Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Grey (born March 26, 1960) is an American actress. She made her acting debut with the film Reckless, and had her breakthrough with the teen comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). She earned worldwide fame starring as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the romantic drama film Dirty Dancing (1987), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her other feature films include Red Dawn (1984), The Cotton Club (1984), Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989), Bounce (2000), Redbelt (2008), The Wind Rises (2013), In Your Eyes (2014), Bittersweet Symphony (2019), and A Real Pain (2024).

Grey's early television work includes the made-for-TV films Murder in Mississippi (1990), Criminal Justice (1990), and If the Shoe Fits as Kelly Carter / Prudence (1990). She starred as herself in the series It's Like, You Know... (1999–2001), won season eleven of the dancing competition series Dancing with the Stars (2010) and starred as Judy Meyers in the Amazon Prime Video comedy Red Oaks (2014–2017). Her voice work in film and television includes the 2018 film Duck Duck Goose and the 2008–2014 animated television series Phineas and Ferb.

Early life and education Jennifer Grey was born on March 26, 1960, in New York City to former actress/singer Jo Wilder (née Brower) (died 2026) and stage and Academy Award-winning screen actor Joel Grey. Her paternal grandfather was comedian and musician Mickey Katz. Grey's parents both came from Jewish families.

Grey attended the Dalton School, a private school in Manhattan where she studied dance and acting, and where she met her best friend, actress Tracy Pollan. After graduating in 1978, Grey enrolled at Manhattan's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre for two years of training as an actress. While waiting for roles, she supported herself waitressing.

Career

Early career Grey made her commercial debut at age 19 in an ad for Dr Pepper, then made her film debut in a small role in Reckless (1984), followed by another small role, in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club in 1984. That year she starred in the war film Red Dawn, then went on to the 1985 John Badham project American Flyers.

Breakthrough and commercial success

In 1986 she played the role of jealous sister Jeannie Bueller in the John Hughes comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, opposite Matthew Broderick. The film was commercially successful and received a positive critical reception.

The following year she reunited with Patrick Swayze, her Red Dawn co-star, to play Frances "Baby" Houseman in Dirty Dancing, a coming of age love story: spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the resort's dance instructor, Johnny Castle. The low-budget film was a surprise hit, and the first film to sell one million copies on video, and is considered a classic. She was paid $50,000 for her role, which came to define her career, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the role.

Grey's sole Broadway theatre credit is her 1993 appearance in The Twilight of the Golds.

Despite the success of Dirty Dancing, Grey felt that her looks would place restrictions on the type of future roles she would be considered for. This resulted in a nose that caused even close friends to fail to recognize her, and the major change in her appearance affected her career. Of the experience, she said, "I went in the operating room a celebrity—and came out anonymous. It was like being in a witness protection program or being invisible." Grey recalled in a 2020 interview that an airline employee who checked her identity refused to believe that she and the actress the employee knew from Dirty Dancing were one and the same.

Later career From March 1999 until January 2000, Grey starred as herself in the short-lived ABC sitcom It's Like, You Know..., which satirized her much-publicized nose job as a running gag.

Grey appeared with Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli, and Kathy Bates in the CBS television movie The West Side Waltz, adapted by Ernest Thompson from his play. She appeared in one episode of Friends as Mindy, a high school friend of Jennifer Aniston's character Rachel. She had a small role in the 2000 film Bounce with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck. In 2007, Grey portrayed Daphne on the HBO series John from Cincinnati. In 2010, she played Abbey, the mother of a sick child in the season seven House episode "Unplanned Parenthood".

Grey was a contestant on season eleven of Dancing With the Stars. She was partnered with professional dancer Derek Hough. She came out very strong at first, frequently topping the leaderboard. However, injuries, stress, and exhaustion took their toll on Grey, and for a couple of weeks, she fell behind. In week seven, however, she improved, tying with previous frontrunner Brandy Norwood. On November 23, 2010, Grey and her partner Hough won the competition, making her the oldest female winner in the competition.

In September 2011 Grey appeared in the Lifetime movie Bling Ring as Iris Garvey, the mother of Zack Garvey. On November 5 and 6, 2011, Grey stood in for head judge Len Goodman on the BBC One TV show Strictly Come Dancing.

Grey voiced Mrs. Kurokawa in the English dub version of Hayao Miyazaki's film The Wind Rises.

From 2014 to 2017, Grey portrayed Judy Meyers on Red Oaks. In 2018, Grey co-starred in the film Untogether; the film was released on February 8, 2019.

Grey also appeared at the 2015 Tony Awards alongside her father Joel, presenting a performance from the musical Fun Home.

Ballantine Books published Grey's memoir, Out of the Corner, on May 3, 2022. Dirty Dancing was released a few weeks after the collision, catapulting Grey to fame. But she has said that her grief and survivor's guilt over the crash prevented her from enjoying the film's success and led her to withdraw from acting for some time.

Grey has had relationships with actors Michael J. Fox, Johnny Depp, and William Baldwin, and then-aide to President Clinton, George Stephanopoulos. She married actor/director Clark Gregg on July 21, 2001. They have a daughter. They lived in Venice, Los Angeles. The couple co-starred in the Lifetime movie The Road to Christmas in 2006. On July 3, 2020, Grey and Gregg announced they had separated amicably in January, and had filed for divorce. Their divorce was finalized on February 16, 2021.

According to a September 2015 Grey profile in Jewish Journal, Grey had recently reconnected with Judaism, saying, "I love being a Jew. I've gotten a lot more Jewish in the last five years because of my daughter's bat mitzvah, and I realized I really care about being a Jew."

Prior to her 2010 appearances on Dancing with the Stars, Grey had a physical exam to ensure that she was fit enough to compete. She also saw a doctor to address chronic neck problems caused by the car crash. Her spinal cord was compressed and required ACDF surgery. The surgeon discovered a cancerous nodule on her thyroid and removed it. She returned to work in early 2010.

In January 2017, Grey participated in the Los Angeles 2017 Women's March.

In January 2025, she lost her home in the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Grey disclosed the death of her mother on July 7, 2026 on Instagram, who had died on July 4, a week after receiving a diagnosis of lung cancer.

Filmography Film

Television

+ Year Title Role Notes 1984 ABC Afterschool Special Carol Schwartz Episode: "The Great Love Experiment" 1985 ABC Afterschool Special Laura Eller Episode: "Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale" 1986 The Equalizer Valerie Jacobs Episode: "A Community of Civilized Men" 1990 Murder in Mississippi Rita Schwerner TV movie Criminal Justice Liz Carter TV movie If the Shoe Fits Kelly Carter / Prudence TV movie 1991 Eyes of a Witness Christine Baxter TV movie 1993 A Case for Murder Kate Weldon TV movie 1995 Friends Mindy Episode: "The One with the Evil Orthodontist" Fallen Angels Ginger Allen Episode: "A Dime a Dance" The West Side Waltz Robin Ouiseau TV movie 1996 Portraits of a Killer Elaine Taylor TV movie 1997 The Player Stephanie Granatelli TV movie 1998 Outrage Sally Casey TV movie Since You've Been Gone Patty Reed TV movie 1999–2000 It's Like, You Know... Herself 26 episodes 2006 The Road to Christmas Claire Jamieson TV movie 2007 John from Cincinnati Daphne, Meyer's Fiancée 3 episodes 2008–2014 Phineas and Ferb Various Voice; 8 episodes 2009 The New Adventures of Old Christine Tracey Episode: "Love Means Never Having to Say You're Crazy" 2010 House Abbey Episode: "Unplanned Parenthood" Dancing with the Stars Herself / Contestant Season 11 Winner 2011 The Bling Ring Iris Garvey TV movie Strictly Come Dancing Herself / Guest Judge Series 9, Week 6 2014–2017 Red Oaks Judy Meyers / Judy Rosen 21 episodes 2016 Lip Sync Battle Herself Episode: "Clark Gregg vs. Hayley Atwell" 2017 Who Do You Think You Are? Herself Episode: "Jennifer Grey" 2019 Grey's Anatomy Carol Dickinson 3 episodes 2020 The Conners Janelle 2 episodes 2022 Dollface Sharon Wiley Episode: "Homecoming Queen" 2023 Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation Gwen Shamblin TV movie 2024 American Dad! Herself Voice; episode: "An Adult Woman"

Dancing with the Stars performances

Book

Awards and nominations