Bridget Fonda

Bridget Fonda is an actress notable for her pedigree as a member of the Fonda acting clan, for her marriage to composer Danny Elfman, and also for her diverse film roles.

Bridget Jane Fonda was born on January 27, 1964, in Los Angeles. Her father is Peter Fonda (best known for his role opposite Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider), and her mother is production assistant, Susan Brewer. Bridget’s grandfather was the Oscar-winning Henry Fonda, and her aunt is Klute star and exercise guru Jane Fonda. She was named after her father's former love Bridget Hayward, an actress who committed suicide. She has one brother, actor and cameraman Justin Fonda. Her godfather is Dallas star Larry Hagman, and Bridget went on to appear in a biopic about him in 2004.

Fonda's parents divorced when she was eight years old and her father married Portia Rebecca Crockett, the former wife of author Thomas McGuane. She and her brother went to live with their mother. Fonda attended Westlake School for Girls, and it was there that she developed an interest in acting, appearing in a stage version of Harvey. Wanting to learn her craft properly rather than riding on the family name, she moved to New York to enroll in the Tisch School of the Arts and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. This gave her an interest in theater acting, which she has pursued throughout her more celebrated movie career.

Despite several small roles in other films, including a bit part in Easy Rider when she was just five years old and a memorable sex scene in Franc Roddam's section of Aria, it wasn't until 1988 that Fonda got a speaking part, appearing opposite David Leisure in the comedy You Can't Hurry Love.

The following year Bridget broke into the big time with Scandal, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Mandy Rice-Davies, the good time girl who, along with Christine Keeler (played by Joanne Whalley), triggered the sex scandal in Britain's parliament which led to the resignation of then defense minister John Profumo.

This marked the start of a career that would include such notable films as the Brian Aldiss adaptation Frankenstein Unbound, with John Hurt, Jason Patric and doomed singer Michael Hutchence; part three of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy, with Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia; Doc Hollywood, with Michael J Fox and Woody Harrelson; and Single White Female, with Jennifer Jason Leigh. The commercial success of the latter gave her more freedom about the roles she took on, and she next appeared alongside Bruce Campbell in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness, and indie favourite Bodies, Rest & Motion, with Phoebe Cates, Tim Roth, Eric Stoltz, and Alicia Witt.

Later work included The Road to Wellville, with Sir Anthony Hopkins; Lake Placid with Bill Pullman and a giant crocodile; and Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown.

Over the course of her career, Fonda has been romantically linked to several other stars. She lived with actor and writer Lee Drysdale and later with Eric Stoltz before dating country music singer Dwight Yoakam. In 2003 Fonda married composer Danny Elfman, famous for his Tim Burton movie soundtracks. The couple went on to have a son, Oliver Henry Milton Elfman. Since becoming a mother, Fonda has ceased to work in the film industry. She also looks after young actress Mali Elfman, her husband's daughter from a previous relationship.

YUDDY