Brittany Murphy

R.I.P. Brittany Murphy.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977, Brittany “Nee” Murphy was forced to move to New Jersey after the separation of her parents. It’s a good thing she did though, because soon after arriving in the Garden State, young Brittany became immediately attracted to the regional theater where she performed in a number of highly praised productions.

After enjoying minimal success as a stage actress, Brittany hired a manager and moved to California to pursue a full-time acting career. Like most amateur actors just diving into the industry, Brittany paid the bills as a commercial actress while she auditioned throughout the city. She caught a few opportunities along the way, namely short-lived television series, when she was suddenly cast as the misfit-gone-diva teenager in “Clueless.” From there she built a strong reputation on the outskirts of Hollywood in low-budget features and independent productions until the new millennium reintroduced the overnight star as a mature actress. Since then, Brittany has continued to make a name for herself through a variation of roles that range from psychotic dramatic characters to bubbly romantic comedy leads. The young star definitely doesn’t have the raw talent that some of the other upcoming actresses like Natalie Portman use to their advantage in getting the noteworthy roles that you hear about come awards time, but don’t count Brittany out of the race just yet. She has plenty to offer the industry in both her dynamic personality and unconventional image, a real go-getter who takes what she can get and wows the audience every time.

Brittany Murphy on the Screen

After making her Hollywood debut in the Alice Silverstone vehicle “Clueless,” Brittany dropped out of the mainstream market to appear in smaller independent features and lend her voice to white-trash beauty Luanne Platter on the animated series “King of the Hill.” Brittany resurfaced in early 2000 when she starred in “Girl, Interrupted” with Angelina Jolie and in the thriller, “Don’t Say a Word.” Since then, Brittany has become quite the entertaining leading lady, with projects like “Spun,” “8 Mile” and “Just Married” keeping her busy until the next big film.

Brittany Says

On the paparazzi:
“I think they should take everyone who works for The National Enquirer and the Star, and everyone who works for Us Weekly, and put them all to work looking for terrorists. I think they would find the terrorists. All of them. It would be genius!”

On sex:
“Well, I lost my virginity in a car. But it wasn’t a very nice one.”

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Brittany’s image graced one of the movie poster for “Sin City,” and also made our list of one of the sexiest movie posters of all time:

“Though the Jessica Alba version is no doubt the more popular of the two, Brittany Murphy’s “Sin City” character poster is just oozing sexuality. That’s bound to cause some controversy amongst those that think Alba is the sexiest woman alive, but Murphy is smoking hot in that black lingerie, and she pulls off the white button-down shirt look with confidence. It’s too bad we won’t get to see Murphy reprise the character in Robert Rodriguez’s long-delayed sequels, because it was easily one of her best roles to date. On a side note, Rosario Dawson’s poster ain’t so bad itself. That is, if you’re into that kind of stuff.”

Brittany Murphy in "Sin City"

More of Brittany Murphy in “Sin City”

Brittany Murphy in "Sin City"