Photo: David Shankbone / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Elisabeth Shue's career arc is one of my favorite Hollywood stories. She spent the eighties as the wholesome face of crowd-pleasers like The Karate Kid, Cocktail, and the Back to the Future sequels, and could have coasted on that forever. Instead she took the bleakest role imaginable in Leaving Las Vegas and swept the critics' awards in 1995. That pivot took real nerve, and it changed how I read her earlier work: the intelligence was always there, waiting for worthy material. A Harvard-educated actress who chose risk over comfort at the exact moment comfort was guaranteed is, to me, the mark of a genuine artist.
Overview
Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She has starred in films such as The Karate Kid (1984), Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Cocktail (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Soapdish (1991), Leaving Las Vegas (1995), The Saint (1997), Hollow Man (2000), Piranha 3D (2010), Battle of the Sexes (2017), Death Wish (2018), and Greyhound (2020).
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Elisabeth Shue
- Name (Japanese)
- エリザベス・シュー
- Reading
- えりざべす・しゅー
- Born
- October 6, 1963 (age 62)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Rabbit
- Origin
- Wilmington, Delaware, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / actor / film producer / singer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Columbia High School
- University
- Harvard University
Awards & achievements
- 1995 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
- 1995 Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
- 1995 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Television actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.