Courteney Cox Arquette Biography
A whisper-thin, raven-haired beauty of TV and film, Courteney Cox first registered with audiences when she was plucked from the crowd by Bruce Springsteen in the Brian De Palma-directed video for The Boss’ hit 1984 single “Dancing in the Dark”. Work for the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency and appearances in Noxzema and Maybelline commercials (among others) and a bit part on the CBS soap “As the World Turns” preceded the video, after which she snagged a regular role in the short-lived primetime series “Misfits of Science” (NBC, 1985-86). Cox then joined the cast of the hit NBC sitcom “Family Ties” for the final two seasons (1987-89) as the brainy girlfriend of Alex P Keaton (Michael J Fox). She made the leap to the big screen, appearing in the little-seen caper film “Down Twisted” and the children’s sci-fi epic “Masters of the Universe” (both 1987), and “Cocoon: The Return” (1988), none of which registered much with critics or audiences.
For the rest of the 80s and into the early 90s, Cox alternated between TV and feature films, often trading on her girl-next-door qualities. While she landed the female lead opposite Jim Carrey in the smash hit “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994), she was overshadowed by the flashy antics of her co-star. Cox finally achieved small screen stardom as the neurotic aspiring chef Monica Geller, serving as the anchor of the ensemble, in the hit sitcom “Friends” (NBC, 1994-2004)–initially viewed as the star of the show, she easily settled into the emerging ensemble and, after a few seasons of playing Monica relatively straight, she showed her comedic chops as the character’s quirks–such as her hyper-cleanliness–emerged. She displayed her dramatic prowess as a blind rape victim in the made-for-cable movie “Sketch Artist II: Hands that See” (Showtime, 1995) before becoming the first of the “Friends” to score a big screen hit with Wes Craven’s “Scream” (1996). Cast against type as savvy, ambitious TV newscaster Gale Weathers, Cox delivered a strong performance and she reprised the part in the inevitable sequels “Scream 2″ (1997) and “Scream 3″ (2000). Unfortunately, “Commandments” (both 1997), in which she portrayed the unhappy wife of Anthony LaPaglia, embarking on an affair with her brother-in-law (Aidan Quinn), failed to mine the versatility she displayed in the Craven movies. After a string of roles in unimpressive films–”3000 Miles to Graceland,” “The Shrink Is In” and “Get Well Soon” (all 2001), Cox focused primarily on her series and her marriage to her “Scream” co-star David Arquette, whom she married in 1999 (the actress also added the Arquette name to her professional credits). As the final season of “Friends” wound down in 2004, Cox Arquette, had her share of options, motherhood was looming, she’d signed to appear in a slate of feature films, and she ahd her husband had already served as executive producers and design consultants on the home improvement reality series “Mix It Up” (2003-2004) on the cable network WE: Women’s Entertainment, a series that focused on helping couples blend their disparate design senisbilities when they move in together.
- Also Credited As:
Courteney Cox, S. Belsky - Born:
on 06/15/64 in Birmingham, Alabama - Job Titles:
Actor, Model
Family
- Brother: Richard Cox. older
- Father: Richard Cox. born c. 1931; divorced Cox’s mother in 1974; remarried in 1975; underwent treatment for liver cancer in 2001; died on September 3, 2001
- Mother: Courteney Copeland. divorced Cox’s father in 1974; married businessman Hunter Copeland in 1976
- Sister: Dottie Pickett. born c. 1962
- Sister: Virginia Cox. eldest sister
- Step-father: Hunter Copeland. married Cox’s motherin 1976
Significant Others
- Husband: David Arquette. met during filming of “Scream”; Arquette announced their engagement in October 1998; married on June 12, 1999 in San Francisco
- Companion: Ian Copeland. brother of musician Stewart Copeland of The Police; born c. 1949; Cox’s stepcousin
- Companion: Michael Keaton. together from 1989 until separating in July 1995
Education
- Mount Vernon College, Washington, DC, architecture
Milestones
- 1984 Cast as the dancing girl in the Brian De Palma-directed video “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen
- 1984 TV acting debut on the CBS daytime serial, “As the World Turns”; had bit role as friend of Marisa Tomei’s Marcy
- 1985 Cast as a regular on the TV series, “Misfits of Science” (NBC)
- 1987 Joined the cast of the NBC sitcom “Family Ties”, portraying Michael J Fox’s love interest
- 1987 Feature acting debut, “Down Twisted”
- 1987 TV-movie debut, “If It’s Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium” (NBC)
- 1988 Co-starred in the feature “Cocoon: The Return,” opposite Steve Guttenberg
- 1990 Acted in CBS miniseries, “Judith Krantz’s Till We Meet Again”
- 1990 Returned to films, appearing in the earnest, well-acted, but routine “Shaking the Tree” and the disappoiting “Mr Destiny”, starring James Belushi
- 1991 Starred with D B Sweeney in the little-seen thriller “Blue Desert”
- 1993 Cast in the short-lived CBS sitcom “The Trouble With Larry”
- 1994 Co-starred as would-be chef Monica Geller in the ensemble sitcom “Friends” (NBC)
- 1994 Listed by PEOPLE magazine as one of the world’s 50 Most Beautiful People
- 1994 Was leading lady to Jim Carrey in the screen comedy “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”
- 1996 Returned to features as bitchy TV newsreporter Gale Weathers in the hit horror film “Scream”
- 1997 Co-starred in the pallid triangular comedy-drama “Commandments”
- 1997 Reprised role of Gale Weathers in the sequel “Scream 2″
- 2001 Had co-starring role in “3000 Miles to Graceland”
- 2002 Featured alongside Kenneth Branagh and Heather Graham in “Alien Love Triangle”, the Danny Boyle-directed segment of the anthology film “Light Years” (filmed 1998)
- 2003 Produced “Mix It Up,” a decorating show on cable network WE
- 2004 Starred the production company Coquette with husband David Arquette
- 2005 Played Adam Sandler’s demanding girlfriend in “The Longest Yard”
- 2005 Took a dramatic turn in “November” playing Sopie, a woman who’s boyfriend is shot to death in a robbery
- Appeared in commercials for products including Noxzema, Maybelline and Tampax (was the first person to say “period” in a nonpunctuation context on network TV)
- Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama
- Cast as a D.A. in Nick Cassavetes’ “Alpha Dog,” a drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood (lensed 2005)
- Moved to NYC the summer before her freshman year in college; began working with Ford Modeling Agency, posing as a teen model for TIGER BEAT and YOUNG MISS magazines and for covers of romance novels marketed for young girls
- Returned to NYC after attending one year at Mount Vernon College in Washington, DC
- Will join Tim Allen in the superhero comedy “Zoom” (lensed 2005)
Fairuza Balk Biography
Blue-eyed, dark-haired Fairuza Balk weathered the storms of Oz, gradually breaking free from her fresh-faced little kid persona to plunge into dark and depressing film scenarios that ultimately reveal an optimism at her core. She worked first on TV in NBC’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (1983) before beating out 1,200 girls to fill Dorothy’s ruby slippers in Walter Murch’s feature debut, “Return to Oz” (1985). Refusing to be traumatized by critics comparing her unfavorably to Judy Garland, Balk rebounded for more kid stuff as the well-meaning klutz Mildred Hubble in “The Worst Witch”, a 1986 HBO movie based on the popular children’s book.
Balk attracted attention in her first somewhat adult role as the virginal Cecile de Volanges promised in marriage to someone 30 years her senior in Milos Forman’s “Valmont” (1989). She turned in an outstanding performance as a young rape victim in the TV film “Shame” (Lifetime, 1992) and played the blossoming younger sister of Ione Skye in Allison Anders’ indie favorite “Gas Food Lodging” (1992). Balk portrayed the older daughter who inadvertently becomes head of the household when the latest scheme of her father (Harvey Keitel) turns sour in “Imaginary Crimes” (1994) and was extremely sympathetic as a self-destructive prostitute in the little-seen “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” (1995). She continued to work steadily in features of varying quality, including playing a high school student caught up in the dark side of witchcraft in the hit supernatural thriller “The Craft” (1996) and co-starred with Edward Norton and Edward Furlong in Tony Kaye’s “American History X” (1998), about a white supremacist who reforms.
- Also Credited As:
Fairuza A. Feldthouse - Born:
on 05/21/74 in Point Reyes Station, California - Job Titles:
Actor
Family
- Father: Solomon Feldthouse.
- Grandmother:
- Mother: Cathryn Balk. also taught Mid-Eastern and flamenco dance
Significant Others
- Companion: David Thewlis. met during filming of “Island of Dr. Moreau”; no longer together
Education
- Vancouver Academy of Music, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Ramona Beauchamps Screen Kids
Milestones
- 1978 Moved to Vancouver, Canada at age four (date approximate)
- 1983 TV acting debut, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (ABC)
- 1985 Film acting debut as Dorothy in “Return to Oz”
- 1987 Played Barbara (at age 12) in NBC movie “Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story”
- 1989 Portrayed 14-year-old girl entangled in an arranged marriage to a man 30 years her senior in “Valmont”
- 1992 Received a CableACE nomination for her performance in the Lifetime movie “Shame”
- 1992 Turned down “Cool World” to do Allison Anders’ “Gas Food Lodging”, playing the idealistic youger daughter of a truck-stop waitress
- 1993 Acted the real-life part of Caril Ann Fugate in the ABC miniseries “Murder in the Heartland”, based on the Starkweather-Fugate murder spree of the 1950s
- 1994 Shined as Harvey Keitel’s older daughter in “Imaginary Crimes”
- 1995 Played never-say-die prostitute in “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”
- 1996 Experimented with witchcraft in supernatural thriller “The Craft”
- 1996 Portrayed Marlon Brando’s daughter in “The Island of Dr. Moreau”; met David Thewlis
- 1997 Starred in “American Perfekt”, with Robert Forster, Amanda Plummer, Paul Sorvino and Thewlis
- 1998 Acted in Tony Kaye’s “American History X”, about white supremacist gangs terrorizing the inner city
- 2000 Had supporting role as a “band-aid”, a sort of groupie, in “Almost Famous”
- 2002 Co-starred in the drama feature “Personal Velocity”
- Moved with mother to England