Snakkle Looks Back On Michelle Williams’ Career

michelle williams young sophomore high school photo 1995

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Megawatt Smile: As a Sophomore in 1995

Michelle “Shelly” Williams was born in Kalispell, Montana, but attended high school at Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach, CA. She knew early on that she wanted to be an actress and had herself emancipated to avoid child-labor laws.

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Big Screen Debut: In Lassie

In 1994, Williams appeared in her first feature film, a retelling of the classic kids’ favorite Lassie. In it she played April, a local who befriends Matt (Tom Guiry), a city boy who—along with his family and his famously heroic dog—is stuck out in the country.

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Bad Girl Gone Good: In Dawson’s Creek

Most of us got to know Williams as a pseudo-rival to Joey (Katie Holmes) for Dawson’s affection—until her past came back to haunt her—on the Creek. It was teenybopper fare, yes, but done intelligently and with sensitivity (plus it had an awesome soundtrack).

Michelle Williams Kirsten Dunst Dick Movie Photo 1999

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Patriots: With Kirsten Dunst in Dick

Williams starred opposite another It Girl, Kirsten Dunst, in 1999’s Dick, a charming, slight, absurd comedy about two girls who inadvertently stumbled onto the Watergate break-in and eventually took down Richard Nixon’s presidency. (We mentioned that it was absurd, right?)

Michelle Williams if these walls could talk movie photo

Going Retro: In If These Walls Could Talk 2

Williams played Linda, a young feminist coming to terms with her own lesbianism, in the followup to HBO’s successful TV movie If These Walls Could Talk. She starred opposite Chloë Sevigny in an episode that was set in the early 1970s.

michelle williams brokeback mountain movie photo 2005

The Lonely Housewife: In Brokeback Mountain

As a wife who feels her husband pulling away—and finally figures out why—in 2005’s monumental Brokeback Mountain, Williams delivered a quiet, understated performance that anchored some explosive scenes with costar Heath Ledger. The two would go on to have a relationship, eventually getting engaged and having a child together.

michelle williams heath ledger photo 2005

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Young and In Love: With Heath Ledger

The romance between Williams and Australian native Heath Ledger began during the filming of Brokeback Mountain in 2004 and lasted through 2007. Here at the 15th Annual Gotham Awards at New York’s Chelsea Piers in November 2005, not long after the birth of their daughter, Matilda Rose, the couple look very much in love.

Michelle Williams heath ledger wake photo 2008

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Saying Goodbye: At Ledger’s Wake

In January 2008, Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose. At the time of his death, he had just completed a tremendous performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight (for which he received a posthumous Oscar) and was in the middle of filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Friends and family memorialized Ledger at the Indiana Tea Room on Perth, Australia’s Cottesloe Beach in February 2008.

michelle williams wendy and lucy movie photo 2008

Oscillioscope

Indie Cred: In Wendy and Lucy

With the release of 2008’s Wendy and Lucy, Williams helped cement her authenticity as an indie actress. The low-budget drama about a woman and her dog just trying to survive long enough to make it to Alaska was a critics’ favorite.

michelle williams ryan gosling blue valentine movie photo 2010

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With Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine

This 2010 drama pared two of a generation’s great talents, Williams and Ryan Gosling, in a sexy, heart-wrenching, unflinching look at a couple falling in love and a marriage falling apart. Powerful stuff.

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Michelle With Her Daughter Matilda

Matilda Rose Ledger was born in October 2005. Her parents’ Brokeback Mountain costar Jake Gyllenhaal is Matilda’s godfather, and her mom’s Dawson’s Creek costar Busy Philipps is her godmother. Here mom and daughter are going for a morning coffee and breakfast run in Brooklyn, New York.

michelle williams as marilyn monroe in my week with marilyn photo 2011

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The Bombshell: In My Week with Marilyn

Williams transforms into one of Hollywood’s most idolized figures for My Week with Marilyn, which tells the story of Marilyn Monroe’s relationship with Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) during her filming of The Prince and the Showgirl with Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh).

norma jean baker michelle williams split young yearbook photo

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Norma Jean Baker and Michelle Williams in High School

Norma Jean Baker was far from the "Marilyn Monroe" we all came to know in this rarely-seen 1942 sophomore yearbook photo from University High in Los Angeles. And, we're pretty sure "Shelly" Williams—seen here as a fresh-faced sophmore at Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach, CA—probably never dreamed that one day she would star as the iconic sex symbol.

marilyn monroe michelle williams as marilyn monroe movie photo 2011

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Marilyn and Michelle

I mean, really, what can we say. This shot speaks for itself. If Williams likeness is this stunning in print, it's even better in the movie!

The Witch: In Oz the Great and Powerful

Williams plays Glinda in Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful alongside James Franco's Oz. Her ethereal looks made her the perfect Glinda. Up next for Williams is Suite Francaise and finishing up her stint on Broadway in Cabaret.