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Biography
Gray was born on March 26, 1960 in New York City to actor and dancer Joel Gray and former actress and singer Jo Wilder. On the father's side - the granddaughter of the Jewish comedian Mickey Katz (Mickey Katz, real name Meer (Miron) Katz, 1909-1985).
The actress made her film debut in the mid-1980s, appearing in 1984 in small roles in the films Reckless, Red Dawn and The Cotton Club by Francis Ford Coppola. Three years later, during which Jennifer got only minor roles, she starred in the melodrama Dirty Dancing, one of the best-received films of the late 1980s, playing young Frances Houseman, nicknamed Baby, who falls in love with the sophisticated dancer Johnny, Patrick Swayze's character.The film was a huge success with the public, grossing over $200 million in the world box office against 6 million spent on production.Jennifer also received for the role of Baby (it is noteworthy that she was 10 years older than her seventeen-year-old heroine) her only nomination for the Golden Globe Award in her creative career.
Despite such a promising breakthrough, Jennifer's career was not entirely successful. She was invited to work mainly in minor roles, but films with her participation did not receive a response from critics and the public. In 1989, she appeared in the comedy Bloodhounds from Broadway, where the main role was played by the singer Madonna, who received a nomination for the Golden Raspberry anti-award for her performance. Then in 1992, Jennifer got the lead role in the film The Wind, but it flopped at the box office.
On television, the actress starred more consistently and regularly. Her most notable roles were in the television dramas Murder on the Mississippi and Criminal Justice (both films - 1990) and the thriller The Murder Case (1992), as well as in the television film West Side Waltz (1995), where in addition to Jennifer starred Shirley MacLaine and Liza Minnelli. In the same 1995, she could be seen in an episode of Friends, in which the actress played Rachel Green's girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston's heroine.
In 2001, after Jennifer got married, she took a long break and did not act for five years. Returning to work in 2006, Jennifer took part in two projects - she starred in a supporting role in the melodrama "The Whale" and, together with her husband, played the main characters in the family television comedy "Road to Christmas". In 2010, Jennifer Gray (paired with dancer Derek Hough) won the final of the popular American ABC program Dancing With the Stars.
Jennifer Gray at the 1988 Oscars.
Gray at the Oscars in 1988.
Personal life
On August 5, 1987, Gray suffered a neck injury in a car accident in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, while on vacation with actor Matthew Broderick, whom she had secretly dated while filming Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The incident that made their relationship public came when Broderick drove into the oncoming lane and crashed into a Volvo driven by Anna Gallagher, 30, accompanied by her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, causing both women to died on the spot. On charges of reckless driving, Broderick was sentenced to a $175 fine. Grey's famed film Dirty Dancing was released a few weeks after the accident, but she says guilt and grief prevented her from enjoying the film's success, which eventually led to her taking a break from her acting career.
Gray has also been romantically involved with actors Michael J. Fox, Johnny Depp, and journalist George Stephanopoulos.
On July 21, 2001, Gray married actor Clark Gregg. Their daughter, Stella, was born on December 3, 2001. They live in Venice, California.
After signing on to appear on Dancing with the Stars in 2010, Gray went through a physical exam and told the doctor about chronic neck problems from the accident. Her spinal cord was compressed and the surgeon inserted a titanium plate to support her neck. He also found a suspicious white dot on her thyroid via MRI, which turned out to be a precancerous nodule, and was removed. Gray said the cancer was discovered before it could spread.
In the early 1990s, Gray underwent two rhinoplasty operations (there are claims that the first of them was unsuccessful), as a result of which her appearance changed. As she herself said: “I went into the operating room as a celebrity, but left as nobody. It felt like I went through a witness protection program or became invisible.”
