brittany murphy first came to the attention of film audiences as tai, one of alicia silverstone’s airhead friends, in the 1995 comedy clueless. though convincing as a dim-bulb character, murphy cuts dramatically against this grain off-camera, as a ferociously intelligent and ambitious young performer who had acting in her blood from early childhood. as a teenager and young adult, she gave expression to the scope of her talent and versatility with a series of engaging film and television roles.
born in atlanta on november 10, 1977, murphy was raised by her single mother in edison, new jersey; she later indicated, in interviews, that her mom struggled financially--that they were forced to eat spaghetti night after night, and that on certain occasions, she had to beg her mother to buy clothes at kmart; this would later account for murphy’s marked social investment in homeless causes, as discussed in a february 2003 glamour article.
a precocious child who began putting on shows when she was a toddler, murphy was acting in regional theatre productions by the age of nine. work in various commercials followed, and in 1990 she landed her first television appearance at the age of twelve, on the sitcom blossom. she also secured a supporting role as brenda drexell, the fourteen-year-old daughter of dabney coleman’s fifth grade teacher otis drexell, on the (mercifully) short-lived 1991 fox sitcom drexell’s class. the following year, murphy took her first cinematic bow in the dysfunctional family drama family prayers.
murphy’s talent for portraying, dramatically, all degrees on the spectrum of behavioral dysfunction further came to light in three successive projects through 1999: the blackly comic reese witherspoon trailer trash odyssey freeway (1996) (as a disfigured lesbian who befriends witherspoon’s vanessa); a mental patient in lloyd kramer’s made-for-tv david and lisa (1998), and james mangold’s girl, interrupted (1999) (as yet another resident at a mental institution).
meanwhile, on a less ambitious (albeit more whimsical) note, murphy also became a fixtureon king of the hill, mike judge’s long-running contemporary cartoon of suburban life in the southern u.s., as luanne platter, the hair stylist niece who comes to live with hank hill’s family. murphy kept a full plate as the millennium wrapped. in addition to her work for mangold in 1999, she also explored the collective insanity of the beauty pageant world in drop dead gorgeous, while on the small screen, she covered much darker thematic ground with the well-received holocaust drama the devil’s arithmetic (also 1999). in 2001, murphy appeared in the michael douglas thriller don’t say a word, and alongside drew barrymore in riding in cars with boys.
cast opposite eminem in director curtis hanson’s 2002 drama 8 mile, murphy performed compellingly as an aspiring rap star’s unapologetic muse; in 2004, murphy headlined nick hurran’s thoroughly disappointing rom-com little black book. she also made a splash in robert rodriguez’s innovative graphic novel adaptation sin city, as the arrogant waitress who becomes the prize in a heated rivalry between benicio del toro and clive owen.
murphy made appearances in four features in 2006. in alex keshishian's progressive romantic comedy love and other disasters, she played a london-based american expatriate, employed at vogue, who tries to fix up her gay roommate; in ed burns’s sixth directorial outing, the big chill-like romantic comedy the groomsmen, she played the expectant girlfriend of burns’s paulie. she also portrayed a member of the ensemble in karen moncrieff’s murder mystery the dead girl, about a group of seemingly disconnected individuals whose lives intersect as a girl’s murderer comes to light, and one of the lead voices in george “babe” miller’s happy feet, an animated penguin tale.
murphy’s appearance alongside ashton kutcher in just married was--to some degree--a case of art imitating life: offscreen, murphy and kutcher began to date as well (and became a hot tabloid item), though unlike their onscreen counterparts, they never wed.
人物生平
1977年11月10日布莉特妮·墨菲出生在亚特兰大，由单身母亲在纽泽西将她扶养长大。早熟的墨菲在蹒跚学步时即已展现表演的天份，而不满九岁就在地方戏院登台作秀。墨菲在青少年时期就已有经纪人帮她接洽工作，拍了几支广告之后，首次演出电视情境片「少女心」，紧接著即在寿命不长的另一部情境片「drexell's class」挑大梁， 1993年则拍了第一部电影【family prayers】。
墨菲第一次受到注目是在1995年的喜剧片【独领风骚】中，饰演女主角艾莉西亚席维史东的闺中密友，傻气逗趣的演出获得不少好评。小有名气之后，墨菲继续接拍许多电视和电影来累积更多的表演经验。她擅长诠释怪异性格及变态行为，无论是【独领风骚】、1996年的【freeway】或【david and lisa】等，都可见到她日益精湛的演出功力。墨菲近期的作品包括1999年在与薇诺娜·瑞德、 安洁莉娜·裘莉合作的【女生向前走】中饰演精神病患、在坎城影展热门参展片【美丽比一比】中演参加选美的竞赛者、以及电视影集「the devil's arithmetic」。为福斯电视台的人气动画影集「一家之主」配音，对墨菲则是另外一种美妙的经验，除了展现多方面的才华外，还因为动人悦耳的声音而被男性主流杂志评为电视上最性感的女人之一！
新世纪的开始，墨菲也有不少拍戏的计画进行当中，包括得到美国文坛「金鹰奖」的同名小说改编、麦克·道格拉斯主演的惊悚片【沉默生机】，和茱儿芭莉摩的喜剧片【riding in cars with boys】。墨菲更在与寇特妮洛芙、艾蜜莉威森等人角逐竞争之下，脱颖而出得到了演出纵横60年代流行乐团的白人蓝调女歌手珍妮丝乔普琳的自传电影【a piece of my heart】。
2009年12月20日早晨8点在洛杉矶因心脏病意外身亡。12月20号早上8点，她的丈夫编剧simon monjack从洛杉矶家中拨出求救电话，墨菲被送往cedars-sinai医疗中心后被宣布正式死亡，年仅32岁。