She was born Liza May Minnelli in Los Angeles, California, as the daughter of actress and singer Judy Garland and her second husband, film director Vincente Minnelli.
Liza Minnelli's first film appearance was in 1949 in In the Good Old Summertime, which starred her mother. She was 14 months old. Liza started performing at the age of sixteen, in 1963, on Broadway, in the play Best Foot Forward, for which she received good notices. The next year, her mother invited her to perform with her in London at the London Palladium. The audience loved her, and her musical career was born. She returned to Broadway at nineteen, and won a Tony Award for The Sterile Cuckoo. The movie version garnered her her first Academy Award nomination. In 1972, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Cabaret. Minnelli has the distinction of being the only Academy Award winner whose parents are both Academy Award winners.
Liza has won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.
Like her mother, Minnelli has had several failed marriages (she has been linked romantically to director Martin Scorsese, actor Peter Sellers, pianist Billy Stritch, and actor Desi Arnaz, Jr.). Her husbands have been:
1 Peter Allen (real name Peter Allen Woolnough) (March 3, 1967 - 1972). Allen, who died of complications from AIDS in 1992, was Judy Garland's protegé in the mid 1960s.
2 Jack Haley, Junior, (September 15, 1974 - 1979), a producer and director. His father, Jack Haley, was Judy Garland's co-star in The Wizard of Oz.
3 Mark Gero (December 4, 1979 - 1992), a sculptor and stage manager.
4 David Gest (March 16, 2002 - present), a concert promoter. The couple announced their separation on July 25, 2003). Note: Minnelli and Gest announced to the press in late 2002 that they would be adopting a three-year-old girl, to be named Serena Gest. David Gest sued Minnelli, accusing her of abuse.
Filmography