Selma Blair

Selma Blair (born Selma Blair Beitner; June 23, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde, The Sweetest Thing, and the Hellboy franchise.

Blair, born in Southfield, Michigan, emerged from a background in legal and political involvement: both her parents were lawyers and her father was active in the U.S. Democratic Party. Blair's upbringing was predominantly Jewish. She initially pursued photography at Kalamazoo College before moving to New York to become involved in the arts, graduating from the University of Michigan. Blair's early career was marked by numerous auditions to land her first roles in television and film, with her breakthrough in Cruel Intentions and subsequent mainstream success in projects like Legally Blonde and Hellboy.

After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2018, she has shared her experience with the condition, contributing to her advocacy work. In 2021, Blair starred in Introducing, Selma Blair, a documentary about her life since being diagnosed with MS. Her autobiography, Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up, was published by Knopf in 2022.

Early life and education Selma Blair Beitner was born on June 23, 1972, in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan, the youngest of four daughters of Molly Ann (née Cooke) and Elliot I. Beitner. Her maternal grandfather was the founder of Penn Fruit and she spent a great deal of her childhood in Philadelphia. Both of her parents were lawyers; her father was a labor arbitrator and was active in the U.S. Democratic Party until his death in 2012; her mother died in 2020. Her parents divorced when Blair was 23. Selma and her sister Elizabeth officially changed their surname to "Blair"; in her memoir, Blair wrote that, following a concerted effort on the part of her father's girlfriend to derail her career, she did not speak to her father for 12 years.

Blair's father and maternal grandfather were Jewish; her mother and her Scottish maternal grandmother were Anglican, but Selma and her sisters had a Jewish upbringing and Selma formally converted to Judaism in the second grade. Her Hebrew name is 'Bat-Sheva'.

Blair attended Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills, and Cranbrook Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills. She then spent two years (1990–1992) studying photography at Kalamazoo College.

At age 21, Blair moved to New York City, where she lived at The Salvation Army. Intending to become a photographer, she attended New York University (NYU), and took acting classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory, the Column Theater, and Stonestreet Studios. She returned to Michigan, transferred from NYU to the University of Michigan and, in 1994, graduated magna cum laude with a triple major in photography, psychology, and English. She then returned to New York City to pursue a career in the arts.

Career

1990–1998: Career beginning In 1990, during her time at Cranbrook Kingswood, Blair was involved in a production of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. She considered it a failure, but her English teacher told her not to give up; that was the first time she thought she could be an actress. In 1993 in New York, an agent discovered her in an acting class and Blair signed with her. After 75 auditions, Blair got her first acting job, a TV ad for the Theater of Virginia.

Blair won her first professional role in a 1995 episode of the children's sitcom The Adventures of Pete & Pete. In 1996, she landed her first feature film role in the comedy The Broccoli Theory. In 1997, she made her first appearance in a mainstream feature film, the comedy In & Out. She auditioned six times for the role and remained on-set for several weeks, but most of her scenes were cut from the film's final version.

Her first lead role was in the film Strong Island Boys. She then won the lead in the 1997 fantasy film Amazon High. The film, which was proposed as a third show set in the Hercules and Xena mythological genre, did not air, but portions of it were used in the 2000 Xena: Warrior Princess episode "Lifeblood". She was considered for the role of Joey Potter in Dawson's Creek, a role which ultimately went to Katie Holmes. She subsequently appeared in several independent and short productions, including the award-winning Debutante.

1999–2004: Breakthrough and mainstream success Blair achieved her breakthrough in the 1999 coming-of-age drama Cruel Intentions. It received mixed reviews, with Variety finding "newcomer" Blair "too broad" and "overdoing [her role]'s clumsiness". The film made US$75.9 million internationally and brought Blair a nomination for the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and a win for "Best Kiss", shared with co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Cruel Intentions has since developed a cult following.

In 1999, Blair starred as Zoe Bean on Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane, and was nominated for the Teen Choice Awards for "TV – Breakout Performance". In 2000, following her performance in the teen comedy Down to You, Blair won the Young Hollywood Award for "Exciting New Face". In 2000 and 2002, Blair was included in Vanity Fairs "Hollywood's Next Wave of Stars" issues.

Blair co-starred in the 2001 hit comedy Legally Blonde, portraying a preppy, snobby law student; The Hollywood Reporter found her to be a "strong presence" in her role. The film topped the US box office in its opening weekend; it grossed US$96.5 million in North America and US$141.7 million worldwide. She next starred as a college student having an affair with her professor in the 2001 independent drama Storytelling. It premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival; SPLICEDwire cited Blair and co-star Leo Fitzpatrick for "painfully authentic performances as an emotionally insecure coed and her cerebral palsy-stricken dorm neighbor and lover". In its review, View Auckland noted: "The acting, throughout, is excellent, with Selma Blair giving a mature performance that suggests better roles await her than those she's had so far." Blair next appeared in the 2002 comedy The Sweetest Thing. While the film was generally panned, it grossed US$68.6 million worldwide. Blair appeared with her co-starts from the film on the cover of Rolling Stone and was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Comedy for her work in the film.

In 2004, Blair took on the role of Liz Sherman, a depressed pyrokinetic superhero, in Guillermo del Toro's blockbuster fantasy film Hellboy, co-starring Ron Perlman. Based on Mike Mignola's popular comic book series, the film was favorably received by critics; The New York Times remarked: "Blair's heavy-lidded eyes seem to be at half mast from some lovely lewd fantasy. With her sleepy carnality and dry, hesitant timing, she is a superb foil for Mr. Perlman's plain-spoken bravado." Hellboy topped the box office in the U.S. and Canada in its opening weekend, and ultimately grossed US$99.3 million.

Also in 2004, Blair played the role of an exhibitionist dancer in John Waters' satirical sex comedy A Dirty Shame, alongside Tracey Ullman. The film received a mixed response; A.V. Club described the production as a "proud retreat back into the sandbox of sexual juvenilia" and a "potty-mouthed manifesto from an elder statesman of shock", while pointing out that Blair and Ullman "throw themselves headfirst into the insanity, reveling in the forfeiture of dignity, self-respect, and self-consciousness their roles demand". Blair also took part on the social project The 1 Second Film as a producer, and was included on the FHM list of "The 100 Sexiest Women of 2004".

2005–2011: Independent films and The Diary of Anne Frank

From 2005 to 2007, Blair appeared in a string of independent films. In 2008, she reprised her role of Liz Sherman in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, where her character had a larger role than its predecessor. The film garnered largely positive reviews from critics and became a worldwide commercial success, grossing US$160 million. Blair was nominated for the Scream Awards for Best Actress in a Fantasy Movie or TV Show.

In 2008, Blair starred as a drug-addicted and alcoholic mother in Lori Petty's independent drama The Poker House. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, with The Hollywood Reporter considering Blair's performance one of her best.

Also in 2008, Blair accepted the titular role on the NBC sitcom Kath & Kim. The sitcom, which was based on the Australian television series of the same name, was canceled after one season.

In 2009, Blair returned to the stage when she took on the lead role of Kayleen in Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuries. In 2010, Blair lent her voice to narrate the audiobook of The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition, originally written by Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Her performance received a 2011 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children nomination.

2012–present: Film and television In 2012, Blair returned to television as the female lead with the premiere of FX's Anger Management, co-starring Charlie Sheen. She starred in 53 episodes as Dr. Kate Wales, Sheen's neurotic therapist and love interest. The series premiered to mixed critical reviews, but broke ratings records with 5.74 million viewers in its debut and ranks as the most-watched sitcom premiere in cable history. Blair left the show in June 2013, during the shooting of the second season, due to disagreements with Sheen, who fired her via text message.

In 2012, Blair narrated Xfinity TV commercials, including the London 2012 Olympics ads. In 2014, she obtained her first television role since Anger Management when she was cast as Joanna in the Amazon's comedy pilot Really. The pilot was not picked up but, in February 2016, Blair co-starred in the FX miniseries American Crime Story: The People vs. O. J. Simpson.

In October 2012, Blair starred in the political satire sketch The Woman for Romney, about the campaign proposals of Mitt Romney, former Republican Party nominee for the 2012 United States presidential election.

In 2018, Blair was cast in a recurring role on the Netflix science-fiction drama series Another Life; it ran from 2019 to 2021 before being canceled.

In September 2022, Blair became a contestant on season 31 of Dancing with the Stars but left in the fifth week of the competition because of her deteriorating health.

Her next film role is in the Israeli project, Stay Forte, by Doron Eran. The film focuses on Alon Shamriz, Yotam Haim, and Samer Talalka, three Israeli men taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attacks on Israel. They were mistakenly identified as a threat by Israeli soldiers during fighting in northern Gaza and killed. The film went into production in late 2024, with filming taking place in Georgia. She lent her image to the Marc Jacobs-Brian Bowen Smith clothing line, and has worked with several other fashion designers, including Karen Zambos, Martin Margiela, Isaac Mizrahi, Reinaldo Herrera, and Stella McCartney.

She was featured in the 2002 Pirelli Calendar, and, in 2005, appeared in The New York Times Magazine award-winning photography gallery, "The Selma Blair Witch Project: Fall's Dark Silhouettes Have a Way of Creeping Up on You" by the art photographer Roger Ballen, at the Palau Robert in Barcelona in 2012.

Blair also appeared with Rainn Wilson singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for the 2008 Gap winter ad campaign, and was included in Glamour's list of the 50 Most Glamorous Women of 2008.

In 2010, Blair posed with Demi Moore and Amanda De Cadenet for a spread in Harper's Bazaar magazine. In 2012, she became the spokesperson for, and first actress to appear on, the "Get Real For Kids" campaign. In the spring of that year, she released SB, a line of handbags and wallets which she designed.

She has appeared on covers and photo spreads of other magazines, including CR Fashion Book magazine in February 2016. In 1999, she appeared in Seventeen, and in subsequent years, in Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Vogue, Glamour, Rolling Stone, The Lab Magazine, Interview, Dazed & Confused, Hunger, and Elle. She has been the face of fashion houses Chanel, Miu Miu and GAP. She presented parts of the collection of Christian Siriano at a celebration of his 10th stage anniversary at Masonic Hall during New York Fashion Week 2018. In 2020, she appeared as a judge on a Project Runway special.

Activism

On May 27, 2012, Blair was a special guest at the National Memorial Day Concert at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. She presented the story of Brigette Cain, a war widow who lost her husband (Pfc. Norman L. Cain III) in Afghanistan.

Blair supported Marianne Williamson for the 2014 congressional elections.

Blair's charity work and philanthropic causes include Marc Jacobs' Skin Cancer Awareness Campaign, H&M's Fashion Against AIDS 2011 Campaign, Children's Action Network, AmFAR AIDS Research 2011, Lange Foundation (dedicated to saving homeless and abandoned animals), Bulgari-Save the Children 2012 Ad Campaign, No Kid Hungry, Staying Alive Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. On October 2, 2015, she received the Universal Smile Award during THE SMILE GALA LA 2015 to benefit children with cleft lip and palate. She was included as one of the Silence Breakers selected as the 2017 Time Person of the Year. In December 2021, Michelle Pfeiffer presented Blair with the Equity in Entertainment Award at the Power 100 Women ceremony.

In June 2022, Blair became chief creative officer of Guide Beauty, a company which creates cosmetic products for those with mobility challenges. In December 2022 she was chosen as one of the BBC's 100 women.

Israel In May 2021, during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Blair signed an open letter by the pro-Israel organization Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) calling for "peace, balanced discourse and an end to inflammatory one-sided accounts" of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the Gaza war, she has signed CCFP open letters supporting Israel's inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest and one calling for Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda's Emmy nomination to be rescinded.

In October 2023, in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks, Blair expressed solidarity with Israel. In February 2024, Blair made a comment, later deleted, on an Instagram video related to the war, commenting, "Deport all these terrorist supporting goons. Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and then they come here and destroyed minds. They know they are liars. Twisted justifications. May they meet their fate." The comment was criticized as Islamophobic, prompting Blair to delete it and issue a statement apologizing for her remarks.

In September 2024, Blair again expressed support for Israel and the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza: "I stand with Israel. I stand with the hostages. I stand with their families — mothers, sisters, friends. These are innocent people who have been in hell and then murdered." She added that the enclave was being run by "Jihadists, the radicals, the extreme" and "terrorists".

In November 2025, Blair told Israel's Ynet that October 7, 2023, was a turning point for her, convincing her to return to acting and star in an Israeli film about the hostage crisis. In December 2025, Blair, who plays a hostage in the film, titled Stay Forte, told United Press International that the story was "not political," and added that "They're stories of human tragedy and empathy, that you want to be a part of that telling, it was one small way I could say it as an artist, not from any political front and just as a human."

Personal life

On January 24, 2004, Blair married writer and producer Ahmet Zappa at Carrie Fisher's mansion in Beverly Hills, California. They lived in Los Angeles in a 1920s-era home they bought for $1.35 million. She filed for divorce from Zappa on June 21, 2006, citing "irreconcilable differences." The divorce became final in December 2006.

Blair has dated actors Jason Schwartzman and David Lyons and, from 2008 to 2010, dated her Kath and Kim co-star Mikey Day.

In 2010, Blair began dating fashion designer Jason Bleick; they have a son, Arthur Saint Bleick. In September 2012, they announced that they had separated.

In March 2022, Blair and her ex-boyfriend, filmmaker Ron Carlson, whom she had been seeing since 2017, requested temporary restraining orders against each other, with both claiming physical abuse. The order requests were mutually dismissed in September 2022.

Health issues

In October 2018, Blair revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in August of that year. In an April 2023 interview with British Vogue, Blair said that her symptoms had begun to manifest themselves when she was a child, and that her un-diagnosed MS had caused brain damage. As the condition worsened, she was heavily medicated, developed a dependency on alcohol and attempted suicide. She was inspired to reveal the news as a way to thank Allisa Swanson, her costume designer, who had become her unofficial "dresser" for her role in the Netflix series Another Life, saying that Swanson "gets my legs in my pants, pulls my tops over my head, (and) buttons my coats." Blair wrote about her experiences with multiple sclerosis in her memoir, Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up, which was published in May 2022.

Filmography

Film Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Year Title Role Notes 1996 Pretzel cart lesbian Brain Candy Girl at rock concert 1997 Strong Island Boys Tara Gone Again Ayla Short film Arresting Gena Drugged woman In & Out Cousin Linda 1998 Brown's Requiem Jane Girl Darcy Can't Hardly Wait Girl Mike hits on No. 1 1999 Cruel Intentions Cecile Caldwell 2000 Down to You Cyrus 2001 Storytelling Vi Segment "Fiction" Legally Blonde Vivian Thelma Kensington Kill Me Later Shawn Holloway 2002 Highway Cassie Jane Burns 2003 Karen Cooper Dallas 362 Peg 2004 Hellboy Liz Sherman Caprice Stickles / Ursula Udders In Good Company Kimberly 2005 Pretty Persuasion Grace Anderson Abbey Gallagher Stevie Wayne Alice Short film 2006 Adelle Beth Hagan Hellboy: Sword of Storms Liz Sherman (voice) Direct-to-video 2007 Hellboy: Blood and IronLiz Sherman (voice)Direct-to-video Purple Violets Patti Petalson WΔZ Jean Lerner Feast of Love Kathryn Smith 2008 My Mom's New Boyfriend Emily Lott Sarah Hellboy II: The Golden Army Liz Sherman 2011 The Family Tree Ms. Delbo Animal Love Sorrel Short film The Break-In Beverly Short film Dark Horse Miranda Kingdom Come Herself Documentary 2012 Columbus Circle Abigail Clayton In Their Skin Mary Hughes 2015 Sex, Death and Bowling Glenn McAllister 2016 Eva Hesse Eva Hesse (voice) Documentary Ordinary World Karen Miller Mothers and Daughters Rigby 2017 Mom and Dad Kendall Ryan 2019 After Carol Young 2020 After We CollidedCarol Young A Dark Foe Doris Baxter2021 Introducing, Selma Blair Herself Documentary Far More Glenn McAllister 2025 Stay Forte Pre-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 1995 Penelope Ghiruto Episode: "Das Bus" 1996 Uncredited Episode: "The Szechuan Dynasty" 1997 Amazon High Cyane Pilot Soldier of Fortune, Inc. Tish August Episode: "La Mano Negra" 1998 Getting Personal Receptionist Pilot Promised Land Carla Braver Episode: "Designated Driver" No Laughing Matter Lauren Winslow Television film 1999–2000 Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane Zoe Bean 2000 Xena: Warrior Princess Cyane Episode: "Lifeblood" 2002 Friends Wendy Episode: "The One with Christmas in Tulsa" 2003 Coast to Coast Stacey Pierce Television film 2004 DeMarco Affairs Kate DeMarco Pilot 2008–2009 Kath & Kim Kim 2010 Tommy's Little Girl Lawyer / Assassin Pilot Web Therapy Tammy Hines 3 episodes 2011 Portlandia Frannie Walker Episode: "Blunderbuss" 2012–2013 Anger Management Kate Wales 2012 Web Therapy Tammy Hines 2 episodes Slideshow of Wieners: A Love Story Becca Short 2013 Out There Destiny / Larry (voices) 2 episodes Comedy Bang! Bang! Herself / Cyber girl Episode: "Andy Samberg Wears a Plaid Shirt & Glasses" 2014 Really Joanna Pilot 2016 The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story Kris Jenner 3 episodes Bookaboo Herself Post-production 2018–2019 Lost in Space Jessica Harris 3 episodes 2018 Heathers Jade Duke 4 episodes 2019 Another Life Harper Glass Main role (season 1) 2020 DuckTales Witch Hazel (voice) Episode: "The Trickening!"2022Dancing with the Stars Herself Contestant (season 31)

Theatre Year Title Role Notes 1990 The Little Theatre of The Green Goose Various roles 2009 Gruesome Playground Injuries Kayleen Alley Theatre

Music videos Year Title Role Artist(s) Notes 1998 Charmed My Friend Steve 1999 Every You Every Me Cecile Caldwell Placebo Film version 2010 Full of Regret Katt Danko Jones

Video games Year Title Voice role 2008 Hellboy: The Science of Evil Liz Sherman

Audiobooks Year Title 2010 The Diary of Anne Frank

Awards and nominations