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Three-time Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Pfeiffer gave a speech at her handprint and footprint ceremony at the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Three-time Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Pfeiffer gave a speech at her handprint and footprint ceremony at the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA.
This video is available for editorial use in all media and worldwide. To ensure compliance and proper licensing of this video, please contact us at https://www.maximotv.com.
©MaximoTV
#maximotv
🇺🇸
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PeopleTranscript
00:00Please welcome to the stage, the one and only Michelle Pfeiffer.
00:07Okay, alright, I have to calm down here.
00:28How am I going to get through this?
00:37Well, I have worked with both of these two brilliant beauties, not once but twice.
00:48As was mentioned before, I met them both while filming and playing Barbies on the production of I Am Sam and where Dakota was six.
01:00And Elle, I think was like two, toddling around and cut to 15 years later.
01:09I work with Elle, she's a woman on Maleficent.
01:13And I just remember thinking, how is it possible that lightning struck twice that you could have this much raw talent in one family?
01:28It's just not really fair.
01:31And it's also very daunting to be intimidated by a six-year-old's performance.
01:37I mean, you know, it's one thing, you're working with Al Pacino, you're working with Laurence Olivier and you know, but like a six-year-old, it's pretty humbling.
01:46So, oh, actually this is the third time I'm working with Dakota because Elle and Dakota are producing the production I am currently shooting in Los Angeles.
02:01They are just taking over Hollywood, these two.
02:04And they are wicked smart.
02:09They are grounded.
02:11They are hilarious.
02:13They sure know how to dress, these two.
02:17And they are incredibly kind for coming here to introduce me.
02:25Those kind words, thank you.
02:28I'm such a crybaby.
02:35So, my junior year in high school, I took a theater class for the sole purpose of getting some easy English credits.
02:49And I caught the bug.
02:54I didn't expect it.
02:56I thought the theater people were kind of odd.
03:01And, but very soon, I discovered that I fit right in.
03:10And I had this immediate sense of belonging.
03:17And apparently I was an oddball too, all this time.
03:21And, but becoming an actor, why am I feeling like really tall here?
03:28But becoming an actor was really not in, you know, not in my realm of reality.
03:37I mean, there was really no path forward.
03:39I had never, I had never met a famous person.
03:42I had never been to the theater to see a play.
03:46I rarely went to the movies.
03:48And, well, Los Angeles was just very scary place.
03:54And seemed like a world away from where I grew up in Midway City, Orange County.
04:04So, do we have some OC people out there?
04:07Yeah.
04:08So, obviously, at some point, I ultimately decided to pursue an acting career.
04:18And so, I was still living in Midway City.
04:24And I didn't have the slightest clue about how to go about that.
04:31So, I enrolled in an acting class in scary Los Angeles, where I didn't know anyone.
04:40And students were meant to, you have to source your own material.
04:47And then you prepare and you present your scene in the class.
04:54And mostly, the students would always go to Samuel French.
05:01I don't know if you all remember that.
05:03It's actually online now.
05:04It's not really a store anymore, I guess.
05:06And where they would sell famous plays that were penned by famous playwrights.
05:11Well, I didn't know that.
05:14So, I used what little resources I had and my imagination.
05:21And I went to the local Midway City Public Library.
05:27A Midway City person here?
05:30That's not possible.
05:32Oh, library.
05:35Yes, library.
05:36Remember those?
05:41So, in class, the actors here will know this.
05:51It's really kind of, hey guys.
05:53Hey.
05:54It's my Madison family.
05:56You would, you know, source your material.
06:01You would prepare your scene.
06:03And then you would get in front of the, like you guys would all be the students.
06:09And then the teacher would sit right in front and they're all kind of, and you would finish
06:12the scene and you would sit there and you would wait for your critique.
06:16And so, I did my scene.
06:19And the teacher's just kind of looking at me.
06:22And he said, what, what is this play?
06:28And I said, and I tell him the name.
06:31I can't remember.
06:32And he said, and who, sorry, who wrote this?
06:35And where did you find this material?
06:39At the library.
06:40And the class kind of snickered and they all thought that was really cute.
06:47And he just looked at me like I was some foreign alien.
06:50And as much of a odd man out that I was, I had that same deep sense of belonging.
07:09And, but I wasn't quite ready to move to scary Los Angeles quite yet.
07:17So, I'm living in Midway City and I get a job, a Ford truck commercial.
07:30And I am so excited.
07:31And my boss gives me the day off from checking groceries at Vons Supermarket.
07:37And off I set in my red Volkswagen Beetle, wearing my red terrycloth jumpsuit.
07:49Why?
07:51I don't know.
07:53I've been thinking about it and I really can't come up with a good answer.
07:58And so, I arrive at the designated meeting spot, which is the production office.
08:03It's the middle of the night.
08:05And because it's out in Malibu somewhere, I don't even know where that is.
08:10And there's no one there.
08:12So, an hour goes by and I get proposition more than once.
08:21Well, I'm in a red terrycloth jumpsuit.
08:24So, you know, like what was I thinking?
08:26So, two hours go by.
08:29The sun comes up.
08:30No one comes.
08:31And I'm like freaking out because this is my, this is my big break.
08:36And the sun is up and I know they're shooting without me.
08:39But I think, okay, well, this is a place of employment.
08:43Someone's got to show up.
08:44So, 9 a.m., someone shows up.
08:47The next thing you know, I'm in Malibu on the beach in a tank top and cut off shorts.
08:53Freezing my ass off.
08:55And I don't know how many trucks I sold that day.
09:00But all of a sudden, I am a working actor.
09:13And 40 plus years later, I am still showing up in the middle of the night freezing my ass off.
09:28And I still love my job.
09:34Maybe I love it now more, honestly, than I ever have.
09:38I love, I love actors.
09:42I love directors.
09:43I love writers.
09:44I love, love, love crews.
09:47And yes, and over time, ultimately, I grew to love Los Angeles.
09:59LA.
10:04This is my home.
10:09I look out at so many of my friends and my family and my colleagues.
10:22And, you know, this is home.
10:26And it's not such a scary place.
10:31It's actually a place where I and so many others feel safe to be who they were meant to become.
10:46I am so deeply honored.
10:53And if you had told me back then in my red terrycloth jumpsuit that I would be here today, I wouldn't have believed it.
11:11But it takes, as we all know, a village for any actor to make it up here on this stage.
11:22And I am so grateful for my village.
11:27Long careers can sometimes ebb and flow and, but the love and support has been constant and unwavering.
11:42And I can't possibly thank everyone, but it's early, early casting agents.
11:54It's the late Kate Ginsburg, Ed Lomato, Lois Smith, my CAA family, Kevin Uvain, Chris Andrews, Franklin Latt, Management 360, Susan by Mel Guymon-Cassidy, Annette Wolfe, Barry Hirsch, who has been protecting me for over 45 years.
12:22My family, my friends, my therapists, assistants, assistants, therapists.
12:37This, this industry has given me so much.
12:44A community of like-minded people.
12:49I would not have met my husband, the love of my life, David, my children, John and Claudia.
13:01And Claudia, a lifetime of doing something that you are passionate about is one of the greatest gifts of all.
13:13And just how lucky am I?
13:19Thank you all for coming.
13:20And thank you again, Elle and Dakota.