Born November 11, 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico, Demi Gene Guynes’ father, Charles Harmon left her mother before her birth. She was named Guynes after her mother’s second husband, Danny Guynes. The future Demi Moore had an unstable childhood thanks to Guynes’ forcing them for move forty times as he went from job to job. Both her mother and stepfather were alcoholics, At 18, she married rock musician Freddy Moore, a marriage that lasted four years.
Moore made her film debut in 1981’s Choices, and after appearances in several more films, she became a regular on the soap opera, General Hospital in 1982. With her first paycheck from the series, she developed a habit of partying and sniffing cocaine which lasted three years, until director Joel Schumacher threatened to fire her from 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire when she turned up high. She got withdrawal treatments, returning to work clean after a week and stayed clean.
Moore’s next major film role was in 1986’s About Last Night opposite Rob Lowe. She married actor Bruce Willis in 1987. Their first child, Rumer, was born in 1988.
The young actress was one of the eight original members of the 1980s “brat pack”, along which also included Lowe, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Andrew McCarthy, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and Ally Sheedy, but despised the label and refused acknowledgment.
Moore continued to appear in one film per year with little notice until the 1990 blockbuster, Ghost opposite Patrick Swayze made her a star. She followed that with three films in 1991, Nothing but Trouble opposite Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, Mortal Thoughts opposite husband Bruce Willis, and The Butcher’s Wife opposite Jeff Daniels. They were all flops despite such publicity stunts as posing nude on the cover of Vanity Fair while seven months pregnant with middle daughter Scout in 1991. In August 1992, she again posed nude for ‘Vanity Fair’ while pregnant with third daughter, Tallulah, this time wearing body paint that resembled a man’s suit.
The young mother of three finally had another major hit with 1993’s A Few Good Men opposite Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, followed by two more box office successes with 1993’s Indecent Proposal opposite Robert Redford and 1994’s Disclosure opposite Michael Douglas.
The next few years saw a decline in Moore’s popularity with such flops as The Scarlet Letter opposite Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall, The Juror opposite Alec Baldwin, and Striptease opposite Burt Reynolds. Her only hit during this period was Disney’s animated version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in which she voiced the role of Esmeralda.
Moore’s career picked up again with 1997’s G.I. Jane. It would be her last major success for a very long time. She split with Willis in 1998, but they didn’t divorce until 2000. In 2005, she married actor Ashton Kutcher, 16 years her junior. The highly publicized wedding was attended by over 100 guests including Willis and their three daughters. She and Kutcher separated in 2011 and divorced in 2013.
More has continued to appear in films until the present, but none until this year’s The Substance has done anything for her career.
The Substance is Moore’s third film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture following Ghost and A Few Good Men, but the first for she herself is nominated at a young 62.
GHOST (1990), directed by Jerry Zucker
Nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture, and winner of 2, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress Whoopi Goldberg, this box-office sensation starred Patrick Swayze as a murdered young man whose ghost hangs around to protect his fiancé played by Moore whose performance made her the highest actress in Hollywood at the time. Her hair, cut short for the film, was also a sensation, and was copied by women of the day. Whoopi Goldberg’s fake spiritualist who really has the gift of speaking to the dead was the dead Swayze’s conduit to speaking to the very much alive Moore.
A FEW GOOD MEN (1992), directed by Rob Reiner
Nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture, Supporting Actor Jack Nicholson, Editing, and Son, this box-office hit gave Moore a more serious role than usual as a Marine Lt. Commander investigating a murder of a marine by two fellow marines who claim to be acting on the order of their base commander (Nicholson). Tom cruise is the Naval lawyer assigned to defend them. The powerhouse acting of Cruise and Nicholson is what catapulted the film to its box-office heights, but Moore’s performance is almost as compelling. The play on which it is based was inspired by at actual incident at Guantanamo Bay.
DISCLOSURE (1994), directed by Barry Levinson
Moore plays a femme fatale in this one, a seductress who goes after former lover Michael Douglas after she becomes his boss in a promotion everyone thought he would get. Still wanting to pick up where they left off, she attempts to reduce him while alone on the job after hours, only to have him reject her. She gets even by accusing him of sexual harassment. leaving him no choice but to sue her for sexual harassment. He wins the case, but she doesn’t stop there in this thriller filmed in and around Seattle, Washington. This was director Levinson’s biggest hit since winning the Oscar for 1988’s Rain Man.
G.I. JANE (1997), directed by Ridley Scott
Moore plays a US Navy topographic analyst, who joins the US Navy Special Warfare Group and struggles to prove her worth in a unit dominated by men. Anne Bancroft playing a cynical Texas senator is her nemesis. Moore’s commanding officer is played by Viggo Mortensen with Jason Beghe, Daniel von Bargen, John Michael Higgins, Mrris Chestnut, Josh Hopkins, Jim Caviezel, and Scott Wilson also in prominent roles. The film was a box office bomb domestically, grossing $48 million on its $50 million budget, but broke even with the worldwide box office gross, totaling $97 million. It later grossed over $22 million in VHS and DVD sales.
THE SUBSTANCE (2024), directed by Coralie Fargeat
Nominated for 5 Oscars including Bet Picture, Director, and Actress, Moore as a fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. Margaret Qualley plays the younger version of Moore’s persona. The body horror film is classified as a comedy but it’s a very dark comedy with some very harrowing scenes as it comes to its horrific conclusion. There are scenes reminiscent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Carrie, Network, and many other classic films. At tis point, Moore has already won numerous awards including the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award for her performance.
DEMI MOORE AND OSCAR
The Substance (2024) – Nominated – Best Actress
