Michelle Williams

Michelle Ingrid Williams, born on Sep. 9, 1980, is an American actress. After starting her career with television guest appearances in the early 1990s, Williams achieved recognition for her role as Jen Lindley on the WB television teen drama "Dawson's Creek", which she played from 1998 to 2003. Williams graduated to full-length features, including "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later", her first mainstream film, "Dick" (1999), a comedy, and "Prozac Nation" (2001).

From the 2000s Williams appeared primarily in dramatic, independent films for which she has received critical acclaim. A career highlight was 2005's controversial movie, "Brokeback Mountain", about a male homosexual relationship in the 1960s, which earned Williams a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Academy Awards. She followed this with "I'm Not There" (2007), "Synecdoche, New York" (2008) and Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" (2010). Williams's performance as a drifter in 2008's "Wendy and Lucy" earned her critical praise and her work opposite Ryan Gosling in "Blue Valentine" (2010) received another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actress. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn" (2011), which also garnered her third Academy Award nomination, second nomination for Best Actress. She is scheduled to appear next in 2013's 3-D "Oz: The Great and Powerful".

Williams had a high-profile relationship with actor and "Brokeback Mountain" co-star, Heath Ledger. They had one child together before separating in 2007.