as a receptionist or a secretary.
With this leading role for a woman society began to see more women in leading roles throughout the 1990's. Actress Sigourney Weaver began her role as a protagonist in the 1980's for the hit movie series Aliens. Weaver's role in Aliens in 1986 showed her taking the lead against an alien life form that has come. The movie was continued upon and made into a series.
With Weaver taking the role in the films it exemplifies women in a more powerful, again moving away from the idea that women are the ones who always need saving.
(Demi Moore posing topless in photoshoot from early on in her career. Image courtesy of Pinterest.com)
Trailer to the 1992 movie A Few Good Men starring Demi Moore
Demi Moore empowering scene from A Few Good Men (1992)
Accomplishments
- 1991 Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture for Ghost
- 1991 Won a Saturn Award for Best Actress for Ghost
- 1997 Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for If These Walls Could Talk
- 1997 Nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie for If These Walls Could Talk
Additional Information
Demi Moore's Hollywood Persona
Actress Sigourney Weaver - IMDB
(Page written and researched by Amanda Holland.)
