# Michelle Williams on screen and stage

American actress Michelle Williams' first screen appearance was at age thirteen in a 1993 episode of the television series Baywatch, and she made her film debut as the love interest of a teenage boy in Lassie (1994). She had guest roles in the sitcoms Step by Step and Home Improvement, and played the younger version of Natasha Henstridge's character in the science fiction film Species (1995). Greater success came to Williams for playing the sexually troubled teenager Jen Lindley in the teen drama series Dawson's Creek (1998–2003). In 1999, she made her stage debut with the Tracy Letts-written play Killer Joe.
In the 2000s, Williams eschewed parts in big-budget films in favor of roles with darker themes in independent productions such as Me Without You (2001) and The Station Agent (2003). Despite positive reviews, these films were not widely seen. This changed in 2005 when Williams played the neglected wife of Heath Ledger's character in Brokeback Mountain, a drama about star-crossed gay lovers, which became a critical and commercial success; Williams gained a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her career did not progress much in the next few years, but Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), in which she starred as a drifter searching for her missing dog, was critically acclaimed. Martin Scorsese's thriller Shutter Island (2010), starring Leonardo DiCaprio, in which Williams had a supporting part, became her most widely seen film to that point.
Williams received two consecutive Oscar nominations for Best Actress for starring as an unhappily married woman in Blue Valentine (2010) and Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn (2011); she also won a Golden Globe Award for the latter. She next played Glinda in the commercially successful fantasy feature Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). On Broadway, she played Sally Bowles in a revival of the musical Cabaret in 2014, and a sexual abuse survivor in a revival of the play Blackbird in 2016. For the latter, she gained a Tony Award for Best Actress nomination. She earned another Academy Award nomination for playing a grieving mother in Manchester by the Sea (2016). The 2017 musical The Greatest Showman and the 2018 superhero film Venom emerged as two of her highest-grossing releases. She returned to television in 2019 to portray Gwen Verdon opposite Sam Rockwell's Bob Fosse in the FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress. Williams received her fifth Oscar nomination for starring as a troubled mother in Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical drama The Fabelmans (2022).

## Film

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | Lassie | April Porter | |
| 1995 | Timemaster | Annie | |
| 1995 | Species | Young Sil | |
| 1997 | A Thousand Acres | Pammy | |
| 1998 | Halloween H20: 20 Years Later | Molly Cartwell | |
| 1999 | Dick | Arlene Lorenzo | |
| 1999 | But I'm a Cheerleader | Kimberly | |
| 2001 | Perfume | Halley | |
| 2001 | Me Without You | Holly | |
| 2001 | Prozac Nation | Ruby | |
| 2003 | The United States of Leland | Julie Pollard | |
| 2003 | The Station Agent | Emily | |
| 2004 | Land of Plenty | Lana | |
| 2004 | Imaginary Heroes | Penny Travis | |
| 2004 | A Hole in One | Anna Watson | |
| 2005 | The Baxter | Cecil Mills | |
| 2005 | Brokeback Mountain | Alma Beers del Mar | |
| 2006 | The Hawk Is Dying | Betty | |
| 2006 | The Hottest State | Samantha | |
| 2007 | I'm Not There | Coco Rivington | |
| 2008 | Deception | S | |
| 2008 | Incendiary | Young mother | |
| 2008 | Synecdoche, New York | Claire | |
| 2008 | Wendy and Lucy | Wendy Carrol | |
| 2009 | Mammoth | Ellen Vidales | |
| 2010 | Blue Valentine | Cindy | Also executive producer |
| 2010 | Shutter Island | Dolores Chanal | |
| 2010 | Meek's Cutoff | Emily Tetherow | |
| 2011 | My Week with Marilyn | Marilyn Monroe | |
| 2011 | Take This Waltz | Margot | |
| 2013 | Oz the Great and Powerful | Annie / Glinda | |
| 2015 | Suite Française | Lucille Angellier | |
| 2016 | Manchester by the Sea | Randi | |
| 2016 | Certain Women | Gina Lewis | |
| 2017 | Wonderstruck | Elaine | |
| 2017 | The Greatest Showman | Charity Barnum | |
| 2017 | All the Money in the World | Gail Harris | |
| 2018 | I Feel Pretty | Avery LeClaire | |
| 2018 | Venom | Anne Weying | |
| 2019 | After the Wedding | Isabel Andersen | |
| 2021 | Venom: Let There Be Carnage | Anne Weying | |
| 2022 | Showing Up | Lizzie Carr | |
| 2022 | The Fabelmans | Mitzi Fabelman | |
| 2023 | Deep Sky | Narrator | Documentary film |

## Television

Key :
| † | Denotes series that have not yet been aired |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1993 | Baywatch | Bridget | Episode: "Race Against Time: Part 1" |
| 1994 | Step by Step | J.J. | Episode: "Something Wild" |
| 1995 | Home Improvement | Jessica Lutz | Episode: "Wilson's Girlfriend" |
| 1995 | Raising Caines | Trish Caines | Main role; season 1 |
| 1996 | My Son Is Innocent | Donna Winston | Television film |
| 1997 | Killing Mr. Griffin | Maya | Television film |
| 1998–2003 | Dawson's Creek | Jen Lindley | Main role; 6 seasons |
| 2000 | If These Walls Could Talk 2 | Linda | Television film |
| 2013 | Cougar Town | Laurie's foster sister | Episode: "Blue Sunday" |
| 2019 | Fosse/Verdon | Gwen Verdon | Miniseries; also executive producer |
| 2025 | Dying for Sex † | Molly | Upcoming miniseries |

## Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1999 | Killer Joe | Dottie | SoHo Playhouse |
| 2002 | Smelling a Rat | Melanie-Jane | Samuel Beckett Theatre |
| 2004 | The Cherry Orchard | Varya | Williamstown Theatre Festival |
| 2014 | Cabaret | Sally Bowles | Studio 54 |
| 2016 | Blackbird | Una Spencer | Belasco Theatre |

## Audiobook

| Year | Title | Role | Ref. |
| 2023 | The Woman in Me | Narrator | |

## Music video

| Year | Title | Performer(s) | Album | Ref. |
| 2012 | "Paradise" | Wild Nothing | Nocturne | |

## Discography

| Soundtrack | Year | Song | Label |
| My Week with Marilyn | 2011 | "When Love Goes Wrong, Nothin' Goes Right / Heat Wave" | Sony Music |
| My Week with Marilyn | 2011 | "It's a Wrap, I Found a Dream" | Sony Music |
| My Week with Marilyn | 2011 | "That Old Black Magic" | Sony Music |
| The Greatest Showman | 2017 | "A Million Dreams" | Atlantic Records |
| The Greatest Showman | 2017 | "Tightrope" | Atlantic Records |
| Fosse/Verdon | 2019 | "Razzle Dazzle" | Atlantic Records |