Heather Langenkamp

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Heather Langenkamp

Heather Langenkamp (born July 17, 1964) is an American film and television actress. Her most famous role was that of Nancy Thompson in the horror movie classic A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Langenkamp was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dobie and Mary Alice Langenkamp. The blue-eyed, brunette Langenkamp's first acting venture was in her late teens: a small part in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders (1983), to a large extent filmed in Tulsa.

While she was studying at Stanford University, Wes Craven cast her as teen heroine Nancy Thompson in the first Nightmare. Langenkamp's innocent look coupled with natural acting ability for the role helped the film become a huge box office success, which has to date spawned seven sequels, of which Heather has starred in two. In between starring roles, she played introverted Marie Lubbock on the television series Just the Ten of Us from 1988 to 1990.

She reprised her role of Thompson in Part III in 1987. In 1994, Wes Craven directed the seventh film to feature Freddy Krueger - Wes Craven's New Nightmare. This film, more ambitious than others in the franchise, saw Langenkamp play herself, as Krueger (played by Robert Englund) tried to break out of the movie series and into the "real world". As the movie progresses, Langenkamp shifts from playing herself to playing Nancy "one last time" as she is the only person who can defeat Freddy. Much of this film was based on altercations with her real life stalker. ^{[citation needed]}

Langenkamp then starred in Fugitive Mind in 1999. She currently runs the Malibu Gum Company, which sells chewing gum packaged with trading cards depicting local surfing stars. She has married twice and has two children from her second husband, special effects make-up artist David Anderson. Langenkamp's most recent movie role is in the italian indie The Bet, which is currently in post-production.