Background

Demi Moore was born Demetria Guynes on November 11, 1962, in Roswell, New Mexico, the United States. Her parents split up two months before she was born, and she was raised by her mother and stepfather, Virginia and Danny Guynes, both of whom drank heavily.

Moore learned of her biological father, Harmon, at age 13, when she found her mother and stepfather's marriage certificate and inquired about the circumstances since she "saw my parents were married in February 1963. I was born in '62." Her biological father was an Air Force airman Charles Harmon, Sr., who was not present in Moore's life. Moore said in 1991, "My dad was Dan Guynes. He raised me. There is a man who would be considered my biological father who I don't really have a relationship with."

Along with her mother, half-brother, and stepfather, Moore had moved more than 30 times by the time she turned 14, eventually settling in Los Angeles. The problems that went along with such an itinerant lifestyle were compounded by the dysfunctional, sometimes abusive relationship between Moore's mother and stepfather. The latter committed suicide when Moore was fifteen, around the time that she discovered that he was not her biological father. Moore later explained in Interview magazine that "By moving around a lot, I learned to assimilate into whatever new surroundings I had and to become very comfortable with people quickly. I think that was one of the strongest contributing factors to my becoming an actor."

When Moore was 16, she left home and distanced herself from her family. Demi's mother had a long arrest record which included drunk driving and arson. Moore broke off contact with her completely when Guynes walked away from a rehab stay Moore had paid for at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. Moore's mother was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1997, and the mother and daughter finally reunited. Moore stayed with her mother for the final months of her life. Virginia Guynes succumbed to her disease in July 1998.

Demi Moore kept her first husband’s last name professionally. Legally, though, she doesn’t use any of her three husbands’ names. She goes by her maiden name: Demi Guynes.

Education

Moore attended Fairfax High School. Having dropped out of school early, she briefly made a living as a debt collection agent before modeling opportunities took her to Europe.

Career

Moore went to Los Angeles at age 15 and found work in modeling and television. She signed with the Elite Modeling Agency and went to Europe to work as a pin-up girl. In the early ‘80s, before she started her acting career, Moore posed for nude photos. The pics stayed out of the public eye for years before they were unearthed and published. Moore then enrolled in drama classes after being inspired by her next-door neighbor, 17-year-old German actress Nastassja Kinski. Since Nastassja didn't read English very well, she'd have Demi read scripts for her.

In 1981, Moore landed a role on the popular television soap opera General Hospital. She played journalist Jackie Templeton for two years. That same year, Moore made her film debut in the independent drama Choices. During her stint on General Hospital, Moore found time for a few film projects. Following her marriage to musician Freddie Moore in 1981, she appeared with him in the 3-D science fiction horror flick Parasite (1982).

After leaving her soap opera role, Moore struggled to build a career in film. She played Michael Caine's daughter in Blame it on Rio (1984), which attracted little attention from critics or movie-goers. Taking on a leading role, Moore played Jon Cryer's love interest in No Small Affair (1984), but she didn't capture the public's attention until her performance in St. Elmo's Fire (1985). This film told the story of a group of friends as they confront post-college life. The cast also included a number of other young stars on the rise, such as Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez. Many of these performers were becoming equally famous for their off-screen antics and partying lifestyle, with the media dubbing them the "Brat Pack."

She started dating Emilio Estevez, and the two became engaged in 1985. The couple starred together in 1986's Wisdom, which Estevez also wrote and directed. That same year, Moore starred opposite Rob Lowe in About Last Night, a look at young singles in Chicago. Critic Roger Ebert praised both of their performances, saying the film "gives them the best acting opportunities either one has ever had, and they make the most of them." He also singled out Moore as "especially impressive. There isn't a romantic note she isn't required to play in this movie, and she plays them all flawlessly."

Again playing the love interest, Moore co-starred with John Cusack in the popular comedy One Crazy Summer (1986). She was working steadily but had yet to score a major box office hit.

Moore returned to the big screen with The Seventh Sign, an apocalyptic thriller. She played a pregnant woman trying to stop the end of the world. Despite a few positive reviews for her performance, the film only earned about $16 million at the box office. Moore took on lighter fare with her next effort, 1989's We're No Angels, which starred Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. Despite its impressive cast, the film did not fare well with audiences.

In 1990, Moore had her biggest hit to date with Ghost, a romantic drama that cast her as the grieving wife of the recently deceased Patrick Swayze. His spirit works with a psychic (Whoopi Goldberg) to avenge his death and to protect Molly from those involved. Showing impressive vulnerability on screen, Moore earned praise for her work on the film, which became a huge hit. Ghost brought in approximately $218 million at the box office and earned five Academy Award nominations.

A huge success, Ghost secured Moore a place on the A-list, something she managed to sustain despite the subsequent twin flops of The Butcher's Wife and Mortal Thoughts, both released in 1991. That same year, Moore became the talk of the nation with her controversial Vanity Fair cover. She was in the midst of her second pregnancy when she posed in the nude for the magazine's cover. While surprised by the dramatic response to the image, Moore also saw the cover as a chance to challenge perceptions about women and pregnancy. "People in this country don't want to embrace motherhood and sensuality... You're either sexy, or you're a mother. I didn't want to have to choose."

Co-starring with Tom Cruise, Moore played a tough Navy lawyer in the smash hit A Few Good Men (1992). She continued to prosper commercially with Indecent Proposal (1993), teaming with Woody Harrelson to play a married couple in financial trouble who travel to Las Vegas to gamble their way back to solvency. They end up losing their money and befriending a lonely billionaire (played by Robert Redford), who offers the desperate couple $1 million for the opportunity to sleep with Moore's character. While reviews were mixed, the film brought in a respectable $104 million at the box office.

In 1994 she starred opposite Michael Douglas in the box office hit Disclosure. Moore played a top executive who sexually harasses Douglas's character. In 1995, Moore made movie history when she became the highest-paid actress at the time - netting a $12.5 million payday for Striptease (1996). The film is about a single mother who works as a stripper to earn money to fight her ex-husband for custody of their daughter (played by Moore's real-life daughter Rumer). Advance publicity for Striptease suggested that Moore's erotic dancing would be the film's principal draw, with the display of her body once again possibly diverting attention from whatever acting skills her role may demonstrate (yet another nude portrait for the film's poster created yet another minor controversy). But, in the end, the film did not draw much of an audience for any reason. The film proved to be a commercial and critical disappointment.

In the unexceptional but commercially successful military drama G. I. Jane, the camera, for a change, emphasized Moore's impressively muscular body, along with the unusual attraction of her shaved head. For her role Moore trained vigorously, lifting weights for two hours a day and going for six-mile runs. All of this dedication, however, translated into a middling showing at the box office.

However, she did find success during this time through her production company, Moving Pictures. She signed on to produce the hit comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and its sequels, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

Retreating from the Hollywood scene in 1998, Moore and her three daughters moved to Hailey, Idaho. During her time in Hailey, Moore mostly focused on raising her daughters. She left her quiet small-town life to act in one film: the independent drama Passion of Mind (2000).

Moore's next big-screen venture was heralded as her comeback. In Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle (2003), she played a villain named Madison Lee. Moore appeared opposite such younger talents as Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz.

Moore went on to take a small but dramatic role, playing an alcoholic lounge singer in Emilio Estevez's Bobby (2006), which imagined the final hours of Robert Kennedy through the eyes of different people at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel. Her strong performance earned a share of critical praise. Moore followed up this success with the thriller Mr. Brooks (2007), playing a detective pursuing a serial killer (Kevin Costner). She then co-starred in the heist caper Flawless (2008), with Michael Caine.

Moore continued to tackle an interesting mix of projects. She had a role in the independent family drama Happy Tears, with Parker Posey, Rip Torn, and Ellen Barkin, which screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2009. In the 2010 noir action film, Bunraku, Moore appeared with Josh Hartnett and Ron Perlman. She also co-starred with David Duchovny in the offbeat drama The Joneses.

In 2011, Moore gave another impressive performance in the drama Margin Call, which starred Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany. She also expanded her work behind the camera that same year, signing a deal with the Lifetime cable network for several new projects.

Moore appeared as the mother of a troubled teen in LOL (2012), with Miley Cyrus. The film had a limited release and was critically and commercially unsuccessful. She played a similar mother role in her next film, the likewise coming-of-age dramedy Very Good Girls (2013), which co-starred Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen.

Her part as an old flame of a quick-draw killer in the Western drama Forsaken (2015), with Donald Sutherland and Kiefer Sutherland, was followed by the role of the daughter of a retired high school teacher in the road comedy Wild Oats, with Shirley MacLaine and Jessica Lange, which premiered on Lifetime in August 2016, and in a limited release the following month. In her next film, the drama Blind (2016), Moore starred opposite Alec Baldwin, portraying the neglected wife of an indicted businessman having an affair with a novelist blinded in a car crash. In February 2017, Moore joined the cast of Empire, in the recurring role of a take-charge nurse with a mysterious past. The comedy film Rough Night (2017), in which she acted alongside Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz, and Ty Burrell, featured Moore as one half of a nymphomaniac couple seducing a member of a bachelorette party gone wrong. The film was released in the United States on June 16, 2017, by Columbia Pictures, received mixed reviews and grossed $47 million worldwide. Moore's memoir titled Inside Out is set to be released on September 24, 2019, by HarperCollins.

Achievements

• 

  Moore is regarded as the first actress to reach a $10 million mark salary and got $12.5 million to star in Striptease. She is also the only Brat Packer to become a huge and long-lasting movie star after the Brat Pack era ended.
  
  She won various awards, such as People’s Choice Awards, MTV Movie Award, Academy of Science Fiction Award, Hollywood Film Award, Independent Spirit Award, etc. She was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.
  
  Moore is also known for appearing naked and pregnant on the cover of a magazine. More Demi Moore or the August 1991 Vanity Fair cover was a controversial handbra nude photograph of the then seven-months pregnant Demi Moore taken by Annie Leibovitz for the August 1991 cover of Vanity Fair to accompany a cover story about Moore.
  
  The cover has had a lasting societal impact. Since the cover was released, several celebrities have posed for photographs in advanced stages of pregnancy, although not necessarily as naked as Moore. This trend has made pregnancy photos fashionable and created a booming business. The photograph is one of the most highly regarded magazine covers of all time, and it is one of Leibovitz's best-known works. Almost fifteen years after its publication the American Society of Magazine Editors listed it as the second-best magazine cover of the last forty years.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Now and Then

    (A poignant look at girlhood friendships and how one summe...)

    1995
  • Flawless

    (Michael Radford (Il Postino and The Merchant of Venice) d...)

    2008
  • The Butcher's Wife

    (When Greenwich Village butcher Leo Lemke (George Dzundza)...)

    1991
  • Forsaken

    (Kiefer and Donald Sutherland share the screen in this bro...)

    2015
  • Bunraku

    (A young man who has spent his life searching for revenge ...)

    2010
  • Ghost

    (Patrick Swayze plays a ghost who teams with a psychic (Ac...)

    1990
  • Very Good Girls

    (Two girls (Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen), both dete...)

    2013
  • Nothing But Trouble

    (A story about a yuppie couple who gets busted for speedin...)

    1991
  • Margin Call

    (When an entry-level analyst unlocks information that coul...)

    2011
  • Half Light

    (Real terror and the supernatural conspire to haunt grievi...)

    2006
  • Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

    (First he fought for the Crown, now he's fighting for the ...)

    1999
  • Beavis and Butt-Head Do America

    (When their TV is Stolen, Beavis and Butt-head hit the roa...)

    1996
  • One Crazy Summer

    (John Cusack ("Being John Malkovitch," "City Hall") stars ...)

    1986
  • LOL

    (Anne (Demi Moore) deals with life as a working mother and...)

    2012
  • Happy Tears

    (Parker Posey and Demi Moore star in this delightfully qui...)

    2010
  • The Seventh Sign

    (Demi Moore electrifies as a young woman who must prevent ...)

    1988
  • Blame It On Rio

    (While vacationing in Rio, a befuddled older fellow finds ...)

    1984
  • Mortal Thoughts

    (Childhood friends Joyce (Glenne Headly) and Cynthia (Demi...)

    1991
  • A Few Good Men

    (A slick, young Navy lawyer is assigned to investigate a m...)

    1992
  • Wisdom

    (A man whose criminal past is keeping him from getting ahe...)

    1986
  • The Hunchback Of Notre Dame II

    (A deformed bell ringer meets a beautiful girl, and finds ...)

    2002
  • Striptease

    (Demi Moore enters the world of exotic dancing while fight...)

    1996
  • The Joneses

    (A picture-perfect family moves into a suburban neighborho...)

    2010
  • No Small Affair

    (Romantic comedy about a sixteen-year-old photographer (Jo...)

    1984
  • Parasite

    (Demi Moore in her first starring role and she steals the ...)

    1982
  • Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

    (Sexy Angels (Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu) a...)

    2003
  • About Last Night

    (A couple (Rob Lowe, Demi Moore) deals with the downside o...)

    1986
  • Another Happy Day

    (A wedding at her parents' Annapolis estate hurls high-str...)

    2012
  • We're No Angels

    (A couple of escaped convicts on the run find refuge with ...)

    1989
  • Indecent Proposal

    (Diana and David Murphy are betting on a quick trip to Las...)

    1993
  • The Juror

    (A struggling single mother's (Demi Moore) search for the ...)

    1996
  • Disclosure

    (Sexual harassment and corporate politics provide the basi...)

    1994
  • Mr. Brooks

    (Successful businessman, generous philanthropist, loving f...)

    2007
  • Bobby

    ("Bobby" re-imagines one of the most explosively tragic ni...)

    2006
  • Deconstructing Harry

    (Woody Allen comedy about a misogynistic author suffering ...)

    1997
  • St. Elmo's Fire

    (Fresh from college, seven friends search for their places...)

    1985
  • Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

    (Austin Powers is back into action to once again battle hi...)

    1997
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame

    (A deformed bellringer learns love and independence from a...)

    1996
  • Blind

    (Bill Oakland loses his wife and his sight in a vicious ca...)

    2016
  • Wild Oats

    (Eva, a widow and retired history teacher, enjoys a quiet ...)

    2016
  • Passion of Mind

    (Marty is a New York literary agent, devoted to her work. ...)

    2000
  • G.I. Jane

    (A woman joins the Navy Seals despite tough opposition.)

    1997
  • Rough Night

    (Best friends reunite for a wild weekend in Miami. Their o...)

    2017
  • The Scarlet Letter

    (A beautiful, intelligent woman has an affair. Rather than...)

    1995
  • Austin Powers in Goldmember

    (After Dr. Evil and his accomplice Mini-Me escape from a m...)

    2002
  • Choices 1981

• TV series

  • Animals - Season 3

    (American animated comedy television series created by Phi...)

    2018

Religion

Moore is a follower of Philip Berg's Kabbalah Centre religion and initiated Kutcher into the faith. Moore’s daughter Scout once said: "She has always moved from religion to religion according to the stages in her life. Kabbalah is the one she has stuck with the most. I respect that she and Ashton are doing it."

Politics

Moore is a Liberal Democrat. She supported Obama’s campaign in 2008 and in 2012 as well. She said of Obama: "I pledge to be a servant of my president."

Views

In April 2011 Demi Moore and spouse Ashton Kutcher launched their "Demi and Ashton Foundation" a non-profit, non-governmental organization directed towards fighting child sexual slavery. Its first campaign is "Real Men Don't Buy Girls". On April 23rd, 2011 Demi and Ashton appeared together for their first on-air interview on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight (2011) to promote their foundation and start the work towards ending child sexual slavery. The foundation's website enables people to educate themselves, show support and take action or make a donation. They first got involved in the issue almost three years ago and that a great deal of the early work just involved starting discussions, raising awareness and creating urgency.

Quotations: "I'm sure there are people who think I'm a bitch, but all I do is strive for perfection. I expect others to work as hard as me, but I'm not demanding to an unreasonable point."

"I think we all want the same things. We all want to feel loved, and feel a part of something, but we all have self-doubt no matter where we came from."

"I'm honored if I can inspire somebody else."

"Shame is something that's taught and/or a conditioned response. It's not something that we naturally feel."

"I like girly things, delicate things. I like dolls, I like toys, I like Barbies. I wish I could articulate this as I really feel it because it has a strong meaning for who I am. I am very much a girl's girl. I have a lot of girlfriends, I do a lot of girl activities, and I take girl vacations. And I work with mostly women. But I guess that there's a part of me that feels that when my femininity is showing, I'm very exposed."

"I'm very accessible, and I've had an openness in a lot of the characters that I've played that's inviting to people. I'm kind of a plain Jane. That's my strength."

"You never run out of goals, never. Not unless you want to stop really living. There are people who are happy to stay within parameters, but for me, that would never have been enough."

Personality

According to an article in the now-defunct Buzz magazine, she was so demanding when it came to perks and fringe benefits, her nickname around Hollywood studio executives was "Gimme Moore".

In order to play a coke addict, Jules, in St. Elmo's Fire (1985), she had to sign a contract stipulating that she would stop her own alcohol and drug abuse, an agreement that caused her life to turn around.

She is considered as the world’s most high-profile doll collector, and her favorite is the Gene Marshall fashion doll. She also had a separate house to shelter her 2,000 dolls.

Physical Characteristics: Moore suffered from strabismus as a child. This was ultimately corrected by two operations. The surgery marked a dramatic turnaround in Demi's fortunes, however, as her looks began to open doors to professional opportunities. She also suffered from kidney dysfunction. The star admits to a sometimes troubled relationship with her appearance. Asked about her enviable and much-talked-about physique, Demi says her fitness regime has more to do with low self-esteem than anything else "The perception was that I was so in love with my body when in reality I was trying to overcome my insecurity," she once revealed. She has undergone several cosmetic surgeries to get rid of the fat on her abdomen, hips, and backside. She has also undergone breast enlargement surgery.

Moore has a height of 5 ft 5 in or 165 cm, and a weight of 57 kg or 126 pounds. Her trademark is a husky voice. Also, her left eye is green and her right eye is hazel. Moore has long dark brown hair.

She credits a vegan diet and yoga for her looks. Her raw food diet is made up of 75% uncooked ingredients which provide nutrition and vitamins.

Interests

• vintage dolls

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Artists

  Annie Leibovitz

• Sport & Clubs

  Arsenal Football Club

• Music & Bands

  Susan Boyle

Connections

On February 8, 1980, at the age of 17, she married singer Freddy Moore, 12 years senior and recently divorced from his first wife, Lucy. During their marriage, Demi began using Freddy's surname as her stage name. She filed for divorce in September 1984; it was finalized on August 7, 1985.

Moore was then engaged to actor Emilio Estevez, with whom she co-starred in Wisdom, a crime drama he also wrote and directed. The pair planned to marry in December 1986 but called off the engagement.

On November 21, 1987, Moore married her second husband, actor Bruce Willis. She and Willis have three daughters together: Rumer (born August 16, 1988), Scout (born July 20, 1991), and Tallulah (born February 3, 1994). They announced their separation on June 24, 1998, and filed for divorce on October 18, 2000.

In 2003, Moore began dating actor Ashton Kutcher, who is 15 years younger. They married on September 24, 2005. The wedding was attended by about 150 close friends and family of the couple, including Willis. In November 2011, after months of media speculation about the state of the couple's marriage, Moore announced her decision to end her marriage to Kutcher. After over a year of separation, Kutcher filed for divorce from Moore on December 21, 2012, in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. Moore filed her response papers in March 2013, requesting spousal support and payment of legal fees from Kutcher. On November 27, 2013, their divorce was finalized.

Father:

Charles Harmon Sr.

Charles Harmon Sr. was an air force serviceman who left his wife after just two months of marriage. He never stayed around for the arrival of Demi and they never had any bond whatsoever between them after she became much older.

Father:

Danny Gene Guynes

When Demi was a few months old, her mother married Guynes and later had a child with him. He raised her as his own but was a cruel alcoholic who never had a stable job. Their home was filled with physical violence and they moved over 30 times before the young actress was even 14. Despite his many shortcomings, Danny was the only father Demi ever knew but he ended his life two years after separating from Virginia. Guynes committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide from the exhaust of his car.

Mother:

Virginia Guynes

Moore was never happy with her mother’s lifestyle and she did all she could to help her battle her addictions. Mother and daughter eventually severed contact after Virginia walked out of a rehab facility Demi had been paying for. King went ahead to publicly humiliate her daughter by posing naked for a low-end magazine in 1993 and even parodied Moore’s controversial pregnant Vanity Fair cover.

They remained out of touch for years until Virginia’s failing health brought them back. The star actress eventually reunited with her mother after she was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1997 but they did not stay in touch for so long as within a few months, Virginia succumbed to her disease.

colleague:

Laurence Fishburne III

Ex-husband:

Bruce Willis

Willis is a star actor that is known particularly for his epic performances in action films. Demi met Bruce at the Stakeout (1987) film premiere. They were married in no time and became parents to three lovely girls. In 1998, they announced their separation. Although Moore and Willis have since split, the pair regularly come together for their children.

Half-brother:

Morgan Guynes

Half-brother:

James Craig Harmon Jr.

Half-brother:

Charles Harmon Jr.

half-sister:

Charlotte Harmon Eggar

Charlotte says she first met the Demi about three decades ago when she came visiting with her mum Virginia. She was so driven at the time and Charlotte remembers falling in love with her sister. They never really got to be close anyways as both half-sisters hardly kept in touch.

Ex-husband:

Freddy Moore

In August 1979, 29 year old Freddy met Demi when she was a teenager and was married to Lucy at the time but they both moved in together as a couple. Within a year, he had divorced his first wife and got married to the 17 year old Demetria but their obsession lasted only five years as they were divorced before any child was born. She had started using his name professionally and even after they separated, she continued with it.

Ex-husband:

Ashton Kutcher

Moore returned to the movie scene with the role of Madison Lee in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and that same year, she began dating the 15-years younger actor. They made so many tabloid headlines with people claiming their relationship was only a publicity stunt but to our amazement, the pair got married in 2005.

For all the years they were together, there was always one news or the other about them each year. Moore managed to keep things together for 8 years but the talk about their age difference and Kutcher’s infidelity kept rising and she had to make a decision. It was hard enough for the actress to split with her third husband but the tabloids ‘I told you so’ attitude hit her so hard that she was depressed and went back to drugs to soothe her pain. In a short while, she had a public nervous breakdown and was hospitalized after a grave health scare from inhaling nitrous oxide.

The months that followed were indeed hard for the actress as her erratic behavior led to problems with her family and her daughters began to maintain a distance until she sought intensive help. Moore is gladly back on her feet now and is quite content with the single life.

Daughter:

Rumer Glenn Willis

Rumer is known as the winner of the famous talent show Dancing With the Stars season 20. After winning, she made a Broadway debut and is now a recurring character in FOX musical-drama Empire (2015 till present).

Daughter:

Scout LaRue Willis

Daughter:

Tallulah Belle Willis

When she was 13, the youngest Moore child was diagnosed with body dysmorphia and this made her very insecure as a teenager. According to the visual artist, she had been malnourished and was a well known alcohol and substance abuser. She had to begin rehab after her father threatened to cut off her financial dues. Thankfully, she sought for help and it is paying off now.

colleague:

Kevin Costner

colleague:

Miley Cyrus

colleague:

Annie Leibovitz

References

• Inside Out: A Memoir
  2019