Jennifer Grey Biography

Jennifer Elise Grey (born March 26, 1960) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Frances "Baby" Houseman in the hit film Dirty Dancing (1987) and Jeanie Bueller in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).

Early life

Born in New York City, Grey is the daughter of stage and screen actor Joel Grey and the former actress/singer Jo Wilder. Grey is the granddaughter of comedian and musician Mickey Katz. She is an alumna of the Dalton School, a private school in Manhattan, and studied both dance and acting.

Career

Her commercial debut was at the age of 19, in an ad for Dr Pepper. After other small roles, she landed the part of jealous sister Jeanie in the hit 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The following year, she reunited with Patrick Swayze, whom she had played opposite in Red Dawn, for her biggest role ever, Frances "Baby" Houseman in Dirty Dancing. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress.

In the early 1990s, Grey underwent a rhinoplasty procedure that was so botched she required a second plastic surgery to repair the damage. The result was a face so changed that even close friends failed to recognize her, and the major change in her appearance negatively affected her career. Of the experience she said, "I went in the operating room a celebrity – and came out anonymous. It was like being in a witness protection program or being invisible." She briefly considered starting over with a new name to go with the new face, but stuck with her original name. In 1999, she reappeared in the short-lived ABC sitcom It's Like, You Know... portraying a variation of herself, a struggling actress named Jennifer Grey. In an episode of the series, she poked fun at herself with a storyline about a much-publicized nose job.

Grey also appeared with Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli and Kathy Bates in the CBS television movie The West Side Waltz, adapted by Ernest Thompson from his play, an episode of Friends as Mindy, and she had a small role in the 2000 film Bounce with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck. Her sole Broadway theatre credit is The Twilight of the Golds (1993). Grey has recently appeared as Daphne, Meyer's fiancee, on the HBO series John from Cincinnati.

In October she played Abbey, the mother of a sick child in a Season 7 episode of House, Unplanned Parenthood.

In August 2010 it was announced that she would be one of twelve celebrities joining the eleventh season of Dancing With the Stars. She will be partnering with professional dancer Derek Hough who won Season 7 and Season 10 of the show.

Personal life

Following engagements to Matthew Broderick (her on screen brother in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and Johnny Depp, and after dating George Stephanopoulos, Grey married actor/director Clark Gregg (The New Adventures of Old Christine) on July 21, 2001. They have a daughter Stella (b. December 3, 2001) together. The couple co-starred in the Lifetime movie Road to Christmas. Grey lives in Los Angeles, California, with her family.[citation needed]

Prior to her stint on Dancing with the Stars, Grey had a physical examination to ensure that she was fit enough to compete. In addition, Grey saw a doctor to address chronic neck problems caused by a serious car accident years before. Her spinal cord was compressed and her surgeon said "If you fell or got rear-ended, you'd be paralyzed". Surgeon Robert S. Bray placed a titanium plate in her neck to stabilize her spinal cord but also told her to see another doctor about a suspicious white spot on her thyroid that he'd seen on her MRI. Grey had believed the spot to be a benign nodule but it was cancerous and was removed. Grey told ABC's "Good Morning America" she believes the cancer was caught before it metastasized and that she is now cancer-free.