Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American film actress.

Shue was born into a well-heeled and well-educated family and grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey. Her parents divorced while she was in the fourth grade. Her father, who was active in Republican politics, once unsuccessfully ran for the US Senate in New Jersey. Shue attended Wellesley College and Harvard College and acted in television commercials for extra spending money.

Her brother is Melrose Place actor Andrew Shue. Another brother William, died from a freak accident while on family vacation. Elisabeth watched helplessly.

In 1984, she co-starred in The Karate Kid as the onscreen girlfriend of Ralph Macchio and had a role as the teenage daughter of a military family in the short-lived series Call to Glory .

She continued her acting work with Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Soapdish and The Marrying Man , as well as playing the role of Jennifer Parker in the two Back to the Future sequels. Trying to shed her girl-next-door image, Elisabeth took a chance on a low-budget, high-risk project called Leaving Las Vegas. Her portrayal of a prostitute mixed up with a suicidal alcoholic earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Since then, she has starred in The Saint, Deconstructing Harry , and Palmetto .

She is married to Davis Guggenheim, director of the HBO TV series Deadwood . They have a son, Miles William, and a daughter, Stella Street.

Partial filmography

• The Karate Kid (1984)
• Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
• Cocktail (1987)
• Back to the Future Part II (1989)
• Back to the Future Part III (1990)
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
• The Saint (1997)
• Hollow Man (2000)
• Hide and Seek (2005)

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