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Michelle Williams is an American actress who has appeared in film, television and stage. Her first screen appearance was at the age of 13 in a 1993 episode of the television series Baywatch, and she made her film debut as the love interest of the teenage lead in Lassie (1994). She subsequently had guest roles in the television sitcoms Step by Step and Home Improvement and played the younger version of Natasha Henstridge's character in the science fiction film Species (1995). Greater success came to Williams when she began starring as the sexually troubled teenager Jen Lindley in the teen drama Dawson's Creek (1998–2003). In 1999, she made her stage debut with the Tracy Letts-written play Killer Joe, in which she played the naive young daughter of a dysfunctional family.
In the 2000s, Williams eschewed parts in big-budget films in favor of roles with darker themes in independent productions. She played opposite Anna Friel in the psychological thriller Me Without You (2001), portrayed a drug addict in Prozac Nation (2001), and played the grieving sister of a murdered boy in The United States of Leland (2003). Despite positive reviews, these films were not widely seen. This changed in 2005 when Williams played the neglected wife of Heath Ledger's character in Brokeback Mountain, a drama about star-crossed gay lovers, which became a critical and commercial success, and gained Williams a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She did not find success in the dramas The Hottest State (2006) and Incendiary (2008), but Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), in which she played a drifter searching for her missing dog, was critically acclaimed.
Martin Scorsese's thriller Shutter Island (2010), starring Leonardo DiCaprio, in which Williams had a supporting part, became her most widely seen film to that point. She went on to receive two consecutive Oscar nominations for Best Actress for her roles in Blue Valentine (2010) and My Week with Marilyn (2011), and also won a Golden Globe Award for the latter. In the former, she played a woman struggling with an unhappy marriage, and in the latter, she portrayed the actress Marilyn Monroe. Williams' highest-grossing release came in 2013 with the role of Glinda in the $493 million-grossing fantasy feature Oz the Great and Powerful. She made her Broadway debut with the role of Sally Bowles in a revival of the musical Cabaret in 2014, and played a victim of sexual abuse in a revival of the play Blackbird in 2016. For the latter, she gained a Tony Award for Best Actress nomination. Also in 2016, Williams portrayed a tragic wife in Manchester by the Sea, and reunited with Reichardt in the ensemble drama Certain Women, both of which were positively reviewed.