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| Best known to audiences as transplanted big city teen Jen Lindley on The WB's popular "Dawson's Creek" (1998- ), actress Michelle Williams was born in Montana and moved to San Diego, California at age nine. In her new home, she began acting in community theater, and later made her feature debut in "Lassie" (1994), next appearing onscreen as the young incarnation of Natasha Henstridge's alien in "Species" (1995). After a career-driven legal emancipation from her parents, the home-schooled Williams was on her own, pursuing acting work in Burbank at the young age of 16, like a featured turn as Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter Pammy in the "King Lear" inspired drama "A Thousand Acres" (1997). After a fair amount of television guest work on series including "Home Improvement" and "Step By Step" (both ABC) and appearances in the TV movies "My Son Is Innocent" (ABC, 1996) and "Killing Mr. Griffin" (NBC, 1997), Williams made her TV series regular debut on Kevin Williamson's teen drama "Dawson's Creek". While she was the youngest member of the ensemble, the alluring, pouty blonde had no problem playing Capeside's newly arrived seasoned but sensitive sophisticate. With looks and presence that seemed beyond her years, Williams also displayed a fragility very indicative of her age, the actress herself embodying the contradiction of contemporary youth. First as the outcast object of Dawson's desire with the shady past and later as a full-fledged member of the gang, Williams' role in the sometimes overwrought but always thoughtful program developed more interesting layers as the series progressed. Returning to film during the series' hiatus, the young performer did her horror duty as the teen female lead of the "Halloween: H20" (1998, executive produced by Williamson). Not in keeping with the conventions of the genre's early offerings, Williams remained fully dressed throughout her portrayal of Molly, the girlfriend of John (Josh Hartnett), son of original "Halloween" scream queen Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Next she tackled comedy in 1999's "Dick", a 1970s set story about two girls (Williams and Kirsten Dunst) who stumble upon President Nixon's Watergate dealings. She was additionally featured in the comedy "But I Am a Cheerleader"(1999), starring Natasha Lyonne as a teen girl sent to a "rehabilitation" facility after her parents suspect she is a lesbian. |
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