Age, Biography, and Wiki
Brittany Anne Bertolotti, known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was born on November 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. She was raised in Edison, New Jersey, by her mother after her parents divorced when she was two years old. Murphy's interest in acting led her family to relocate to Los Angeles in 1991, where she began her career in the entertainment industry.
| Occupation | Voice Actress |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 10 November 1977 |
| Age | 47 Years |
| Birth Place | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Scorpio |
| Country | Georgia |
| Date of death | 20 December, 2009 |
| Died Place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details about her height and weight are not frequently highlighted, Brittany Murphy was often noted for her petite stature, which was a common observation in many of her film roles.
In the early 2000s, Murphy lost a large amount of weight, which led to rumors of a cocaine addiction or that she suffered from bulimia or anorexia. In 2005, Murphy disputed such claims to Jane magazine, saying: "No, just for the record I have never tried it in my entire life."
Actress Melanie Lynskey, one of her friends, expressed her opinion about Murphy's physical changes. For InStyle, she stated: "I was friends with Brittany Murphy, and the way she saw herself always broke my heart: the things she felt she had to change to be a successful actress." "She was perfect as she was, but people tried to present her as 'the fat one,' because when she was a very young teenager, her cheeks were a little round. People tell you that you are a particular thing, and it is very difficult to combat." The problem of her weight loss was such that she became weaker, unable to stand up on her own. The film director Trista Jordan recalled: "I've been around thousands of actors and I've never seen anyone that thin. Her elbows... And to get up from a chair she looked like Bambi."
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Dating & Relationship Status
Brittany Murphy was married to Simon Monjack, a British screenwriter and director, from 2007 until her death in 2009. Notably, she intentionally excluded Monjack from her will, leaving her estate to her mother.
Murphy was raised by her mother in Edison, New Jersey. Angelo during this period was arrested on charges of drug possession, spending twelve years in prison; and he had dealings with the Italian mafia, where he operated as an entrepreneur and diplomat for organized crime families. She later stated that due to Sharon's financial problems, she was forced to eat spaghetti every night. She also said that, on certain occasions, she had to beg her mother to buy clothes at Kmart. This would later explain Murphy's marked social investment in homeless causes, as discussed in a February 2003 Glamour article.
In 1991, before she started high school, the family moved to Los Angeles so that Murphy could pursue an acting career. Murphy said her mother never tried to stifle her creativity, and she considered her mother a crucial factor in her later success: "When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me. She always believed in me." Murphy's mother is of Irish and Slovakian descent, and her father is of Italian descent. She was raised a Baptist and later became a non-denominational Christian. She had two older half-brothers and a younger half-sister.
Her breakthrough role was in her second feature film, the teen comedy Clueless (1995), directed by Amy Heckerling, which developed a cult following. Filming began in November 1994, at which time she was barely seventeen years old, making her the youngest member of the cast. Her performance in the film was praised by both the media and critics: John Menter, an acting teacher during Murphy's childhood, said: "It wasn't until I saw her, sitting in the theater, who I felt she would be a huge star." During filming, as she could not attend high school, she had educational tutors. The film was a sleeper hit, grossing US$56 million against its budget of US$12 million. Clueless is a loose adaptation of the novel Emma (1815) by Jane Austen, and many of its characters have counterparts in the novel. Soon after, her mother Sharon was diagnosed with breast cancer, whom she was forced to take care of after the release of Clueless.
She appeared alongside Dakota Fanning in Uptown Girls (2003), playing Molly Gunn, a twenty-two-year-old girl whose deceased father was a musician. Filming lasted from July to September 2002, and was filmed at Silvercup Studios located in New York. That same year she starred in the romantic comedy Just Married. The film did well at the box office, grossing more than 100 million dollars, against a budget of 18 million, but it received negative reviews from both the press and film critics, which led to them appearing as nominees in the Razzie Awards for worst actor, worst supporting actress and worst on-screen couple for both. At that time her mother contracted breast cancer again, so she had to take care of her again. A year later she gave the Stacy Holt's role in Little Black Book (2004), which was another critical failure, where reviewers focused on Murphy's poor performance. The film opened at number five at the North American box office, grossing US$7,075,217 in its opening weekend behind Collateral, The Village, The Bourne Supremacy and The Manchurian Candidate. The film finished its run with a domestic total of US$20,698,668 and an international addition of US$1,336,164, totaling US$22,034,832 worldwide. In 2005 she appeared in Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino. Film critic Roger Ebert frequently praised Murphy's acting talent and comic timing, giving good reviews to several of her films and comparing her to Lucille Ball:
In late 2002, she began dating Ashton Kutcher, whom she met when they starred in Just Married. The director of the production, Shawn Levy, has commented on the relationship saying: "From the minute they met, they were together, they laughed all the time, they made jokes and they looked happy". It was later revealed that they had been engaged, due to both Kutcher and Murphy wearing rings, although it was never officially confirmed. She was engaged to talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz, but their relationship only lasted four months. She was subsequently with Joe Macaluso in December 2005, a production assistant she met while working on the film Little Black Book. Four months after the filming of The Ramen Girl, which was in April 2006, they broke up.
During the filming of 8 Mile (2002) she met the American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor Eminem. After the release of the film, rumors about a possible love relationship between the two of them spread. When she was asked on the Late Show with David Letterman if they had dated, she responded: "Yes, of course" and, laughing, added: "Well, it went. It came and went". Beyond speculation, it was later confirmed that the two had no relationship. In another interview with The Morning Call, she revealed that she was a big fan of Eminem: "I'm a fan of him... I think that he's very misunderstood." "He's brilliant...he's a brilliant guy," she continued. When the interviewer asked if the rapper was nervous during recordings with her, she jokingly replied, "You'd have to ask him. I don't want to appear in some song or something like that. I'm being careful." On another occasion, when asked if they had "something off screen," she responded: "I'll never tell."
Months after her relationship with Macaluso, she met Simon Monjack, a British screenwriter. They met during the filming of The White Hotel, where Murphy played the role of actress and Monjack as director, however, the film was not released and its production was paused. In the 2021 documentary What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, several of Monjack's colleagues and friends accused him of being responsible for Murphy's physical changes and also of not letting her connect with her family. According to the testimony of his ex-fiancée, Elizabeth Ragsdale, Monjack "was a disturbed individual who was used to scamming people and Brittany was one of his last victims". In the two-part miniseries, Ragsdale explained that Monjack told her that he suffered from spinal cancer and needed shark cartilage treatments to recover. It was not until he abandoned her while Ragsdale was pregnant that she contacted Monjack's mother, Linda Monjack, and realized that the story was fake. Linda, who was interviewed, defended her son in this regard, saying he had developed extreme paranoia after the death of his own father, William Monjack, from cancer: "I certainly don't think he went out and told people he had cancer. I think he believed it." Before Monjack met Murphy, he was with filmmaker Allison Burnett at a public dinner, where he told the assembled guests that he was a multimillionaire, had dated Elle Macpherson and Madonna, had a collection of Ferraris and was dying of brain cancer until he purchased a treatment derived from shark fins that saved his life; however, these theories were revealed to be lies. As a result of this the media suspected that she had been deceived by a cheat. Actress Kathy Najimy, recalled: "[People] were scared. Like, 'Who is this guy and what was happening?'", "She wanted to marry him, and I said, 'Honey, it hasn't been enough'." Another reporter said that her friends and family tried to split her with Monjack at one point, but her intervention failed. After that it was as if she "disappeared", according to her friend Lisa Rieffel: "Simon took her away. He made sure no one could get to her." The couple did not announce their engagement beforehand and rarely appeared together in public before their marriage. In May 2007, they married in a private Jewish ceremony in Los Angeles. During the last three and a half years of her life, she, her mother, and Monjack moved in together in the same mansion that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake had lived in, and she kept much of her old furniture.
In January 2010, Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, and her mother, Sharon Murphy, claimed that she did not use alcohol or other drugs, and that drugs did not cause her death; instead, they attributed it to a heart condition, mitral valve prolapse.
In January 2012, Murphy's father, Angelo Bertolotti, applied to the Superior Court of California requesting that the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office be required to hand over samples of his daughter's hair for independent testing. The suit was dismissed seven months later, after Bertolotti failed to attend two separate hearings.
In January 2010, Murphy's mother, Sharon, and her widower, Simon Monjack, established the Brittany Murphy Foundation, a charitable fund for children's arts education, as well as supporting the USO and cancer research.
On November 10, 2013, the Brittany Murphy Foundation was officially relaunched by her father Angelo Bertolotti, according to a press release posted at the foundation's website.
In October 2021, HBO Max aired a documentary titled What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, covering the mystery surrounding Murphy's death. In the documentary, Murphy's 8 Mile co-star Taryn Manning remembered her as "free-spirited, whimsical and full of laughter". After the documentary premiere, Daniel Fienberg wrote for The Hollywood Reporter that the documentary was "20 percent a reminder of Murphy's transcendent talent, 30 percent a dead-ended investigation into the mystery of her death, and 50 percent an unenlightening examination of Murphy's late husband", and concluded his review saying that "[Murphy] deserved better than the treatment she received in the media, which probably contributed to [Monjack's] ability to control her in the way he did."
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| Husband | Simon Monjack (m. 2007) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of her death in 2009, Brittany Murphy's net worth was estimated to be approximately $10 million. Her wealth was primarily derived from her successful acting career, including roles in films and voice acting projects.
Career, Business, and Investments
Murphy's career began to flourish in the mid-1990s with mainstream films like "Clueless" and "Girl, Interrupted." She further established herself with roles in "8 Mile," "Sin City," and "Happy Feet." Her success extended to voice acting in animated series like "King of the Hill." Murphy's Broadway debut in "A View from the Bridge" marked another milestone in her career.
Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue a career in acting. Her breakthrough came when she co-starred as Tai Frasier in Clueless (1995), followed by independent films such as Freeway (1996), and her 1997 Broadway debut in a production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. She finished the decade with supporting roles in Girl, Interrupted and Drop Dead Gorgeous (both 1999). She voiced Luanne Platter on Fox's King of the Hill for the entirety of its original run (1997–2010).
In 1982, she attended the Verne Fowler School of Dance and Theater Arts in Colonia, New Jersey. From the age of four, she trained in singing, dancing and acting until she moved to California at thirteen. In 1987, at the age of ten, she made her theatrical debut called Really Rosie, whose performance was praised by her teachers; and she also sang in a production of Les Misérables. She stood out for being energetic when acting. She went so far as to say that "my first memories were wanting... to entertain people." She debuted in 1991 playing the role of Frank's sister on the television show Murphy Brown, however, she appeared in only one episode. She later got her first job in Hollywood at the age of thirteen, playing the role of Brenda Drexell in the series Drexell's Class. She then went on to play Molly Morgan in the TV series Almost Home. She appeared as a guest star on several television series, including Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Blossom, seaQuest 2032, Murder One and Frasier. She had recurring roles on Party of Five, Boy Meets World and Sister, Sister.
As of September 2018, the Brittany Murphy Foundation appears to be defunct. GuideStar USA, Inc., an information service specializing in reporting on US nonprofit companies, reports that the Brittany Murphy Foundation has not appeared on the IRS Business Master File in months, which may indicate that it has ceased operations.
After her death, a wide variety of friends dedicated words to her in interviews, recognizing her legacy and work within the film industry. Dakota Fanning, her co-star in the film Uptown Girls (2003) who maintained a friendship with her, said she appreciated the time they spent together both on the set of the film and at events they attended together, and that she was "very grateful to have had the opportunity to work together". The song "Faster Kill Pussycat", by British DJ Paul Oakenfold performed by Murphy, re-entered at number seven on the UK Dance Chart. It also entered the UK Indie Chart in the same week, peaking at number 13.
Social Network
Although Brittany Murphy passed away in 2009, her legacy lives on through various social media tributes and fan pages. These platforms continue to share memories and updates about her life and career.
Murphy gained critical recognition for her roles in numerous high-profile film projects during the early 2000s, such as Don't Say a Word (2001), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), and 8 Mile (2002). Other notable credits included Cherry Falls (2000), Spun (2002), Just Married, Uptown Girls (both 2003), Little Black Book (2004), Sin City (2005), and Happy Feet (2006).
Murphy's career also included work as a singer. She was able to learn to play an instrument in just twenty minutes of practice, and learned to play the piano and trumpet at an early age. Regarding her voice, she commented: "My singing voice isn't like my speaking voice...I've just always kept it a secret and never taken credit because I wanted to learn how to work behind the microphone in a recording studio, and some of the singers don't even know it was me recording on their albums." In an interview she stated that her main musical influence was the American singer Madonna: "My dreams and aspirations when I was a child for as long as I can remember was to be an entertainer. I started out in dance classes and I've always sang for as long as I can remember. When I was nine I started doing musical theater in the New Jersey area, where I'm from. The quickest way to entertain more people was to audition for commercials and that was the first thing available since it was right over the Hudson River. Madonna had a quote, 'I'm going to change the world'–that was a huge inspiration to me so I decided I was going to be my own version of Madonna when I grew up". Plans to release a studio album were not carried out. She recorded unreleased demos that were never officially released, the song "Boomlay" was leaked on the Internet, it never completed and part of the recording was lost.
She dabbled in music again with the release of the film Happy Feet, in which she covered Queen's "Somebody to Love" and Earth, Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland". Murphy said about her character, Gloria, "Oddly enough, of all the characters I've played, Gloria is the most like me. And she's a penguin! George Miller always wanted one person to do both [the speaking and the singing]. I said, 'I can sing,' and I asked him to give me a shot. I don't think he took me very seriously, because most actors say they can do most things."
In the early 2000s, she was close friends with American actress Winona Ryder, who worked with her in the drama film Girl, Interrupted (1999). For the Los Angeles Times in September 2001, she was more open about her friendship with Ryder, where Murphy revealed that she called Ryder her "definitive mentor". Murphy said, "Before, I didn't know how actors managed to look so pretty. They have stylists, hair and makeup. I look at old photos of the premiere of Clueless and I look like a meatball on top of another meatball". During a television interview, Murphy along with Ryder got into a Mercedes car and kissed mouth to mouth, which led theories that Murphy was a lesbian, something she rejected. For People she remarked: "This was my presentation to the media, the cover of the National Enquirer". She also said that "we just kissed as a joke. I didn't know what to do because [the photographers] were in front of the car and it was either run them over or just stay there. Then I started making faces and suddenly I became Winona Ryder's lesbian lover". After Murphy's death, Ryder revealed to Total Film that she finds it difficult to watch the film after this event: "I can't watch the movie now. Her character commits suicide in the movie, I just can't. I was very close to Brittany, even in the moments before her death".
Eminem later revealed on Vibe that the actress' death affected him greatly and that he was terrified of dying under similar circumstances. He also said that Murphy's death "was crazy. It's crazy because for a while we were close and she was a very good person. It's crazy when you see these cases, not just hers, but all the cases that have happened in Hollywood with people in music, in acting. Famous people. Famous people dying of overdoses at alarming rates and this almost sounds like advertising."
In 2023, Alicia Silverstone, who was also her co-star in Clueless (1995) and one of her friends, commented on what it was like working with Murphy during filming:
"I always remember when she auditioned for the part. It was the first time I was in a casting room where I was not auditioning. I was just there to help them facilitate chemistry reads. I just remember when she came in and did hers, because when she walked out of the room, I was like, 'You guys! Did you see that?' As if they wouldn't know. They were like, 'Yes, we saw that!' They were excited too, but it was my first time. She was just so good."
Education
Murphy's educational background is not extensively detailed, as her focus shifted early towards her acting career. However, her family's relocation to Los Angeles was a significant step towards pursuing her dreams in the entertainment industry.
Conclusion: Brittany Murphy's life was marked by her vibrant career in Hollywood, but her untimely death left many questions unanswered. Despite her tragic end, her contributions to film and her enduring popularity continue to inspire fans worldwide.
