First there was her dad, Charles Harmon, who left his wife before the birth of his daughter, Demetria Guynes. Then there was a stepfather, Danny Guynes, who moved his family 30 times in search of work, while gambling away the money he did make, ultimately committing suicide at about the time his teenaged stepdaughter was told he wasn’t her “real” father. Mom, Virginia, didn’t provide much help, with her own substance abuse problems and long criminal record.

So it was on to Freddy Moore, the 30 year old musician who married 18 year old Demi and whisked her off to Los Angeles, where the couple divorced four years later. The last move, though, turned out to be fortuitous for the young bride. She had been working as a model since dropping out of high school, but decided upon acting while helping neighbour Nastassja Kinski rehearse parts.

Demi Moore began her acting career with stage work, winning a Theatre World Award for her role in The Early Girl (1981). She went on to play a recurring character in the soap opera General Hospital (1982/83), taking on the films Choices (1981), Parasite (1982) and Young Doctors In Love (1982) at the same time. Her next role, in Blame It On Rio (1984), got her noticed, and led to a lead role in No Small Affair (1985) and a breakthrough performance in St. Elmo’s Fire (1985).

It was at this career height that the actor’s unfortunate cocaine habit came to light. A determination to stay employed helped her kick the addiction. And stay employed she did with the 1986 films Wisdom, One Crazy Summer, and About Last Night. The next year Moore broke with fiancé Emilio Estevez and married TV (and soon to be big-budget movie) actor Bruce Willis. She appeared in one episode of his hit TV series Moonlighting in 1989. 1988/89 saw Moore in The Seventh Sign and We’re No Angels, but it was another year before she made the Hollywood A-list (and netted a Golden Globe nomination) with 1990's Ghost.

The husky-voiced Moore lent her eloquence, as well, to animated films and a spoken word CD. In 1999 Moore added “editor” to her list of accomplishments, taking on that assignment for the millennium issue of Marie Claire magazine. Upcoming are roles in Basic Instinct 2 and Passion of Mind.

Moore has risen to the top of her profession with a determination that is alternately mocked and respected by her peers. She is flippantly accused of “naked ambition,” but this star’s drive is backed by nothing less than style, talent, beauty and brains.