Best known to audiences as transplanted big city teen Jen Lindley on The WB's popular "Dawson's Creek" (1998-2003), actress Michelle Williams was born in Montana and moved to San Diego, California at age nine. In her new home, she began acting in community theater, and later made her feature debut in "Lassie" (1994), next appearing onscreen as the young incarnation of Natasha Henstridge's alien in "Species" (1995). After a career-driven legal emancipation from her parents, the home-schooled Williams was on her own, pursuing acting work in Burbank at the young age of 16, like a featured turn as Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter Pammy in the "King Lear" inspired drama "A Thousand Acres" (1997).

After a fair amount of television guest work on series including "Home Improvement" and "Step By Step" (both ABC) and appearances in the TV movies "My Son Is Innocent" (ABC, 1996) and "Killing Mr. Griffin" (NBC, 1997), Williams made her TV series regular debut on Kevin Williamson's teen drama "Dawson's Creek" playing the troubled transplant Jen. While she was the youngest member of the ensemble, the alluring, pouty blonde had no problem playing Capeside's newly arrived seasoned but sensitive sophisticate. With looks and presence that seemed beyond her years, Williams also displayed a fragility very indicative of her age, the actress herself embodying the contradiction of contemporary youth. First as the outcast object of Dawson's desire with the shady past and later as a full-fledged member of the gang, Williams' role in the sometimes overwrought but always thoughtful program developed more interesting layers as the series progressed.

Returning to film during the series' hiatus, the young performer did her horror duty as the teen female lead of the "Halloween: H20" (1998, executive produced by Williamson). Not in keeping with the conventions of the genre's early offerings, Williams remained fully dressed throughout her portrayal of Molly, the girlfriend of John (Josh Hartnett), son of original "Halloween" scream queen Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Next she tackled comedy in 1999's "Dick", a 1970s set story about two girls (Williams and Kirsten Dunst) who stumble upon President Nixon's Watergate dealings. She was additionally featured in the comedy "But I'm a Cheerleader"(1999), starring Natasha Lyonne as a teen girl sent to a "rehabilitation" facility after her parents suspect she is a lesbian.

Williams soon tackled more challenging and adult roles, such as her performance as a 1970s lesbian college student who struggles with a romance with a butch suitor (Chloe Sevigny) in the HBO telepic "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2000), followed by a turn as Christina Ricci's alienated roommate in the long-delayed adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's bestseller "Prozac Nation," which was completed in 2001 but unreleased for nearly three years.

Williams next delivered her finest performance to date in the drama "Me Without You" (2001) opposite Anna Friel as the long-suffering, co-dependent quotient in a pair of British friends whose relationship is a roller-coaster of emotional ups and downs, romantic betrayals and unhealthy competition, but ultimately bouyed by their unceasing bond. She followed up with an endearing supporting turn in "The Station Agent" (2003), playing Emily, the sweet, lonely girl who finds a bond with the independent dwarf Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage). In another long-shelved film, Williams was effective again as the sister of a murdered autistic boy in "The United States of Leland" (2004) before appearing as Penny, the daughter who flees her dysfunctional family, in "Imaginary Heroes" (2005). She next had a memorable, emotional turn as the broken-hearted young wife of closeted gay ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) whose marriage slowly disintegrates after she discovers her husband carrying on a years-long secret affair with his closest friend (Jake Gyllenhaal) in director Ang Lee's sensitive, haunting "Brokeback Mountain" (2005). Williams and her co-star Ledger also began a romantic relationship while making the film, and their daughter was born shortly before its release.

Filmography

> The Hawk Is Dying (2006) .... Betty
> Brokeback Mountain (2005) .... Alma
> The Baxter (2005) .... Cecil Mills
> Land of Plenty (2004) .... Lana
> Imaginary Heroes (2004) .... Penny Travis
> A Hole in One (2004) .... Anna Watson
> The Station Agent (2003) .... Emily
> The United States of Leland (2003) .... Julie Pollard
> Me Without You (2001) .... Holly
> Prozac Nation (2001) .... Ruby
> Perfume (2001) .... Halley
... aka Dress to Kill (USA: video title)
> If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) (TV) .... Linda (segment "1972")
> But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) .... Kimberly
> Dick (1999) .... Arlene Lorenzo
... aka Dick, les coulisses de la présidence (France)
> Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) .... Molly Cartwell
... aka Halloween: H20 (USA: promotional title)
... aka Halloween: H20 (20 Years Later) (USA: promotional title)
> "Dawson's Creek" (1998) TV Series .... Jennifer 'Jen' Lindley
> A Thousand Acres (1997) .... Pammy
> Killing Mr. Griffin (1997) (TV) .... Maya
... aka Killing Griffin (USA: video title)
> My Son Is Innocent (1996) (TV) .... Donna
> Timemaster (1995) .... Annie
> Species (1995) .... Young 'Sil'
> "Home Improvement"
- Wilson's Girlfriend (1995) TV Episode .... Jessica Lutz
> "Raising Caines" (1995) TV Series .... Trish Caines
> "Step by Step"
- Something Wild (1994) TV Episode .... J.J.
> Lassie (1994) .... April Porter
> "Baywatch"
... aka Baywatch Hawai'i (USA: new title)
- Race Against Time: Part 1 (1993) TV Episode .... Bridget

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links
AskMen.com: Michelle Williams
IMDb: Michelle Williams

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