Michelle Pfeiffer balances career and family while taking on emotionally heavy roles

Michelle Pfeiffer has revealed that she drew on the grief of losing her father to help shape her performance in the upcoming series The Madison, saying personal loss gave her a deeper emotional connection to the role.

The series, which also stars Kurt Russell, follows a family navigating the aftermath of a sudden tragedy. Pfeiffer plays Stacy Clyburn, a character who is forced to confront profound emotional upheaval in the wake of loss.

In an interview with IndieWire, Pfeiffer said she tapped into her own experience of grief following the death of her father, Richard, in 1998 at the age of 65, to inform her portrayal.

“You don’t have to search real long and real hard to tap into that,” she said, describing how sudden loss can shift a person’s entire perspective.

She reflected on how grief can briefly strip away conflict and pretense, creating a period of emotional clarity among those left behind.

“There’s a truth in the way that people start to interact with each other,” she said, adding that such moments of honesty are often fleeting but deeply impactful.

The actress said those memories helped her understand the emotional core of her character and the fragile nature of human relationships during times of crisis.

Alongside The Madison, Pfeiffer is also set to appear in Margo’s Got Money Troubles, starring Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, and Greg Kinnear.

She admitted that juggling multiple projects in recent years has changed her approach to work-life balance, saying she is now more focused on being present in her personal life as a grandmother.

“I want to be present,” she said, explaining that she no longer wants to be mentally preoccupied with upcoming roles while away from set.

She described the shift as an experiment in living more fully in the moment.

Despite the demands of back-to-back productions, Pfeiffer said she feels grateful for the opportunity to take on complex, emotionally rich roles later in her career.

“They are two of the best parts I’ve ever had,” she said, noting that she never expected such challenging opportunities at this stage of her life.