At the recent press day for Hairspray, Michelle Pfeiffer talked about how she was inspired to believe in herself and strive to achieve — issues at the core of the buoyant musical. “It was my mother,” says Pfeiffer of her inspiration. “My mother didn’t have a career, and she
used to always say to me, ‘Michelle, there are two things you need to do before
you get married: you need to have a career, and you need to live on your own.’
That was her mantra to me, and then my dad inspired me [too, because] he had a
very fierce work ethic — he instilled in all of us kids the desire to succeed…
it didn’t matter what you chose to do, it was that you did it the best that you
could. So I kind of had a man’s work ethic for the time, because that was who I
emulated. Now it’s sort of everybody’s work ethic, men and women.” For Pfeiffer’s thoughts on her work in the upcoming Stardust, meanwhile, click here.