Molly Ringwald Biography

Molly Ringwald

Date of Birth: February 18, 1968

The daughter of blind jazz musician Bob Ringwald, daughter Molly began her performing career at age four singing with her father's Great Pacific Jazz Band and recorded her first album -- "Molly Sings" -- when she was just six years old. By the age of five, the Sacramento, California, native was also appearing on TV where she was a member of the New Mickey Mouse Club. She joined the West coast touring production of Annie, playing one of the orphans, and then was cast in a regular role as Molly Parker on the hit series The Facts of Life. Her character didn't return for the second season, but by the time Molly was a teenager, her career enjoyed a huge boost.

In the 1980s, Molly became a member in good standing of the so-called Hollywood "Brat Pack" courtesy of her starring roles in such John Hughes films as Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. She even made the cover of Time magazine in 1986.

Following her success as a teen, Molly had a harder time adjusting to more adult roles and left the U.S. to live in Paris for four years. "I wanted to work and felt rejected," she says about that period. "On the other hand, people didn't know where to place me. I wasn't a teenager anymore, but I didn't look quite like an adult yet. With all those things, it was good I went away for a while."

Back in the U.S., she was cast on TV on the short-lived 1996 series Townies, but by 2008, she was a regular face on the small screen with her role as Anne Jeurgens, the mother of Shailene Woodley's character on the hit series The Secret Life of an American Teenager. The show kept her busy for the next five years.

When the show ended in 2013, she went on to play roles in the features Jem and the Holograms (2015) and King Cobra(2016) before returning to television in the Canadian-filmed series Raising Expectations, starring opposite Beverly Hills, 90210 alumnus Jason Priestley for 29 episodes, then moved on to the hit CW/Netflix series Riverdale in 2017, playing Archie Andrews' mother, Mary Andrews, opposite Priestley's former Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star Luke Perry as Fred Andrews. She remains on the show while also being playing a role on the brand new Netflix series Tales of the City, alongside Ellen Page and Laura Linney.

Also for Netflix, she plays Mrs. Flynn, the mother of Lee and Noah Flynn in The Kissing Booth (2018) and The Kissing Booth 2 (2020).

Filmography

King Cobra (2016)
Jem and the Holograms (2015)
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
In the Weeds (2000)
Cut (2000)
Kimberly (1999)
Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999)
The Giving Tree (1999)
Hearts and Bones (1999)
Office Killer (1997)
Bastard Blood (1996)
Baja (1995)
Malicious (1995)
Seven Sundays (1995)
Face the Music (1993)
Betsy's Wedding (1990)
Strike It Rich (1990)
For Keeps (1988)
Fresh Horses (1988)
King Lear (1987)
The Pick-up Artist (1987)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Breakfast Club (1985)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
P.K. and the Kid (1982)
Tempest (1982)