Molly Ringwald

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Family

American actress and singer. At 13 years of age Ringwald was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1982 for her first major film "Tempest" based on Shakespeare's play with a modern setting. The daughter of Bob Ringwald, a blind jazz pianist-bandleader and Adele, a chef, Molly is the youngest of four children. The eldest sibling died at three years of age of leukemia. Her brother Kelly is one year older and sister Beth is three years older. As her father's blindness is congenital, there was fear in her early years that she or her siblings might also lose their sight. Her first performance was at a California State Fair at age three singing with her father's band. At five she began singing, dancing and acting classes. The part of the dormouse in "Alice Through The Looking Glass" provided her stage debut at six and she recorded an album of jazz and blues songs, "Molly Sings," with her father's band the same year. At this age she was sure she would be a black nightclub singer when she grew older. The "New Mickey Mouse Club," provided her TV debut at eight and at nine she played Kate in the touring company of "Annie." Ringwald attended the Lycee Francais in Los Angeles, a prestigious bilingual private school. When filming she had private tutors. At 12 she appeared on NBC's "Facts Of Life" but her part was cut before the second season. Fame came to Molly in her teen years when she starred in three films with Hollywood's Brat Pack, "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty In Pink." Appearing on the cover of Time Magazine on 5/26/1986, the story related her success. These films provided enough money for her to purchase her own home by the time she was 19. Later, she recalled that her early 20's very angry years. Her following films were box office flops and finding no suitable parts, instead of college, in 1992 Ringwald went to Paris for a film which lasted six weeks. She decided to live in Paris, writing and studying, returning to America to make the TV miniseries "The Stand" which aired in early May 1994, after which she returned to Paris through 1996. After intensive language classes she was able to star in the French film "L'Enfant Salud," and other French language films. In 1996 Ringwald again returned to America to star in the TV sitcom "Townies" which was dropped in mid-season. In October 1997 Ringwald went to Broadway in "How I Learned To Drive" receiving critical acclaim. The part lasted through 4/19/1998 when the show closed. With fashion sense and a love of clothes, Molly at 5'8" with a slender frame always shopped in thrift stores, creating her own look with antique laces and junk shop couture. With a delicate complexion, freckles and auburn hair, she has a coiled poise, a resilient sense of humor and openness of emotion that allows her expression without saying a word. A flawless performer, she can remember anything that rhymes or is set to music. Ringwald feels work adds order to her life. She has played Anne Juergens in the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager and released her debut album Except Sometimes in early 2013. While in Paris Ringwald met and fell in love with French writer-director Valery Lameignere in 1993. Ringwald was married to Valéry Lameignère, in Bordeaux, France, on July 28, 1999; they divorced in 2002. She married Panio Gianopoulos, a Greek-American writer and book editor, in 2007. They have a daughter, Mathilda (born 2003), and twins, Adele and Roman (born 2009). Link to Wikipedia biography