Demi Moore facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Demi Moore
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Moore in 2024
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| Born |
Demi Gene Guynes
November 11, 1962 Roswell, New Mexico, U.S.
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1981–present |
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Works
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Full list |
| Spouse(s) |
Freddy Moore
(m. 1981; div. 1985) |
| Children | 3, including Rumer Willis |
| Awards | Full list |
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Demi Gene Moore (/dəˈmiː/ DƏ-mee; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, Moore became the world's highest-paid actress in 1995. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award.
Moore began her career as a model and joined the cast of the soap opera General Hospital in 1981. After departing the show in 1983, she rose to prominence as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in the films Blame It on Rio (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), and About Last Night... (1986). She emerged a star with her portrayal of a grieving ceramicist in the romance film Ghost (1990), had further box office success in A Few Good Men (1992) and Disclosure (1994).
Moore's output decreased significantly after The Scarlet Letter (1995), The Juror (1996), and G.I. Jane (1997) fell below commercial expectations. She has since held sporadic leading roles in arthouse films; supporting roles in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Bobby (2006), Mr. Brooks (2007), and Margin Call (2011); as well as television credits in If These Walls Could Talk (1996), Empire (2017–2018), Landman (2024) and Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024). She gained renewed recognition for her performance as an aging celebrity in the body horror film The Substance (2024), receiving a Golden Globe and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Moore has been married three times. From 1981 to 1985, she was married to musician Freddy Moore. From 1987 to 2000, she was married to Bruce Willis, with whom she has three daughters. She was married to Ashton Kutcher from 2005 to 2013. Her memoir Inside Out (2019) became a New York Times Best Seller.
Contents
Early life
Childhood and family
Moore was born November 11, 1962, in Roswell, New Mexico. Her biological father, Air Force airman Charles Foster Harmon Sr., left her then 18-year-old mother, Virginia (née King), after a two-month marriage before Moore was born. Charles came from Lanett, Alabama, and Virginia was born in Richmond, California, but had grown up in Roswell. Moore's maternal grandmother was raised on a farm in Elida, New Mexico. Moore has deep roots in the South Central and Southern United States, particularly Oklahoma, Arkansas and Georgia. When Moore was three months old, her mother married Dan Guynes, a newspaper advertising salesman who frequently changed jobs; as a result, the family moved many times. In 1967 they had Moore's half-brother Morgan. Moore said in 1991, "My dad is Dan Guynes. He raised me. There is a man who would be considered my biological father who I don't really have a relationship with." Moore has half-siblings from Charlie Harmon's other marriages, but she doesn't keep in touch with them either.
Moore's stepfather Dan Guynes married and divorced Virginia twice. On October 20, 1980, a year after their second divorce from each other, Guynes died. Her biological father Harmon died in 1997 from liver cancer in Brazoria, Texas. Moore's mother had a long arrest record. Moore broke off contact with her in 1989. Moore and Virginia Guynes reconciled shortly before Guynes died of a brain tumor on July 2, 1998.
Moore spent her early childhood in Roswell, and later, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. She suffered from strabismus, which was corrected by two operations, as well as kidney dysfunction. Moore learned that Guynes was not her real father at age 13, when she discovered a marriage certificate and inquired about the circumstances since she "saw my parents were married in February 1963. I was born in '62."
Education
At age 14, Moore returned to her hometown of Roswell and lived with her grandmother for six months before relocating to Washington state, where her recently separated mother was residing near Seattle. Several months later, the family moved again to West Hollywood, California, where Moore's mother took a job working for a magazine distribution company. Moore attended Fairfax High School there. She moved out of her family's house the day after her 16th birthday and quit high school in her junior year to work as a receptionist at 20th Century Fox.
Career
1980–1989: Early roles and breakthrough
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Moore co-wrote three songs with Freddy Moore and appeared in the music video for their selection It's Not a Rumor, performed by his band, The Nu-Kats. She continues to receive royalty checks from her songwriting work (1980–1981).
Moore made her film debut as the protagonist's girlfriend in Choices (1981), a sports drama directed by Silvio Narizzano. It did not garner much attention until after Moore became a household name, with home video releases heavily hyping up her appearance. Her second feature was the 3-D sci-fi horror Parasite (1982), for which director Charles Band had instructed casting director Johanna Ray to "find me the next Karen Allen." It proved to be a minor hit on the drive-in circuit, ultimately grossing $7 million. Moore had already joined the cast of the ABC soap opera General Hospital several months before the film's release, playing the role of investigative reporter Jackie Templeton through 1983. During her tenure on the series, she made an uncredited cameo appearance in the 1982 spoof Young Doctors in Love.
Moore's film career took off in 1984 following her appearance in the comedy Blame It on Rio. In No Small Affair (1984), she played the love interest of an amateur photographer, opposite Jon Cryer. Her commercial breakthrough came with her role as an uninhibited banker in Joel Schumacher's yuppie drama St. Elmo's Fire (1985), which received negative reviews, but was a box office success and brought her widespread recognition. Because of her association with that film, she was often listed as part of the Brat Pack, a label she felt was "demeaning."
Moore progressed to more serious material with the romantic dramedy About Last Night... (1986), in which she played one half of a Chicago couple, alongside Rob Lowe. It marked a positive turning point in her career, as Moore noted that, following its release, she began seeing better scripts. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and praised her performance, writing, "There isn't a romantic note she isn't required to play in this movie, and she plays them all flawlessly." The success of About Last Night... was unrivaled by Moore's other two 1986 releases, One Crazy Summer and Wisdom, the last youth-oriented films in which she would star.
Moore made her professional stage debut in an off-Broadway production of The Early Girl, which ran at the Circle Repertory Company in fall 1986. In 1988, Moore starred as a prophecy-bearing mother in the apocalyptic drama The Seventh Sign—her first outing as a solo film star— and in 1989, she played the quick-witted local laundress in Neil Jordan's Depression-era allegory We're No Angels, opposite Robert De Niro.
1990–1996: Established actress
Moore's most successful film to date is the supernatural romantic melodrama Ghost, which grossed over $505 million at the box office and was the highest-grossing film of 1990, as well as the most rented videocassette of 1991. Ghost was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Moore's performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination and the Saturn Award for Best Actress. She started fashion trends with her uncharacteristically gamine look, and legions of women emulated the short haircut she sported throughout the film. At one point, Ghost and Die Hard 2, starring Moore's then-husband Bruce Willis, would occupy the number one and number two spots at the box office, a feat that would not be accomplished again for a married Hollywood couple until 2024.
In 1991, Moore starred in the horror comedy Nothing but Trouble, the mystery thriller Mortal Thoughts, and the romantic comedy The Butcher's Wife. She took on the role of a clairvoyant woman in the latter to increase her fee following the success of Ghost, but later regretted making the film. Roger Ebert's review, nevertheless, described her portrayal as "warm and cuddly." She maintained her A-list status with her leading role as a lieutenant commander in Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men (1992). She then appeared in Barry Levinson's Disclosure (1994). The two aforementioned films opened atop the box office and were blockbuster hits. By 1995, Moore had become the world's highest paid actress.
Moore's next starring vehicles were released to fluctuated critical and commercial responses. She played an author with commitment issues in the coming-of-age drama Now and Then (1995), a film that found box office success and cult following despite a negative critical reception. Her portrayal of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter (1995), a "freely adapted" version of the historical romance novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was met with harsh criticism. She starred as a single mother intimidated by a mobster in the thriller The Juror (1996), which made $63 million on a $44 million budget.
Moore produced and starred in HBO's If These Walls Could Talk (1996) alongside Sissy Spacek and Cher. For the film, Moore received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film and Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. In 1996, she provided the voice of Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Dallas Grimes in Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, both of which were the highest-grossing animated films that year.
1997–2009: Career setbacks
Moore shaved her head to play the first woman to undergo training in the Navy SEALs in Ridley Scott's G.I. Jane (1997). Budgeted at $50 million, the film was a moderate commercial success, with a worldwide gross of $97.1 million. During the production of G.I. Jane, it was reported that Moore had ordered studio chiefs to charter two planes for her entourage and her, which reinforced her negative reputation for being a diva—she had previously turned down the Sandra Bullock role in While You Were Sleeping because the studio refused to meet her salary demands, and was dubbed "Gimme Moore" by the media. She took on the role of an ultrapious Jewish convert psychiatrist in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, also in 1997.
After G.I. Jane, Moore retreated from the spotlight and moved to Hailey, Idaho, on a full-time basis to devote herself to raising her three daughters. She was off screen for three years before re-emerging in the arthouse psychological drama Passion of Mind (2000), the first English-language film from Belgian director Alain Berliner. Her performance as a woman with dissociative identity disorder was well received, but the film itself garnered negative reviews and was deemed "naggingly slow" by some critics. Moore then resumed her self-imposed career hiatus and continued to turn down film offers. Producer Irwin Winkler said in 2001, "I had a project about a year and a half ago, and we made an inquiry about her—a real good commercial picture. She wasn't interested."
Moore returned to the screen playing a villain in the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, opposite Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu. A commercial success, the film made $259.1 million worldwide. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was followed by yet another three-year absence. In the interim, Moore signed on as the face of the Versace fashion brand and the Helena Rubinstein brand of cosmetics.
In Emilio Estevez's drama Bobby (2006), Moore portrayed a singer whose career is on the downswing, as part of an ensemble cast, about the hours leading up to the Robert F. Kennedy assassination. As a member of the cast, she was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture. The film won the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast. She played a grieving novelist in the mystery thriller Half Light (2006), and a driven police officer investigating a murder in the psychological thriller Mr. Brooks (2007). Rolling Stone felt that her role in the letter "deserved better than being saddled with an absurd back story as an heiress with a fortune-hunting husband." Mr. Brooks grossed $48.1 million worldwide.
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Moore reunited with Blame It on Rio co-star Michael Caine for the British crime drama film Flawless (2008), which saw her portray an American executive helping to steal a handful of diamonds from the London Diamond Corporation during the 1960s. Moore received positive reviews from critics; Miami Herald wrote: "The inspired pairing of Demi Moore and Michael Caine as a pair of thieves in the diamond-heist semi-caper movie Flawless goes a long way toward overcoming the film's slack, leisurely pacing."
2010–2023: Independent films and television
In 2010, Moore played a daughter helping her father deal with age-related health problems in the dramedy Happy Tears, as well as the matriarch of a family moving into a suburban neighborhood in the comedy The Joneses. The latter film was largely highlighted upon its theatrical release, with critics concluding that it "benefits from its timely satire of consumer culture—as well as a pair of strong performances". She then starred in Bunraku (2010) as a femme fatale with a secret past.
Moore portrayed a chief risk management officer at a large Wall Street investment bank during the initial stages of the financial crisis of 2007–08 in the critically acclaimed corporate drama Margin Call (2011), where she was part of an ensemble cast that included Kevin Spacey, Simon Baker, and Paul Bettany. The cast garnered nominations for the "Best Ensemble" award from the Gotham Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society and the Central Ohio Film Critics Association. She received a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film for her work as a director in a segment of the Lifetime anthology film Five (2011).
Moore then played in Another Happy Day (2011), LOL (2012), Very Good Girls (2013), the Western drama Forsaken (2015), the road comedy Wild Oats (2016), and the drama Blind (2017).
Between 2017 and 2018, Moore had a recurring arc as a mysterious take-charge nurse on Empire. She played a social worker in the Hindi-language drama Love Sonia (2018), and a superficial CEO in the black comedy Corporate Animals (2019).
Moore's memoir, Inside Out, was published in 2019, by HarperCollins. The book reached number one on The New York Times' Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction best-sellers list and the Hardcover Nonfiction best-sellers list.
In 2020, Moore played the matriarch of a powerful family "who will stop at nothing to protect her family and her way of life" in the pandemic-themed thriller produced by Michael Bay, Songbird, alongside Craig Robinson, Paul Walter Hauser and Peter Stormare. She played the title role in Amazon's drama series, Dirty Diana, based on the podcast of the same name, and was among the celebrities who made cameo appearances modeling lingerie at Rihanna's Savage x Fenty Vol. 2 fashion show in 2020.
2024–present: Renewed critical success
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In 2024, Moore played socialite Ann Woodward in the Ryan Murphy created anthology series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans on FX on Hulu. She acted alongside Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, and Chloë Sevigny. That same year, she starred in Coralie Fargeat's body horror film The Substance, playing an aging star who uses a black market drug to make herself younger. It premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and Moore's performance was praised by critics. Nicholas Barber of BBC called it "her best big-screen role in decades" and praised her for being "fearless in parodying her public image." Phil de Semlyen of Time Out believed Moore "glues it all together, going full Isabelle Adjani-in-Possession in a vanity-free performance full of bruised ego, dawning horror and vulnerability." She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the British Academy Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
Also in 2024, Moore began starring in Taylor Sheridan's drama series Landman on Paramount+. She will next star in Boots Riley's film I Love Boosters.
Activism and philanthropy
Moore has supported numerous charities, including All Day Foundation, American Foundation for AIDS Research, Artists for Peace and Justice, Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, Declare Yourself, Free The Slaves, Healthy Child Healthy World, Raising Malawi, The Art of Elysium and UNICEF. In 2010, Moore defeated Kevin Bacon to win $250,000 in the Pepsi Refresh Celebrity Challenge. She chose to support the organization GEMS: Girls Educational & Mentoring Services. She traveled to Haiti with the Artists for Peace and Justice following the earthquake of 2010. She has also supported Chrysalis, a non-profit organization which offers employment opportunities to the homeless.
Moore appeared on PETA's Worst-Dressed List in 2009 for wearing fur; two years later she supported the group's efforts to ban circus workers' use of bullhooks on elephants.
In 2009, Moore and Kutcher launched DNA Foundation, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization directed towards fighting child slavery.
Politically, Moore is a supporter of the Democratic Party.
Personal life
On February 8, 1981, at the age of 18, Moore married singer Freddy Moore, then 30 and recently divorced from his first wife, Lucy. Before their marriage, Demi had already begun using Freddy's surname as her stage name. The pair separated in 1983, after which Demi had a relationship with Timothy Hutton. She filed for divorce from Freddy in September 1984; it was finalized on August 7, 1985. Moore was then engaged to actor Emilio Estevez, with whom she co-starred in St. Elmo's Fire and Wisdom, a crime drama he also wrote and directed. The pair planned to marry on December 6, 1986, but called off the engagement after a woman filed a $2 million paternity suit against Estevez.
On November 21, 1987, Moore married her second husband, actor Bruce Willis. She and Willis had three daughters: Rumer Glenn Willis (born 1988), Scout LaRue Willis (born 1991), and Tallulah Belle Willis (born 1994). They announced their separation on June 24, 1998, and divorced on October 18, 2000. Despite the divorce, Moore maintains a close friendship with Willis and his current spouse Emma Heming Willis, and has assisted her and their respective children with caretaking for Willis as his health has declined. Moore had a three-year romance with martial arts instructor Oliver Whitcomb, whom she dated from 1999 to 2002.
In 2003, Moore began dating actor Ashton Kutcher. Soon after they began dating, Moore became pregnant and she suffered a stillbirth six months into the pregnancy. They married on September 24, 2005. The wedding was attended by about 150 close friends and family of the couple, including Willis. In November 2011, after months of media speculation about the state of the couple's marriage, Moore announced her decision to end her marriage to Kutcher. After over a year of separation, Kutcher filed for divorce from Moore on December 21, 2012, in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. Moore filed her response papers in March 2013, requesting spousal support and payment of legal fees from Kutcher. On November 26, 2013, their divorce was finalized.
Moore claims that her good health is due to a raw vegan diet.
Moore was at one point a follower of Philip Berg's Kabbalah Centre religion, and initiated Kutcher into the faith, having said that she "didn't grow up Jewish, but [...] would say that [she has] been more exposed to the deeper meanings of particular rituals than any of [her] friends that did." She is no longer affiliated with Berg's organization. According to The New York Times, Moore is "the world's most high-profile doll collector," and among her favorites is the Gene Marshall fashion doll. At one point, she kept a separate residence to house her 2,000 dolls.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Moore is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award from four nominations, and nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Critics' Choice Movie Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
