Life and career

1964-83: Early life and career beginnings

Langenkamp was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 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 of Energy in both the Carter Administration (where he was largely responsible for realizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) and the Clinton Administration (where he was largely responsible for privatizing Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1), and as Director of the National Energy & Environmental Law & Policy Institute of the University of Tulsa College of Law. She is of German, Scottish, and English ancestry. Langenkamp attended Holland Hall School in Tulsa. She graduated from The National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington, D.C. Langenkamp's first acting venture was in her late teens: a small part in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders (1983), filmed to a large extent in her hometown of Tulsa and in Rumble Fish. She managed to be an extra in both films but her scenes were cut out of both of the final films.

1984-93: A Nightmare on Elm Street and early success

Langenkamp later starred in Nickel Mountain (1984) which gained mostly positive reviews. While she was studying at Stanford University, Langenkamp rose to prominence when Wes Craven cast her as teen heroine Nancy Thompson in his hugely successful film A Nightmare on Elm Street, the first film in what became a series. Craven wanted someone very 'non-Hollywood' to play Nancy, and he believed Langenkamp met this quality. She beat out more than 200 actresses auditioning for the part. This slasher film follows the story of a group of teenagers who are killed in their dreams by a supernatural serial killer, one by one. This film is credited with launching her career.

The film introduced the iconic villain Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund. Langenkamp was cast along with Johnny Depp in his feature film debut as Nancy Thompson's boyfriend, Glen Lantz. Veteran film actor John Saxon 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. In 1985, Langenkamp received the Best Actress Award at the Avoriaz Film Festival for this role. She also became one of the original scream queens. Many critics praised the role of Nancy due to the smart and independent nature of the character that made her different from most heroines in horror films released at the time. Langenkamp reprised her role as Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), in which she co-starred alongside Patricia Arquette and Laurence Fishburne. The film gained generally positive reviews and was a commercial success. John Saxon and Robert Englund also returned with Langenkamp in Dream Warriors. The film focused on the survivors of Freddy Krueger's previous attempts and was Patricia Arquette's debut film.

In between starring roles, she played Marie Lubbock on the television series Just the Ten of Us, which received critical acclaim and has gained a cult following. It was a spin-off of the popular situation comedy Growing Pains (on which Langenkamp guest-starred), from 1988 to 1990. That same year, she and her castmates were nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor/Actress Ensemble in a Television Comedy, Drama Series or Special. She has also made numerous other guest appearances on television. In 1989, she had a cameo role as a victim in Wes Craven's Shocker.

1994-present: New Nightmare and continued success

In 1994, Langenkamp returned to the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise when she starred as herself in the critically and commercially successful film Wes Craven's New Nightmare alongside Robert Englund. Although New Nightmare is the seventh film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, it is not part of the series continuity, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world and haunts the cast and crew responsible for his films. While the canon Nightmare on Elm Street films are about dreams overlapping reality, this film is about films overlapping reality. In this film, Freddy is depicted as closer to what Craven originally intended, being more menacing and less comical, with an updated attire and appearance. The following year, Langenkamp starred in The Demolitionist (1995).

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 many successful films such as Dawn of the Dead, The Cabin in the Woods, Cinderella Man, Dogtown and Z-Boys, Frost/Nixon, Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty, Dragonfly and Angels & Demons. She also starred in, executive produced, and narrated the 2010 documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, which was directed by Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch. In 2010, Langenkamp made her documentary entitled I Am Nancy, which was a critical success. I Am Nancy focused on Langenkamp's role as Nancy from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

In 2012, Langenkamp starred alongside Barbara Steele and Ray Wise in the horror film The Butterfly Room. The following year, Langenkamp had a supporting role in the film, Star Trek Into Darkness which was critically and commercially successful. Langenkamp is behind the special effects for the anthology horror series American Horror Story. In 2014, she made a cameo appearance in American Horror Story's fourth season, Freak Show, as Female Toulouse. In 2016, Langenkamp starred in Home. She is set to star in the upcoming films Getting the Kinks Out (2017) and The Survivors (2017). On September 22, 2015 it was revealed that Langenkamp, along with AFX Studio, is behind the special effects for Scream Queens. Langenkamp currently has a recurring role as Sharon Monroe in The Bay. In February 2016, it was announced that Langenkamp will have a role in Hellraiser: Judgment (2017).

Personal life

Langenkamp leads a local beach clean-up effort and runs the Malibu Gum Company, a firm that sells naturally made chewing gum packaged with trading cards depicting local surfers. She married Alan Pasqua while filming A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, but they divorced in 1987. Many elements of the plot for Wes Craven's New Nightmare are based on an incident in which Langenkamp received numerous threatening letters from an obsessed fan after the cancellation of Just the Ten of Us. Langenkamp is married to David LeRoy Anderson since 1990 and has two children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Nickel Mountain	Callie Wells
1984	Nightmare on Elm Street, AA Nightmare on Elm Street	Nancy Thompson
1987	Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, AA Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors	Nancy Thompson
1989	Shocker	Victim
1994	Wes Craven's New Nightmare	Heather Langenkamp (Nancy Thompson)
1995	The Demolitionist	Christy Carruthers
1999	Fugitive Mind	Suzanne Hicks	Video
2007	Bet, TheThe Bet	Heather Langenkamp
2012	Butterfly Room, TheThe Butterfly Room	Dorothy
2013	Star Trek Into Darkness	Moto
2015	Intruder	Sally	Short
2016	Home	Heather
2017	Getting the Kinks Out	Esther	Pre-production
2017	Hellraiser: Judgment		Pre-production, Direct to video
2017	The Survivors	Julie	In-development

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Passions	Beth	TV film
1985	Suburban Beat	Hope Sherman	TV film
1986	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Erica	Episode: "Have You Tried Talking to Patty?"
1986	ABC Afterschool Special	Paula Finkle	Episode: "Can a Guy Say No?"
1986	Heart of the City	Audrey	Episode: "Of Dogs and Cat Burglars"
1987	New Adventures of Beans Baxter, TheThe New Adventures of Beans Baxter	Tracy	Episode: "Beans Goes to Camp"
1987	Hotel	Monica	Episode: "Desperate Moves"
1988	Growing Pains	Marie	Episodes: "How the West Was Won: Parts 1 & 2"
1988-1990	Just the Ten of Us	Marie Lubbock	Main role (47 episodes)
1990	Growing Pains	Amy Boutilier	Episodes: "Let's Go Europe: Parts 1, 2 & 3"
1994	Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story	Nancy Kerrigan	TV film
1997	Perversions of Science	Lou Ann Solomon	Episode: "Ultimate Weapon"
1999	Partners	Suzanne	Episode: "Always..."
2002	JAG	Janet Thompson	Episode: "Odd Man Out"
2014	American Horror Story: Freak Show	Female Toulouse	Episode: "Test of Strength"
2015	The Bay	Sharon Monroe	Recurring role

Other works

Year	Title	Notes
2004	Dawn of the Dead	Production crew
2005	Cinderella Man	Makeup artist
2007	Evan Almighty	Makeup artist
2008	Prank	Director
2010	Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy	Executive producer
2011	I Am Nancy	Producer
2012	Cabin in the Woods, TheThe Cabin in the Woods	Makeup artist
2013	Star Trek Into Darkness	Makeup artist

[ Source: Wikipedia ]