Brooke Shields

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Brooke Shields in 1978.
Brooke Shields circa 2010.

Brooke Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress, model and former child star. Shields, initially a child model, gained critical acclaim for her leading role in Louis Malle's controversial film Pretty Baby (1978), in which she played a child prostitute in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century. The role garnered Shields widespread notoriety, and she continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love (1981). She is also (in)famous for the commercials she did in her teens for Calvin Klein jeans.

In 1983, Shields abandoned her career as a model to attend Princeton University, where she participated in the Princeton Triangle Club and eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in French literature. In the 1990s, Shields returned to acting, appearing in minor roles in films and sitcoms (including a notable turn as a Stalker with a Crush on Friends), leading to the titular role in the sitcom Suddenly Susan, which ran for four seasons between 1996 and 2000. Since then Shields has made appearances in other television shows, including That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle. Most recently, she joined the line-up of the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel in 2016 as amateur sleuth Abby Knight in Flower Shop Mystery.

Despite her decades in show business, few people know that in addition to her other talents she is a trained (and skilled) dancer, and that she is adept at voices and dialects. Just don't ask her to sing.

Brooke Shields provides examples of the following tropes:

"You wanna know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."

  • Cute but Cacophonic: Cannot carry a tune in a bucket. See her episode of The Muppet Show in the 1970s for a good (?) example. When she earned a solo number in the Princeton Triangle Club show her senior year at Princeton, the song had to be especially written for her extremely limited range and ability.
  • Former Child Star
  • Hidden Depths: While not on the level of Danica McKellar or Jodie Foster, Shields is still one of the more intelligent women in show business. She is a talented dancer, and has a gift for voices and dialects.
  • Ivy League: Princeton class of 1987.
  • Old Shame: Her Calvin Klein jeans ads. But even more so, her testimony before the United States Congress on smoking: