Molly Ringwald's Real Name: Molly Ringwald

Quick answer: The actress is known professionally as Molly Ringwald. Biography.com and the Internet Broadway Database independently date her birth to February 18, 1968, in Roseville, California. A longer legal name sometimes repeated elsewhere is not independently confirmed here by two independent publishers, so this page titles her under the public name.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers identify her under the professional name Molly Ringwald. Biography.com dates the birth to February 18, 1968, in Roseville, California, and says she was a Mouseketeer on The New Mickey Mouse Club before director John Hughes cast her in Sixteen Candles in 1984. The Internet Broadway Database independently lists the same birth date and Roseville, California, as the birthplace, and identifies her father as Bob Ringwald, a jazz pianist. Biography.com later describes her 2013 debut studio album, Except Sometimes, as an homage to her family's love of jazz, a detail that aligns with that family background.

Career highlights

Biography.com says Hughes cast her as Samantha Baker in Sixteen Candles (1984), a performance Biography.com says earned a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture, and then in The Breakfast Club (1985), about five high-school students in Saturday detention, and Pretty in Pink (1986), as Andie Walsh opposite Andrew McCarthy. The Internet Broadway Database independently notes those same three Hughes films and later Broadway work, including Enchanted April, which ran in 2003 and in which she starred as Rose Arnott, and the revival of Cabaret, in which she appeared as Sally Bowles in replacement engagements in 2001–03. Biography.com independently records those later Broadway appearances in Cabaret and Enchanted April, the 2013 album Except Sometimes, a 2014 role in Lifetime's Wishin' and Hopin', and a recurring role on the CW series Riverdale. The same account also notes later writing, including work as a lifestyle columnist for the Guardian and an April 2018 essay in the New Yorker reflecting on her contribution to the Hughes films.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Molly Ringwald are looking for the same actress, including later credits in music, television, and on Broadway. This page uses the public professional name. Search traffic often uses the professional name alone, including for the 1980s John Hughes films most often associated with her work.