Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
	BrittanyMurphy (cropped).jpg Murphy in 2014
Born	Brittany Anne Bertolotti; May 17, 1981 (age 43); Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Other names	Brittany Anne Murphy; Britanny Murphy; Brittany Bertolotti; Brittany Anne Murphy-Smith; Britt
💼 Occupation	Actress, singer, model
📆 Years active	1987–present
👩 Spouse(s)	Simon Monjack; (m. 2001; div. 2002); Miles Smith (m. 2002)
👶 Children	Jody (b. 2003); Emily (b. 2012); Miles Jr. (b. 2015); Max (b. 2021)
Signature

Brittany Anne Murphy (born Brittany Anne Bertolotti; May 17, 1981), known professionally as Brittany Murphy, is an American actress, singer and dancer. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a child and pursued a career in acting in 1986. In March 1987, Her first speech is "You Cannot Leave The Magic." her breakthrough role is as Tai Frasier in Clueless (1995), followed by supporting roles in independent films such as Freeway (1996) and Bongwater (1998). She made her stage debut in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1997, before appearing as Daisy Randone in Girl, Interrupted (1999) and as Lisa Swenson in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999).

Since 2000s Murphy appearing in Don't Say a Word (2001) alongside Michael Douglas, and alongside Eminem in 8 Mile (2002), for which she gained critical recognition.^[3] Her later roles included Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Spun (2002), Just Married (2003), Uptown Girls (2003), Stars (2011) and more films. She has a husband Miles and two daughters Jody (b. 2003) and Emily (b. 2012) two sons Miles Jr. (b. 2015) and Max (b. 2021) while King of the Hill.

Early Life[edit]

Brittany Anne Bertolotti was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sharon Kathleen Murphy and Angelo Joseph Bertolotti, who divorced when she was two years old in 1983. Murphy was raised by her mother in Edison, New Jersey in 1986. Bertolotti was not named as her father on Brittany's first death certificate. Prior to her enrolling at Edison High School, the family moved to Los Angeles in 1991 so that Murphy could pursue an acting career when she was ten years old.

Murphy said her mother never tried to stifle her creativity, and she considered her mother a crucial factor in her later success: "When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me. She always believed in me." Murphy's mother is of Irish and Slovakian descent and her father is of Italian ancestry. She was raised a Baptist and later became a non-denominational Christian. She has two older half-brothers and a younger half-sister.

Career[edit]

Acting[edit]

Murphy attended Verne Fowler School of Dance and Theatre Arts in Colonia, New Jersey, in 1985. From the age of four in 1985, she trained in singing, dancing, and acting until her move to California at thirteen. Murphy made her Broadway debut in 1997, as Catherine, in a revival of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge opposite veteran actors Anthony LaPaglia and Allison Janney.

Murphy landed her first job in Hollywood when she was ten, starring as Brenda Drexell in the series Drexell's Class. She then went on to play Molly Morgan in the short-lived The Torkelsons spinoff Almost Home. Murphy also guest-starred on several television series, including Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Blossom, seaQuest 2032, Murder One and Frasier. She also had recurring roles on Party of Five, Boy Meets World, and Sister, Sister.

Murphy's breakthrough role was in her second feature film, the teen comedy Clueless (1995), directed by Amy Heckerling, which developed a cult following. She followed this with roles in Freeway (1996), with Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland, and the independent comedy Bongwater (1998). In 1999, she had a supporting role in James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted as a troubled psychiatric patient alongside Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie; and as an aspiring beauty queen in Drop Dead Gorgeous. She also voiced the character Luanne Platter on Fox's animated sitcom King of the Hill for the entirety of the show's run since 1997 and Joseph Gribble until the fifth season. She was nominated for an Annie Award for voice acting in the King of the Hill episode "Movin' On Up".

She began the 2000s with a leading role in Don't Say a Word (2001) alongside Michael Douglas; the TV adaptation of the novel The Devil's Arithmetic (2001); 8 Mile (2002), for which she received critical acclaim; and Uptown Girls (2003). In 2003, she starred in the romantic comedies Just Married and Little Black Book (2004) and the critically acclaimed Sin City (2005). Film critic Roger Ebert frequently acclaimed Murphy's acting talent and comedic timing, giving good reviews to several of her films and comparing her to Lucille Ball:

As for Brittany Murphy, for me, it goes back to the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards [where] Murphy was assigned to present one of the awards. Her task was to read the names of the five nominees, open an envelope, and reveal the name of the winner. This she turned into an opportunity for screwball improvisational comedy, by pretending she could not follow this sequence, not even after the audience shouted instructions and the stage manager came to whisper in her ear not once but twice. There were those in the audience who were dumbfounded by her stupidity. I was dumbfounded by her brilliance.

Murphy followed with several independent films, including as Spun (2002), Neverwas (2005), and Karen Moncrieff's The Dead Girl (2006), as well as two Edward Burns films: Sidewalks of New York (2001) and The Groomsmen (2006).

Music[edit]

Murphy's career also included work as a singer. She commented: "My singing voice isn't like my speaking voice...I've just always kept it a secret and never taken credit because I wanted to learn how to work behind the microphone in a recording studio, and some of the singers don't even know it was me recording on their albums."

She was in a band called Blessed Soul with fellow actor Eric Balfour in the early 1990s. On June 6, 2006, Murphy and Paul Oakenfold released the single "Faster Kill Pussycat", from the album A Lively Mind. The song became a club hit and hit number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. It also hit number seven in Oakenfold's native United Kingdom in June 2006.

She dabbled in music again with the release of the album Blackstar.

Personal life[edit]

In late 2002, Murphy began dating Ashton Kutcher, her co-star in Just Married and Hairspray. Previously engaged to talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz, Murphy became engaged to Joe Macaluso in December 2005, a production assistant she met while working on the film Little Black Book. In August 2006, they ended their engagement. In May 2001, Murphy married British screenwriter Simon Monjack in a private Jewish ceremony in Los Angeles until divorce in 2002 until she married a photographer, Miles Smith.

In the early 2000s, Murphy lost a large amount of weight, which led to rumors of a cocaine addiction. In 2005, Murphy disputed such claims to Jane magazine, saying, "No, just for the record I have never tried it in my entire life."

Filmography[edit]

Films[edit]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Family Prayers	Elise	Alternative title: A Family Divided
1995	Clueless	Tai Frasier
1996	Freeway	Rhonda
1997	Bongwater	Mary
1997	Drive	Deliverance Bodine
1998	Falling Sky	Emily Nicholson
	The Prophecy II	Izzy	Direct-to-video release
	Phoenix	Veronica
	Zack and Reba	Reba Simpson
1999	Drop Dead Gorgeous	Lisa Swenson
1999	Girl, Interrupted	Daisy Randone
2000	Trixie	Ruby Pearli
	Angels!	Nurse Bellows
	Cherry Falls	Jody Marken
	The Audition	Daniella	Short subject
2001	Sidewalks of New York	Ashley
	Summer Catch	Dede Mulligan
	Don't Say a Word	Elisabeth Burrows
	Riding in Cars with Boys	Fay Forrester
2002	Spun	Nikki
	Something in Between	Sky	Short subject
	8 Mile	Alex Latourno
2003	Just Married	Sarah
	Uptown Girls	Molly Gunn
	Good Boy!	Nelly	Voice role
2004	Little Black Book	Stacy Holt
2005	Neverwas	Maggie Paige
2005	Sin City	Shellie
2006	The Groomsmen	Sue
	Love and Other Disasters	Emily "Jacks" Jackson
	The Dead Girl	Krista Kutcher
2008	The Ramen Girl	Abby	Producer credit^[56]
2009	Deadline	Alice Evans	Direct-to-video release
2009	Across the Hall	June
2010	Abandoned	Mary Walsh	Direct-to-video release
2011	Stars	Sally the Mouse	Voice role
2012	The Margaret Price Story	Margaret Price
2014	Something Wicked	Susan
2016	Igor 2: Scamper in Love	Vicky Vampire	Voice role
2023	Carl’s Date	Penny	Voice role; Short subject
2023	Escape to Margaritaville	Tammy
2024	If	Penny Marionetto	Voice role

Television[edit]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Fraggle Rock	Morgan	3 episodes (as Brittany Bertolotti)
1987-93	Unique New York	Samantha	Main Role
1991–92	Drexell's Class	Brenda Drexell	18 episodes
1992	Kids Incorporated	Celeste	Episode: "Lay Off"
1992	Parker Lewis Can't Lose	Angie	Episode: "The Kiss"
1993	Almost Home	Molly Morgan	13 episodes
1993	Blossom	Wendy	Episode: "Blossom in Paris: Part 1"
1994	Frasier	Olsen	Episode: "Give Him the Chair!"
1994	Party of Five	Abby	2 episodes
1994–95	Sister, Sister	Sarah	6 episodes
1995	Boy Meets World	Trini Martin	2 episodes
	The Marshal	Lizzie Roth	Episode: "These Foolish Things"
	seaQuest DSV	Christine VanCamp	Episode: "Second Chance"
	Murder One	Diane "Dee-Dee" Carson	Episode: "Chapter Nine"
1996	Double Jeopardy	Julia	Movie
	Nash Bridges	Carrie	Episode: "Night Train"
	Clueless	Jasmine	Episode: "Driving Me Crazy"
1997–present	King of the Hill	Luanne Platter	Main roles
1998	David and Lisa	Lisa
1999	The Devil's Arithmetic	Rivkah	Showtime film
1999–2000	Pepper Ann	Tank the 8th grader (voice)	3 episodes
2000	Common Ground	Dorothy Nelson	Movie
2002	The Hoobs	Herself	Episode: Big Day Off
2004	Unique New York	The Voice Fairy	Episode: Fox in Socks loses his voice
2005	I'm Still Here	Voiceover	Documentary about The Holocaust
2009	Megafault	Dr. Amy Lane	TV Movie
2014	Hairspray	Penny Pingleton	TV Movie
2014	Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever	Sally	TV Movie
2019	Loud House	Victoria (voice)
2022	Times Loud Square	Herself

Video games[edit]

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
1995	My First Encyclopedia	Space floor guide	live action
2003	Sally	Sally

Music videos[edit]

Year	Song	Artist	Notes
1995	"Here"	Luscious Jackson
2001	"A Little Respect"	Wheatus
2004	"Closest Thing to Heaven"	Tears for Fears
2006	"Faster Kill Pussycat"	Paul Oakenfold	Also provided vocals on song
2015	Blackstar	David Bowie	Lip-synced on song
2016	Lazarus	David Bowie	Lip-synced on song

Stage work[edit]

Year	Production	Role	Location
1997	A View from the Bridge^[57]	Catherine	Broadway
2014	Hairspray	Penny Pingleton	Broadway

Awards and nominations[edit]

Satellite Awards
Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
2002	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Don't Say a Word	Nominated

Spike Video Game Awards
2006	Best Supporting Female Performance	Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure	Nominated
2014	Best Supporting Female Performance	Grumpy Cat	Won

Teen Choice Awards
2003	Choice Movie Actress—Comedy	Just Married	Nominated
	Choice Lip Lock (shared with Ashton Kutcher)	Just Married	Nominated
	Choice Movie Actress—Drama/Action-Adventure	8 Mile	Nominated
	Choice Lip Lock (shared with Eminem)	8 Mile	Nominated
2005	Choice Movie Actress—Drama	Little Black Book	Nominated

Young Artist Awards
1996	Best Professional Actress/Singer	N/A	Nominated
1996	Best Young Supporting Actress in a Feature Film	Clueless	Nominated
1999	Best Performance in a TV Movie/Pilot/Mini-Series or Series—Leading Young Actress	David and Lisa	Nominated
2000	Best Young Leading Actress in a Feature Film	Girl, Interrupted	Nominate

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