Oscar Profile #634: Michelle Williams

Born September 9, 1980 in Kalispell, Montana to Carla, a homemaker, and Larry Williams, an author and commodities trader, Michelle Williams grew up in a family with three half-siblings from her father’s earlier marriage and a younger sister. The family moved to San Diego, California when she was 9. Interested in acting from an early age, her parents would drive her to Los Angeles for auditions.

Williams made her professional acting debut in a 1993 episode of TV’s Baywatch. She made her film debut in 1994’s Lassie. At 15, with her parents’ permission, she filed for emancipation so that she could pursue acting with less scrutiny from child labor laws.

Following her emancipation, Williams moved to Burbank where she lived by herself taking small roles in films as well as TV commercials to support herself. In 1998, she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina where she lived for six years during the filming of the TV series Dawson’s Creek in which she starred with James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, and Joshua Jackson until the series was cancelled in 2003.

The young actress’ films during this period included Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, Dick, But I’m a Cheerleader, Prozac Nation, and The Station Agent. In 2005, she co-starred with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain for which all three received Oscar nominations. She and Ledger fell into a relationship and had a daughter, Matilda, born later that year. Gyllenhaal is the child’s godfather.

Separated from Ledger at the time of his premature death in 2008, Williams marked time in such films as I’m Not There, Wendy and Lucy and Synecdoche, New York before receiving a Best Actress Oscar nomination for 2010’s Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling. She received another Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe opposite Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier in 2011’s My Week with Marilyn. She took a role in 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful so that her daughter could see her on screen in one of her films.

Williams’ subsequent work has included such high-profile films as Manchester by the Sea for which she received her fourth Oscar nomination, Certain Women, Wonderstruck, All the Money in the World for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, The Greatest Showman, and After the Wedding.

Briefly married to Phil Elverum in 2018, Williams met second husband Thomas Kail with whom she has two more children, when he directed her in the 2019 TV mini-series, Fosse/Verdon for which she received a much deserved Emmy for her portrayal of Gwen Verdon.

Williams’ portrayal of Steven Spielberg’s fictionalized mother in The Fabelmans has earned her a fifth Oscar nomination at 42.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005), directed by Ang Li

Nominated for 8 Oscars, and winner of 3, this groundbreaking film won practically every Best Picture award that year except for the Oscar for Best Picture which went to Crash in a presumed backlash against the film’s depiction of two men in love. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are terrific as the Montana shepherds who form an unbroken emotional bond as well as a sexual one. Williams and Anne Hathaway as their wives are equally fine with Ledger, Gyllenhaal and Williams all earning well-deserved Oscar nominations for their performances which many, including me, considered better than the actual winners.

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011), directed by Kenneth Brangh

Williams was at her best as Marilyn Monroe in this film based on the memoirs of an assistant to Laurence Olivier during the filming of the 1957 film, The Prince and the Showgirl, Both Williams and Kenneth Branagh, who played Olivier, received Oscar nominations for their performances. Eddie Redmayne played the assistant to Olivier who was both the film’s director and leading actor. It was one dame playing another with Judi Dench who had the key supporting role of Sybil Thorndike who walked away with the earlier film for which she received a National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (2016), directed by Kenneth Lonergan

Nominated for 6 Oscars, and winner of 2, this emotionally charged drama about grief and depression provided Williams with the role that earned her the fourth of her five Oscar nominations to date for her brief, but unforgettable turn as Oscar winner Casey Affleck’s estranged wife. Lonergan, who had also been nominated for Best Director, won for his riveting screenplay. Lucas Hedges, in a star-making turn, was also nominated for his portrayal of the teenager whose care is entrusted to Affleck after the death of Affleck’s brother played by Kyle Chandler. Gretchen Mol is featured as Hedges’ long-missing alcoholic mother.

FOSSE/VERDON (2019), directed by Thomas Kail, Adam Bernstein, Mikie Spiro, Jessica Yu

Williams was at the top of her game, singing, dancing, and acting her heart out as Broadway legend Gwen Verdon in this engrossing TV miniseries co-starring Sam Rockwell as her husband, dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse. Nominated for 17 Emmys, it won 4 including one for Williams as Best Actress. Rockwell and Margaret Qualley as Ann Reinking, Verdon;s replacement in Fosse’s life both onstage and off, were the only other actors nominated. Writer-producer-director Kail, who met and married Williams during production, was nominated for Best Miniseries and Best Director.

THE FABELMANS (2022), directed by Steven Spielberg

Nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Actress (Williams), and Supporting Actor (Judd Hirsch), Spielberg’s thinly disguised autobiographical film provided Williams with what was perceived as a sure bet supporting actress award role. The only problem was that top-billed Williams insisted that she be considered for Best Actress, not Best Supporting Actress where her chances of being nominated, let alone winning, were less sure. Paul Dano as the character based on Spielberg’s father was less lucky. 87-year-old Hirsch who plays Williams’ uncle, has his first nomination in 42 years, a new record for actors in any category.