Elisabeth Shue became Hollywood's ultimate girl-next-door in the 1980s, starring in classics like The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, and Back to the Future Part II and III.
After shooting to fame as Ralph Macchio's love interest in The Karate Kid, she went on to earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Mike Figgis's 1995 drama Leaving Las Vegas.
© Getty ImagesFollowing a string of film roles throughout the late nineties, Elisabeth paused her acting career to finish her degree at Harvard University before eventually returning to the screen.
Four decades after making her mark as Ali Mills – a fan-favourite role she revisited in season three of Netflix's Cobra Kai in 2021 – find out all you need to know about Elisabeth's life and career today.
Elisabeth Shue's family life
Elisabeth, now 62, married the documentary maker Davis Guggenheim in 1994. The couple share three children: a son named Miles, born in 1997, and two daughters, Stella, and Agnes, born in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
© WireImageDavis, 62, boasts an impressive list of film credits, including the Peabody Award-winning 2002 documentary The First Year, the Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth, 2019's Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, and the 2023 Apple TV documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Elisabeth Shue's break from acting
Having withdrawn from Harvard University in her senior year to pursue acting, Elisabeth decided to return to the school more than a decade later and graduated with a degree in government in 2000.
Reflecting on her decision to return to university, Elisabeth told The Independent in 2005: "I was feeling a little bit disconnected from the kind of work I was being offered. Then I began to wonder whether acting was the right thing for me."
© Getty ImagesShe continued: "Then it hit me how much I missed learning, which was something that had always made me feel more connected to the real world. I just knew I had to go back."
After returning to Los Angeles, Elisabeth considered leaving acting for a career in teaching, before landing a role in the Emmy-winning series, Amy & Isabelle. This was followed by a string of film credits, including in the 2005 thriller Hide and Seek and 2012's House at the End of the Street. She also landed the role of Julie Finlay in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from 2012 to 2015.
Elisabeth's recent acting roles
Elisabeth is still a regular fixture on our screens, with her last TV appearance in season five of the superhero series, The Boys.
Her other recent credits include the 2023 comedy-drama film, The Good Half, and the 2020 war film, Greyhound, starring Tom Hanks.
© CURTIS BONDS BAKER/NETFLIXThe actress has a number of exciting projects in the works, including the upcoming survival film, Whalefall, in which she stars opposite Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, and the sequel to Greyhound.
