In this weekend's Margin Call, Demi Moore plays a workaholic risk management exec whose reckless peers at a fictional Wall Street investment firm help ignite the 2008 economic crisis. So how did a Brat Packer from the '80s transform herself into a high powered finance exec?
You can always trace a direct line through a few important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success. As such, let's look at nine pivotal performances that track the evolution of Demi Moore.
General Hospital(1982)
Born Demetria Guynes in Roswell, New Mexico to a single mother, Moore spent her formative years moving around the country before ultimately dropping out of high school at the age of 16 to model and act. After taking the last name of her first husband (musician Freddie Moore), she landed two forgettable film parts (Choices and the low budget horror flick Parasite) before scoring a recurring role on General Hospital. As Jackie Templeton, an unfailingly ambitious and ruthless reporter, the 19-year-old impressed casting directors enough during her two-year stay at the soap to start being cast in meatier big screen roles.
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
After a pair of sizable film roles (opposite Jon Cryer in the rom-com No Small Affair and Michael Caine in Blame It On Rio) failed to get the actress much attention, Moore was cast by Joel Schumacher in his coming-of-age '80s classic St. Elmo's Fire as Jules, the hard-partying, extravagant, emotionally distant member of the ensemble bunch. It has been widely reported that Moore didn't just "play" a hard-partyer -- she was reportedly fired from the film after showing up to set high one day. Fortunately, Moore was re-hired after sobering up and signing an ultimatum from Schumacher. Moore proved herself on and offscreen with the role, which would launch her into the beginning stage of stardom and forever associate her with the "Brat Pack" clique along with her co-stars Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy.
The Seventh Sign (1988)
After cementing herself as a viable actress in About Last Night, the relationship comedy-drama co-starring Rob Lowe, Moore found her first star vehicle in the apocalyptic drama The Seventh Sign. As a pregnant woman trying to stop the end of the world, Moore impressed critics -- including Roger Ebert who said that this role confirmed she had "a genuine charisma, an aura of intelligence and resolve, reinforced by her throaty voice" -- but could not save this otherwise mediocre movie.
Ghost (1990)
In 1990, Moore reached the milestone that would establish her as a star: Ghost, the romantic drama co-starring Patrick Swayze that is best remembered for its erotic (and oft-parodied) pottery wheel scene. Moore stars as a widowed artist whose husband finds a way to stay on Earth as a ghost. Grossing over $500 million worldwide, Ghost remains the most lucrative film of Moore's acting career. Because of Ghost's box office success, Moore became one of the most sought-after and most expensive actresses of the '90s, even after her follow-up flops The Butcher's Wife and Mortal Thoughts.
Vanity Fair Cover (1991)
Even after proving that she could play vulnerable in Ghost, Moore was never considered a contender in the "America's Sweetheart" race like her '90s leading lady peers Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock. This is partly because of her husky voice, her onscreen steeliness and her inherent sexiness -- the latter of which which she capitalized on with the controversial Annie Leibovitz Vanity Fair cover. The cover portrait shows Moore seven months pregnant with her second child and nude -- an image that was supposed to be an anti-Hollywood statement and proof that mothers could be sexy...or something. The cover succeeded in getting Moore attention and causing controversy but it failed in that turned more traditional audience members off of her work.
The Scarlet Letter (1995)
Moore continued to mine her sex symbol status; in the successful Indecent Proposal, she pushed the sexual envelope a little too far and Roland Joffé's adaptation of The Scarlet Letteris also a milestone, in that it is Moore's most hilarious work onscreen. Unfortunately for her, the hilariousness is unintentional and a result of the very loosely-adapted script which features Hester Prynne luxuriating in a bath (indulging in what appears to be some suggested masturbation) and some glamorous sex in a shed with Gary Oldman's character. Adultery has never looked sexier! In addition to being a box office bust, the film destroyed the actorly credibility Moore had been mining for over a decade now.
Striptease (1996)
Following two more duds (Now and Then and The Juror), Moore crossed an important barrier for actresses -- she became the first actress to earn a $10 million paycheck for her work in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And then, she entered the vanity project phase of her career with Striptease. The supposed comedy follows a former FBI secretary who loses custody of her daughter and is forced to make money to afford an appeal the only way she knows how: thankless clerical work by stripping at a seedy Miami joint called the Eager Beaver. In spite of Moore's nudity and preening for the camera, the film was a critical failure and swept that year's Razzie awards.
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
After Striptease's bust, Moore took one more stab at a starring role in G.I. Jane. As the first woman to try to join the elite Navy Seals ranks, Moore trained vigorously for the role but her preparation was for naught -- the film was lambasted by critics and underperformed at the box office. Following that failure -- and a role in a Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry, Moore retreated from the Hollywood scene, only staying involved to produce the Austin Powers trilogy through her Moving Pictures company. Six years later and safely out of the public eye, Moore was ready for her comeback -- a deliciously evil role in Charlie's Angel: Full Throttle. Unfortunately for her -- or fortunately -- the 41-year-old actress received just as much attention for her impeccable bikini body (featured prominently) that stole attention away from Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu's crime-fighting trio than her villainous acting ability. Still -- a comeback!
Margin Call (2011)
Since her Charlie's Angels "comeback," Moore has spent the last decade appearing in mostly low profile ensemble projects (The Joneses, Bunraku), reconnecting with old friends onscreen (she reunited with her Blame It On Rio co-star Michael Caine for Flawless and her fellow Brat Pack-er/former flame Emilio Estevez for his historical drama Bobby) and making her directorial debut (on the Lifetime project Five). This weekend, Moore returns to the screen to play ball with some of Hollywood's finest actors including Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany and Jeremy Irons in Margin Call. The financial drama is by no means her starring film but hopefully this will help her regain her star footing so that Moore can escape the "mother to tech-savvy teen" role (which she has opposite Miley Cyrus in the upcoming LOL) and shake up the current landscape for actresses.