Heather Langenkamp
Encyclopedia
Heather Langenkamp is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise)
A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and comic books. The franchise began with the film series created by Wes Craven. The franchise is based on the fictional character Freddy Krueger, introduced in A Nightmare on...

 films. She served as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...

 and narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...

 to the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is a 2010 American four-hour direct-to-DVD documentary film that chronicles the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the rise of New Line Cinema. Written by Thommy Hutson, produced by Daniel Farrands and Thommy Hutson, and co-directed by Daniel...

.

She also played Marie Lubbock on the sitcom Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us is an American sitcom starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children living in Eureka, California. The series was a spin-off of Growing Pains, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same...

 and has had numerous television guest appearances.

Early life

Langenkamp was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...

. Her mother, Mary Alice (née Myers), is an artist, and her father, Robert Dobie Langenkamp, is a petroleum attorney who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...

 of Energy in both the Carter Administration (where he was largely responsible for realizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) and the Clinton Administration
Presidency of Bill Clinton
The United States Presidency of Bill Clinton, also known as the Clinton Administration, was the executive branch of the federal government of the United States from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term...

 (where he was largely responsible for privatizing Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1
Elk Hills Oil Field
The Elk Hills Oil Field is a large oil field in northwestern Kern County, in the Elk Hills of the San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States, about twenty miles west of Bakersfield...

), and as Director of the National Energy & Environmental Law & Policy Institute of the University of Tulsa College of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law is a private law school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Dean of the College of Law is Janet Koven Levit, a nationally recognized scholar in the field of comparative and international law. Levit was named Interim Dean on October 10, 2007, and permanently appointed as Dean...

. Langenkamp attended Holland Hall School
Holland Hall School
Holland Hall is affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma and the Episcopal Church. Founded in 1922, the school is named after the first Headmistress, Winnifred Shureman, who was of Dutch background....

 in Tulsa. She graduated from The National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington, D.C.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

While she was studying at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...

 cast her as teen heroine Nancy Thompson
Nancy Thompson
Nancy Thompson is a former Nebraska state senator from Papillion, Nebraska in the Nebraska Legislature. -Personal life:She was born October 26, 1947, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and graduated from Washington High School in 1965. In 1969 she graduated from Creighton University and got her...

 in A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film features Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund, and Johnny Depp in his feature film...

, the first film in the series as he wanted someone very 'non-Hollywood' to play Nancy. He believed that Langenkamp met this quality. For the part, she beat out more than 200 actresses. The film, follows the story of a group of teenagers who are killed in their dreams one-by-one by a supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...

. The film was a slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...

.

The film introduced the iconic villain Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...

, played by Robert Englund
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund is an American actor, voice-actor and director, best known for playing the fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger, in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in...

. Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

, in his feature film debut played Nancy Thompson's boyfriend, Glen Lantz. Veteran film actor John Saxon
John Saxon
John Saxon may refer to:* John Saxon , motion picture actor, specializing in action films* John Saxon , known for developing a new system of mathematics education...

 played Nancy's father, police lieutenant Donald Thompson. The film was both a critical and commercial success, earning a total of $25 million at the American box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....

. In 1985, she received the Best Actress Award at the Avoriaz Film Festival for this role. She also became one of the original scream queen
Scream queen
A scream queen is an actress who has become associated with horror films, either through an appearance in a notable entry in the genre as a frequent victim or through constant appearances as the female protagonist...

s.

She continued her role as Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a 1987 slasher film and the third film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. The film was directed by Chuck Russell and starred Heather Langenkamp, Craig Wasson, Robert Englund and Patricia Arquette in her first role.- Plot :Six years after the events...

 (1987), in which she co-starred alongside Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....

 and Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...

, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 horror metafilm written and directed by Wes Craven. Although it is the seventh installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, it is not part of the series continuity, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world...

 (1994), in which she played herself, and through events in the narritive, she is compelled to reprise her role as Nancy Thompson. John Saxon also returned with Langenkamp in Dream Warriors and New Nightmare.

Other film work

Langenkamp's first acting venture was in her late teens: a small part in Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...

's The Outsiders
The Outsiders (film)
The Outsiders is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The film was released in March 1983...

 (1983), filmed to a large extent in her hometown of Tulsa. She then starred in Nickel Mountain
Nickel Mountain
Nickel Mountain is a drama film produced in Iceland and the United States. It stars actors such as Michael Cole, Heather Langenkamp and Patrick Cassidy. The movie, based on the novel of the same title by American novelist John Gardner, is written and directed by Drew Denbaum....

 (1984).

In 1989, she had a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 role as a victim in Wes Craven's Shocker
Shocker
Shocker may refer to:*Shocker , a supervillain in the Marvel Comics shared universe of comic book series*Shocker , a Mexican-American professional wrestler*Shocker , a hand gesture with a sexual connotation ie...

. She recently performed a leading role in the film, The Butterfly Room, directed by Jonathan Zarantanello, now in post production. The film also stars Barbara Steele
Barbara Steele
Barbara Steele is an English film actress. She is best known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. Her breakthrough role came in Italian director Mario Bava's Black Sunday , now hailed as a classic.Steele starred in a string of horror films, including The Horrible Dr...

 who plays her mother.

Langenkamp and her husband, David Leroy Anderson, own and operate AFX Studio, a Special F/X Make-Up firm that is credited with the special make-up for such films as Dawn of the Dead, Cinderella Man
Cinderella Man
Cinderella Man is a 2005 American drama film by Ron Howard, titled after the nickname of heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock and inspired by his life story. The film was produced by Howard, Penny Marshall, and Brian Grazer.-Plot:James J...

, Dogtown and Z-Boys
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Dogtown and Z-Boys is a 2001 documentary film directed by Stacy Peralta. Using a mix of film the Zephyr skateboard team shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk and more recent interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of...

, Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon is a 2006 play by British screenwriter and dramatist Peter Morgan. Its subject is the series of televised interviews that former United States President Richard Nixon granted David Frost in 1977 about his administration, including his role in the Watergate scandal.-Performance...

, Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. It stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who complains to God that He isn't doing His job correctly, and is then offered the chance to try...

, Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty is a 2007 American religious comedy film and the stand-alone sequel to Bruce Almighty . The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk, and starring Steve Carell as the title character. Morgan Freeman also reprised his role as God from the original film. Production of...

, Dragonfly
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...

, and Angels and Demons
Angels and Demons
Angels & Demons is a 2000 bestselling mystery-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published by Pocket Books. The novel introduces the character Robert Langdon, who is also the protagonist of Brown's subsequent 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code, and 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol...

. She also starred in, executive produced, and narrated the 2010 documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, which was directed by Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch.

Langenkamp is directing a biographical documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

 entitled I Am Nancy.

Television career

In between starring roles, she played Marie Lubbock on the television series Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us is an American sitcom starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children living in Eureka, California. The series was a spin-off of Growing Pains, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same...

, a spin-off of the popular situation comedy Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

 (on which Langenkamp guest-starred), from 1988 to 1990. That same year, she and her castmates were nominated for a Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

 for Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series or Special. She has also made numerous other guest appearances on television.

Personal life

Langenkamp is a businesswoman, who acts part-time. She and her husband own AFX Studio, a Special F/X Make-Up Studio in Los Angeles. Years ago, she created and ran The Malibu Gum Factory, now closed, which sold chewing gum packaged with trading cards depicting local surfers.

Many elements of the plot for Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 horror metafilm written and directed by Wes Craven. Although it is the seventh installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, it is not part of the series continuity, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world...

 are based on an incident in which Langenkamp was stalked
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...

 by a fan.

Actress

Year Title Role Notes
1983 The Outsiders
The Outsiders (film)
The Outsiders is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The film was released in March 1983...

Scenes Deleted
1984 Nickel Mountain
Nickel Mountain
Nickel Mountain is a drama film produced in Iceland and the United States. It stars actors such as Michael Cole, Heather Langenkamp and Patrick Cassidy. The movie, based on the novel of the same title by American novelist John Gardner, is written and directed by Drew Denbaum....

Callie Wells
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film features Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund, and Johnny Depp in his feature film...

Nancy Thompson
Passions Beth TV movies
1985 Suburban Beat Hope Sherman
1986 CBS Schoolbreak Special
CBS Schoolbreak Special
CBS Schoolbreak Special is an American anthology series for teenagers that aired on CBS from April 1980 to January 1996. The series originally premiered under the title CBS Afternoon Playhouse, and was later changed during the 1984 - 85 season...

Erica Episode: "Have You Tried Talking to Patty?"
ABC Afterschool Specials Paula Finkle Episode: "Can a Guy Say No?"
Heart of the City
Heart of the City
For other uses, see Heart of the City.The Heart of the City is a major re-development site in Sheffield, England, and one of the 12 official quarters of Sheffield City Centre. As its name suggests the Heart of the City is located in the heart of Sheffield City Centre.Heart of the City was mainly...

Cathy TV movie
1987 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a 1987 slasher film and the third film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. The film was directed by Chuck Russell and starred Heather Langenkamp, Craig Wasson, Robert Englund and Patricia Arquette in her first role.- Plot :Six years after the events...

Nancy Thompson
Hotel
Hotel (TV series)
Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....

Monica Episode: "Desperate Moves"
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter is an adventure/comedy television series that aired between 1987 and 1988 on the Fox television network. It was created by Savage Steve Holland who also wrote and directed most of the seventeen episodes...

Tracy Episode: "Beans Ges to Camp"
1988 Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us
Just the Ten of Us is an American sitcom starring stand-up comedian Bill Kirchenbauer as Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children living in Eureka, California. The series was a spin-off of Growing Pains, in which Kirchenbauer portrayed the same...

Marie Lubbock 47 episodes (1988–1990)
Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

Marie Episode: "How the West Was Won: Part 1"
Episode: "How the West Was Won: Part 2"
1989 Shocker
Shocker (film)
Shocker is a 1989 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven. The relatively low-budget film has since become a cult classic...

Victim
1990 Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

Amy Boutilier Episode: "Let's Go to Europe: Part 1"
Episode: "Let's Go to Europe: Part 2"
Episode: "Let's Go to Europe: Part 3"
1994 Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story Nancy Kerrigan TV movie
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 horror metafilm written and directed by Wes Craven. Although it is the seventh installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, it is not part of the series continuity, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world...

Herself Portraying her real self with fictional storyline
1995 The Demolitionist Christy Carruthers
1997 Perversions of Science
Perversions of Science
Perversions of Science is a science fiction/horror television series that ran on the cable channel HBO for one season in 1997.It is a spin-off of popular horror series Tales from the Crypt also shown on HBO, and its episodes are based on EC's Weird Science comic book series.The format of...

Lou Ann Solomon Episode: "Ultimate Weapon"
1999 Partners Suzanne Episode: "Always..."
Fugitive Mind Suzanne Hicks Video
2000 18 Wheels of Justice Waitress Episode: "Genesis"
2002 JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...

Janet Thompson Episode: "Odd Man Out"
2007 The Bet Heather Langenkamp
2010 The Butterfly Room Dorothy Post Production

Production Crew

Year Title Notes
2004 Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)
Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 horror film directed by Zack Snyder in his directorial debut. It is a remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name and stars Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Jake Weber. The film depict a handful of human survivors living in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin shopping mall...

2011 The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods is an upcoming American tongue-in-cheek thriller-horror film, co-written and directed by Drew Goddard and co-written and produced by Joss Whedon. It stars Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford and Amy Acker.-Plot:...

Post Production

Make-up Artist

Year Title
2007 Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty is a 2007 American religious comedy film and the stand-alone sequel to Bruce Almighty . The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk, and starring Steve Carell as the title character. Morgan Freeman also reprised his role as God from the original film. Production of...


Self

Year Title
1988 Circus of the Stars#13
1994 Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 horror metafilm written and directed by Wes Craven. Although it is the seventh installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, it is not part of the series continuity, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world...

1999 Welcome to the Primetime
2004 Super Secret Movie Rules: Slashers
The 100 Scariest Movie Moments
E! True Hollywood Story
E! True Hollywood Story
E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and well-known public figures...

2005 The Perfect Scary Movie
2006 The House That Freddy Built
Never Sleep Again: The Making of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street
2010 Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is a 2010 American four-hour direct-to-DVD documentary film that chronicles the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the rise of New Line Cinema. Written by Thommy Hutson, produced by Daniel Farrands and Thommy Hutson, and co-directed by Daniel...

I Am Nancy

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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