What Happened to Elizabeth Berkley from Showgirls?

The controversial 1995 movie Showgirls, directed by Paul Verhoeven, was supposed to be a breakthrough for everyone involved, and one may say it did accomplish that but in reverse. The first blow to the gut was, of course, the NC-17 age category, which cut off a good chunk of the potential audience. But the more you analyze “what went wrong,” the more things pop up. Bad script, horrible marketing, ruthless ratings from movie critics, gratuitous content, unfortunate release timing, and, naturally, over-the-top acting.

Despite all that, Verhoeven and the cast received multiple awards for their hard work, but there was a little hitch: they were all anti-awards. The film won seven Golden Raspberry nominations, becoming the worst film of the 1990s. Sadly, most of these trinkets went to the lead actress – Elizabeth Berkley, who now had to deal with this massive failure and try to restore her reputation.

Berkeley grew up in the family of a Jewish lawyer. Even though her family was very religious, they still encouraged their daughter’s passion for dancing. By the age of 11, Lizzy even managed to perform on Broadway in the production of Swan Lake.