Elizabeth Shue Not just a pretty face and an accomplished Academy Award nominated actress but also a well educated, successful student from an upper class family. Elizabeth Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware on October 6th 1963 to Anne and James Shue. Her mother was a bank executive and her father was a successful lawyer, real estate developer and an active member of the Republican party having once run for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey. Elizabeth studied at Columbia High School in Maplewood New Jersey and attended both Wellesley College and Harvard University. However, her stint at Harvard was cut short when she decided to pursue a career in modeling. While studying she also became a state junior level gymnast. She has one brother, Andrew but another brother, William, died in 1988 at the age of 26 from a freak swimming accident while on family vacation. While starting out on her modeling career Shue made extra money by appearing in television commercials for companies such as Burger King, DeBeers diamonds and Hellman’s mayonnaise. Elizabeth’s acting career began taking odd in the mid 1980’s when she appeared in The Karate Kid but her big break came when she landed roles in Back to The Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III which saw her starring with Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Billy Zane. In 1995 Elizabeth, intent on shedding her sweet little girl image starred in Leaving Las Vegas, a romantic drama film about a relationship between a suicidal alcoholic and a prostitute from Las Vegas, in which she starred with Nicolas Cage. The movie earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Following that success she landed role of Dr. Emma Russell in the 1997 remake of The Saint with Val Kilmer and Roger Moore, who had portrayed the original Saint in the 1960’s.
Along with Elizabeth becoming an actor, her brother Andrew Shue followed her into the profession and has become know as one of the stars in Melrose Place where he played the role of Billy Campbell from 1992–1998. Elizabeth married her husband Davis Guggenheim in 1994 and together they have one son, Miles and two daughters, Agnes and Stella. Davis was the director of the HBO TV series Deadwood starring Gale Harold as Wyatt Earp and An Inconvenient Truth in 2007, a documentary film about climate change, specifically global warming, presented by former United States Vice President Al Gore. 2000 saw Shue starring in Hollow Man an Academy award-nominated science fiction thriller film , starring Kevin Bacon and Josh Brolin and 2005 saw her starring alongside Robert DeNiro and Dakota Fanning in the thriller Hide and Seek, a movie that although was not critically acclaimed still gained high praise of the actors. Shue is currently involved in the making of the upcoming movie She Works Hard for the Money, where Shue plays high powered business-woman Melinda Mucci working in a "man's world" during the 1980s in New York City, defying the odds and becoming CEO of one of the most successful advertising firms in the country. The movie is due for release in 2008. ABB | 
