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Courtney Love

Courtney Love

Acting

Born: July 9, 1964San Francisco, California, USA

Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. Love has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2020, NME named her one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of the last 30 years. Born to countercultural parents in San Francisco, Love had an itinerant childhood, but was primarily raised in Portland, Oregon, where she played in a series of short-lived bands and was active in the local punk scene. After briefly being in a juvenile hall, she spent a year living in Dublin and Liverpool before returning to the United States and pursuing an acting career. She appeared in supporting roles in the Alex Cox films Sid and Nancy (1986) and Straight to Hell (1987) before forming the band Hole in Los Angeles with guitarist Eric Erlandson. The group received critical acclaim from underground rock press for their 1991 debut album, produced by Kim Gordon, while their second release, Live Through This (1994), was met with critical accolades and multi-platinum sales. In 1995, Love returned to acting, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance as Althea Leasure in Miloš Forman's The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which established her as a mainstream actress. The following year, Hole's third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), was nominated for three Grammy Awards. Love continued to work as an actress into the early 2000s, appearing in big-budget pictures such as Man on the Moon (1999) and Trapped (2002), before releasing her first solo album, America's Sweetheart, in 2004. The subsequent several years were marred with publicity surrounding Love's legal troubles and drug relapse, which resulted in a mandatory lockdown rehabilitation sentence in 2005 while she was writing a second solo album. That project became Nobody's Daughter, released in 2010 as a Hole album but without the former Hole lineup. Between 2014 and 2015, Love released two solo singles and returned to acting in the network series Sons of Anarchy and Empire. In 2020, she confirmed she was writing new music. Love has also been active as a writer; she co-created and co-wrote three volumes of a manga, Princess Ai, between 2004 and 2006, and wrote a memoir, Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love (2006). Description above from the Wikipedia article Courtney Love, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For
Filmography
Broken English

Broken English

Self

2026
Antiheroine

Antiheroine

Self

2026
James Blunt: One Brit Wonder

James Blunt: One Brit Wonder

Self (archive footage)

2023
I Hate Myself and I Want to Die

I Hate Myself and I Want to Die

Self (archive footage)

2023
Meet Me in the Bathroom

Meet Me in the Bathroom

Self (archive footage)

2022
Kalvøyafestivalen - 50 år siden første riff

Kalvøyafestivalen - 50 år siden første riff

Self (archive footage)

2021
Arianne Phillips: Dressing the Part

Arianne Phillips: Dressing the Part

Self

2021
The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault

(archive footage)

2020
J.T. LeRoy

J.T. LeRoy

Sasha

2019
Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen

Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen

Self - Performer

2018
L7: Pretend We're Dead

L7: Pretend We're Dead

Self

2017
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

Self

2017
A Midsummer's Nightmare

A Midsummer's Nightmare

2017
Menendez: Blood Brothers

Menendez: Blood Brothers

Kitty Menendez

2017
Franca: Chaos and Creation

Franca: Chaos and Creation

Self

2016
Author: The JT LeRoy Story

Author: The JT LeRoy Story

Herself

2016
Cobain: Montage of Heck

Cobain: Montage of Heck

Self

2015
The Young Blood Chronicles

The Young Blood Chronicles

The Head Bitch In Charge

2014
Hit So Hard

Hit So Hard

Self

2012
Sunset Strip

Sunset Strip

Self

2012
Bob and the Monster

Bob and the Monster

Herself

2011
The Dark Night of the Soul

The Dark Night of the Soul

2010
Welcome to My Castle!

Welcome to My Castle!

Self

2007
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

2007
The Return of Courtney Love

The Return of Courtney Love

Self

2006
Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson

Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson

Self

2005
Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula

Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula

Caligula

2005
(This Is Known as) The Blues Scale

(This Is Known as) The Blues Scale

Self

2004
Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Self

2003
Trapped

Trapped

Cheryl

2002
Last Party 2000

Last Party 2000

Self

2001
Bounce: Behind The Velvet Rope

Bounce: Behind The Velvet Rope

2001
Julie Johnson

Julie Johnson

Claire

2001
Beat

Beat

Joan Vollmer Burroughs

2000
Man on the Moon

Man on the Moon

Lynne Margulies

1999
Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl

Narrator (voice)

1999
Hole: The Electric Factory

Hole: The Electric Factory

1999
200 Cigarettes

200 Cigarettes

Lucy

1999
The Righteous Babes

The Righteous Babes

Self (archive footage)

1998
Kurt & Courtney

Kurt & Courtney

Self

1998
Inside the Golden Statue

Inside the Golden Statue

Self

1998
Doll Crafting with Dame Darcy & Courtney Love

Doll Crafting with Dame Darcy & Courtney Love

1997
The People vs. Larry Flynt

The People vs. Larry Flynt

Althea Leasure

1996
Feeling Minnesota

Feeling Minnesota

Rhonda the Waitress

1996
Basquiat

Basquiat

Big Pink

1996
Hole: MTV Unplugged

Hole: MTV Unplugged

Lead Vocals, Guitar

1995
Not Bad for a Girl

Not Bad for a Girl

Self

1995
Hole: Live at The Metro (Chicago, 1994)

Hole: Live at The Metro (Chicago, 1994)

1995
Hole: Violet

Hole: Violet

Herself

1995
Hole - Live Through This

Hole - Live Through This

1994
Hole: Doll Parts

Hole: Doll Parts

Herself

1994

No Alternative Girls

Herself

1994
Hole: Miss World

Hole: Miss World

Herself

1994
1991: The Year Punk Broke

1991: The Year Punk Broke

Self

1992
Hole: Garbadge Man

Hole: Garbadge Man

Herself

1992
Hole: Live at The Lemon Grove (Exeter, 1991)

Hole: Live at The Lemon Grove (Exeter, 1991)

Herself

1991
Hole: Live at Club Lingerie (Hollywood, 1990)

Hole: Live at Club Lingerie (Hollywood, 1990)

Herself

1990
Tapeheads

Tapeheads

Norman's Spanker (uncredited)

1988
Straight to Hell

Straight to Hell

Velma

1987
Sid and Nancy

Sid and Nancy

Gretchen

1986
Club Vatican

Club Vatican

1984