Elisabeth Shue

Born Oct. 6, 1963, in Wilmington, Del., Elisabeth Shue began performing in commercials as a teen, hawking everything from Hellmann's Mayonnaise to Burger King -- work she continued as she pursued her studies at Wellesley and Harvard.

Despite a promising beginning with a role on the TV series "Call to Glory" (1984) and as Ralph Macchio's girlfriend in The Karate Kid, Shue's career had begun a nosedive before the actress reached her late twenties. After starring in Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Cocktail (1988), Shue found decent roles almost impossible to come by.

That all changed in 1995, however, when Mike Figgis cast her as a prostitute who takes up with a drunk (Nicolas Cage) in Leaving Las Vegas. Shue received an Oscar nomination for the role and has since worked consistently in films such as Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry and Hollow Man.

Filmography