Elisabeth Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware and her parents divorced when she was in the 4th grade. She and her two brothers, Andrew and William, were rambunctious as kids, so Elisabeth enrolled in Wellesley College, an all-female institution in Massachusetts, to stay out of trouble. While in school, she made extra money acting in TV commercials for Burger King and Hellman’s Mayonnaise. Her big screen debut came in 1984 when she was cast as Ralph Macchio’s girlfriend in Karate Kid. Then, after starring in a short-lived TV series, she got herself an acting coach, transferred to Harvard and began studying political science.
She continued acting in movies like 1988’s Adventures in Babysitting and 1991’s Soapdish, but her brother Andrew landed a role on the hit TV series Melrose Place, which seemed to overshadow her achievements. But, Elisabeth soldiered on by taking a role in a low-budget movie called Leaving Las Vegas. The gamble paid off as she was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance. In 2012, she became part of the cast of the popular CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Julie Finlay, the team's Assistant Night Shift Supervisor. In honor of her 50th birthday today, here is my Top 10 list of Elisabeth Shue movies.
10. The Karate Kid: – Shue’s big screen debut. In this 1984 family action drama, Shue played Ali Mills, the girlfriend of Ralph Macchio’s character, Daniel Larusso. Daniel won Ali’s heart from her arrogant boyfriend, Johnny, who was the best student at a local karate dojo. Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel karate in order to protect himself from Johnny and his friends. The part was small, but Shue gave off a sweetness that worked opposite Macchio’s naïve yet lovable persona.
9. The Marrying Man: – This 1991 musical romantic comedy starred Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. Shue played Adele Horner, the rich fiancé of Baldwin’s playboy character Charlie Pearl. But, during his bachelor party with his three buddies, he saw Vicki Anderson (Basinger) sing. Though he was told she’s Bugsy Siegel’s girl, Charlie couldn’t resist. Charlie and Vicki were later caught by Bugsy, who forced them to get married. Shue played the jilted fiancé perfectly as she innocently hoped Charlie would return to her after divorcing Vicki, but Charlie and Vicki ended up falling in and out of love and getting married and divorced repeatedly throughout the movie. Though the role was small, Shue made Adele’s innocence memorable.
8. Leaving Las Vegas: – This 1995 romantic drama had Shue starring opposite Nicolas Cage. Shue played Sera, a hooker Cage’s character met in Las Vegas where he’d gone to drink himself to death. Shue and Cage’s chemistry was electric, even though their characters didn’t have sex until the near climax of the film. Shue garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance as well as winning a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for it. The role truly made Hollywood take notice of Shue.
7. Hollow Man: – This 2000 sci-fi action horror film had Shue co-starring with Kevin Bacon and Josh Brolin. Shue played Dr. Linda McKay, who worked with her fellow scientist ex-boyfriend Dr. Sebastian Caine (Bacon) and current boyfriend, Dr. Matt Kensington (Brolin) on a serum to make a subject invisible. They ended up testing it on Sebastian, but couldn’t figure out how to make him visible again. So, Sebastian goes crazy from being confined until a cure could be found and went on a murderous rampage, killing fellow scientists and ultimately trying to kill Linda and Matt all while being invisible. Shue gave Linda a ferocious, unyielding will to live as she refused to let Sebastian win. Shue showed she can really kick *ss as she and Brolin fought to stay alive against an invisible madman.
6. Back to the Future Part II: – This 1989 sci-fi action comedy had Shue playing Michael J. Fox’s girlfriend, Jennifer Parker. In this sequel to the monster 1985 original, Jennifer saw the time machine, so Marty and Doc Brown were forced to take her with them to the year 2015 to fix the destiny of their children. Shue played dual roles as a young and older version of her character. Shue’s shocked facial expressions as she stumbled around in the “future” were priceless and made her the perfect girlfriend for everyone’s favorite time traveler.
5. Adventures in Babysitting: – This uproarious 1987 action comedy had Shue playing 17-year-old Chris Parker, whose boyfriend broke their anniversary date so she ended up babysitting. When her friend Brenda, played by Penelope Ann Miller, begged Chris to pick her up from a bus depot in the city after she ran away from home, Chris had to take her three charges with her. They blew a tire on the expressway and from then on all hell broke loose. They encountered car thieves, a tow truck driver with a hook for a hand, but through it all, Shue portrayed Chris as someone hellbent on getting the kids home safe and doing it with style, panache and wit!
4. Cocktail: – Shue co-starred opposite Tom Cruise in this 1988 romantic dramedy. Brian Flanagan, a New York bartender trying to strike it rich (Cruise), met Jordan in Jamaica and they fell in love. Brian had no idea that Jordan’s family is rich with an apartment on Park Avenue. When he dumped her for a “rich chick” in Jamaica, she was heartbroken. Brian later learned that Jordan was pregnant and of her rich family. After his best friend, Doug Coughlin, played by Bryan Brown, committed suicide, Brian goes to Jordan and says he wants to marry her, but her father vehemently objected and tried to buy Brian off. Brian ripped up the check, which showed Jordan that he loved her, NOT her money. Shue played the vulnerable Jordan wonderfully. She emoted the pain from Brian’s betrayal seamlessly and her chemistry with Cruise was spot on.
3. The Saint: – This 1997 action romance had Shue star opposite Val Kilmer. Kilmer played Simon, a character loosely based off the character of Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in 1928 for a series of books published as “The Saint," which ran until 1983. Simon was a high-tech spy that stole a revolutionary cold fusion formula after having a one-night stand with Dr. Emma Russell (Shue). But, Emma got to Simon and despite his best efforts, he fell for her and she for him, though he had no real identity. Shue gave Emma a real fire as she and Kilmer evaded Russians also trying to steal her formula. In this movie, Shue showed she had the chops to be an action star.
2. Heart and Souls: – This 1993 romantic dramedy had Shue once again sharing the silver screen with funnyman Robert Downey Jr. Downey Jr. played Thomas Riley, who had four special friends, Harrison (played by Charles Grodin), Penny, (played by Alfre Woodard), Julia (played by Kyra Sedgwick) and Milo (played by Tom Sizemore), all ghosts who had died “before their time.” Shue played Thomas’ girlfriend Anne, who he repeatedly stood up in order to help his four otherworldly friends do the one thing they would have done if they hadn’t been killed. Though the part was small, Shue’s chemistry with Downey Jr. shined as Anne made Thomas be able to trust again and enable them to live happily ever after with his four friends still watching over him from heaven.
1. Soapdish: - This 1991 romantic comedy, which was produced by Aaron Spelling, followed the outrageous lives of the cast of a fictional soap opera. Shue starred opposite an all-star cast consisting of Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., and Whoopi Goldberg. Shue played Lori Craven, the niece of Celeste Talbot (Field) the longtime star of the fictional daytime drama The Sun Also Sets. Everyone was plotting against Celeste including her producer David Seton Barnes (Downey Jr.) and co-star Montana Morehead, played by Cathy Moriarty. Barnes brought back Jeffrey Anderson (Kline), an actor Celeste had a relationship with to rile her and it was revealed, on-camera, that Lori WASN’T Celeste’s niece but her daughter with Jeffrey. From then on, Shue, Kline and Field formed a triple threat of unmatched comedic timing and nonstop laughs. Shue truly showed off her comedic accuracy against Hollywood heavyweights in a movie that showed that the laughs don’t always stop when the cameras do!