A small-town girl born and raised in rural Kalispell, Montana, Michelle Ingrid Williams is the daughter of Carla Ingrid (Swenson), a homemaker, and Larry Richard Williams, a commodity trader and author. Her ancestry is Norwegian, as well as German, British Isles, and other Scandinavian. She was first known as bad girl Jen Lindley in the television series Dawson’s Creek (1998). She appeared in the comedy film Dick (1999), which was a parody of the Watergate Scandal along with Kirsten Dunst, as well as Prozac Nation (2001) with Christina Ricci. Since then, Michelle has worked her way into the world of independent films such as The Station Agent (2003), Imaginary Heroes (2004), and The Baxter (2005). But her real success happened in 2005 when she starred in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (2005) as Alma Beers Del Mar. A woman who realizes her husband is in love with another man. Her talent shown in Brokeback Mountain (2005) landed her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2011, she received her first lead role Academy Award nomination for Blue Valentine (2010). She followed this in 2012 with a lead role Academy Award nomination for My Week with Marilyn (2011).Michelle has a daughter, Matilda, with late Australian actor Heath Ledger.
Michelle Williams
Movies
Fun Facts
but I feel like I'm kind of always working at the edge of my ability. I guess that's what I'm looking for when I go to work. I am trying to become the edge.
I'm a glutton for punishment! I won't let myself shrink away from a challenge. While my mind is saying
Quotes
Outside of the business during a dry spell, I scooped ice cream at a country fair, and I ate more than I sold. Making a cone is difficult, and I lost so many scoops into the chocolate swirl.
[on working on her film Timemaster (1995)] It was so awful. We turn the 'M' upside down and called it Timewaster.
I can't watch myself [in movies]. I used to think I was cool. Now, my standpoint is that I can't be fair. So I can't pass any judgment.
[on her former partner, Heath Ledger] His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still.
For so long, I felt like a walking open wound everywhere I went. There's this Joan Didion quote about being afflicted from an early age with a presentiment of loss. Did I come into the world like that? Or was I kind of gifted that?
It's all so personal, isn't it? It's hard to talk about work without talking about things that are personal. Work is personal. I don't want to talk about my personal life, but it's on my mind, and it's in my work.
[on Heath Ledger's death in 2008] In a strange way, I miss that year, because all those possibilities that existed then are gone. It didn't seem unlikely to me that he could walk through a door or could appear from behind a bush. It was a year of very magical thinking and, in some ways, I'm sad to be moving further and further away from it.
I like to do weird things in the shower, like drink my coffee, brush my teeth and drink a smoothie. It's good time management.
I find myself saying this all the time during every movie I make, "Why is this is so hard?"" And I realize yes it is. Every movie I make I find kind of excruciating. I get a lot back from it