Michelle Pfeiffer, who originally debuted in the entertainment world back in 1978, has created an extensive career during her lifetime. The actress was born in Santa Ana, California, and decided to pursue an acting career after appearing in a beauty pageant and winning sixth place in the Miss California contest. She found an acting agent and made her first appearance on an episode of the 1978 fantasy drama Fantasy Island. Pfeiffer's big break came four years later when cast in Grease 2, and while she was relatively unknown at the time of her casting, the movie catapulted her career to all-new heights. Brian De Palma then cast her in his film Scarface, and the rest was history.
After appearing in Scarface, Pfeiffer’s acting career continued to put out a series of solid performances along with a string of hits. From appearing as Catwoman to the polarized 2017 movie Mother!, Pfeiffer has managed to excel and become one of the best-known and most-recognized actresses of her generation. While some of her films may not be commercial hits, they have left a cultural legacy in the film world. Her most recent appearance will be in the upcoming Ant-Man movie, but, until then, these are her best movies, ranked.
7 The Fabulous Baker Boys
Gladden Entertainment
1989’s The Fabulous Baker Boys was directed by Steve Kloves, who is best known for adapting the Harry Potter novels for the screen. The Fabulous Baker Boys that the film’s title borrows from are Jack and Frank, two brothers who play the piano for a living. As one brother becomes tired out of their career and the lives they have been living for over 15 years now, the other brother hires a new singer (Pfeiffer) to help jazz up their performances. While this is initially successful, and the trio gets a slew of new bookings and a stable income, it backfires when it comes to the tension between the two brothers. The movie now has what is considered one of the sexiest scenes in film history.
6 Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp gave a sequel to another superhero addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Ant-Man. The movie is set two years after Scott Lang’s house arrest due to getting involved with the Avengers’ antics, but he receives a strange message as his arrest is about to expire. This message may have come from the quantum realm, so he is busted out of his prison in order to find out the truth of what really happened to the message’s sender. Pfeiffer portrays Janet Van Dyne, the woman everyone is looking for.
5 The Age of Innocence
Columbia Pictures
Pfeiffer, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Winona Ryder star in the cinematic adaptation of Edith Wharton’s classic novel The Age of Innocence. During the Gilded Age, somewhere in New York City, a lawyer (Day-Lewis) is preparing to marry a young woman (Ryder). At the same time, a Countess (Pfeiffer) has returned after a fall from grace, intent to make her mark back in NYC high society. So begins a love triangle between the three, something forbidden in the era they live within, and they must navigate the strict waters that come with unrequited love, friendship, and functioning within elite society.
4 Married to the Mob
Crime comedy Married to the Mob has a different take on the Italian mobsters that ran New York City. Angela de Marco (Pfeiffer) desperately wants to get out of the crime world with her son, and her husband, who is a part of the Long Island mafia, is taken out by his Don after getting caught with Don’s mistress. After attending her husband’s funeral and experiencing what the mob could do to the new widow, she decides to finally take action and get away from the life she was sucked into. An underrated gem in Pfeiffer’s filmography, it has quite a bit of soul packed into it.
3 French Exit
Evolution Entertainment
Lucas Hedges and Michelle Pfeiffer star in 2020’s French Exit, which is based on a novel by Canadian author Patrick DeWitt. Pfeiffer is a Manhattan socialite who has fallen hard when the banks seize all the property and assets she has left after her husband’s death. She takes her son (Hedges) to Paris with the money she has left, and they determine that they will stay in a friend’s apartment until they can get settled. As fate is a funny thing, it turns out the cat in that apartment may be her husband reincarnated. Although the movie is shallow at times, Pfeiffer’s performance in French Exit is not to be missed.
2 Dangerous Liaisons
1988’s Dangerous Liaisons is a romantic period drama for the history books. Set in 1700s France, it tells the story of a cunning aristocrat that plots to take away a young girl’s virginity with another court member. The focus of this plot is revenge, as the girl is the fiancée of the aristocrat’s former lover. So begins a seductive game that can only end with the same hate that sparks a need for vengeance, although it is a visually stunning journey. Dangerous Liaisons is a costume lover’s dream, dropping the viewer deep into the world of France’s elite.
1 Scarface
Brian de Palma’s adaptation of Scarface comes on the heels of the 1929 novel and the previous adaptation that came out in the 1930s. Repurposed so that the focus is on 1980 and Cuban refugees in Miami, they rise to the top of society after being penniless in a world of crime. Although controversial in its depictions of Cuban communities and refugees in the area, the movie is now considered to be one of the best gangster films to have ever been made.