The character arc of Selma Blair
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born Selma Blair Beitner on 23 June 1972 in Southfield, Michigan, the youngest of four daughters. Between then and now sit a school play she thought was a failure and a teacher who told her not to give up, two years of photography at Kalamazoo, a year in New York living at The Salvation Army, a triple major taken magna cum laude, seventy five auditions before a first paid job, Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde, Hellboy, symptoms that began in childhood and went unnamed for thirty years, a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August 2018, a decision to say so, a documentary and a memoir. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Selma Blair?
Thirty years, no name for it. Then she said it out loud.
She grew up in Southfield, Michigan, the youngest of four daughters, and spent a lot of her childhood in Philadelphia. In 1990 she was in a school production of Murder in the Cathedral and thought she was terrible in it. Her English teacher told her not to give up. It was the first time she thought she could be an actress.
She did two years of photography at Kalamazoo College, moved to New York at twenty one and lived at The Salvation Army, took acting classes while intending to be a photographer, transferred to the University of Michigan and graduated magna cum laude in 1994 with a triple major in photography, psychology and English. An agent found her in an acting class. Then seventy five auditions before her first paid job, which was a television advertisement.
The breakthrough was Cruel Intentions in 1999. Legally Blonde followed in 2001 and took ninety six million dollars in North America; The Sweetest Thing in 2002; and in 2004 Liz Sherman in Guillermo del Toro Hellboy, which she played again in the 2008 sequel. In between there were independent films, a Cannes premiere, an FX series she led for fifty three episodes, and a miniseries about the O J Simpson trial.
What nobody knew, including her, was that she had been ill the whole time. She told British Vogue that the symptoms had begun to show when she was a child, and that the undiagnosed illness had caused brain damage. As it worsened she was heavily medicated, became dependent on alcohol, and attempted to take her own life. She was forty six when a doctor finally named it: multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in August 2018.
In October 2018 she said so, publicly. What prompted her was gratitude: she wanted to thank Allisa Swanson, her costume designer on a Netflix series, who had quietly become her dresser, getting her legs into her trousers, pulling her tops over her head and doing up her coats. Since then she has starred in Introducing, Selma Blair, a 2021 documentary about her life since the diagnosis, published Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up in May 2022, joined Dancing with the Stars that September and left it in the fifth week when her health worsened, and worked with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She was among the Silence Breakers named Time Person of the Year in 2017, and received the Equity in Entertainment Award in December 2021. She has a son, Arthur.
The moments
Selma Blair's timeline.
The 1970s
Born in Southfield
Everyday. Southfield, Michigan, the youngest of four.
The 1990s
A teacher says keep going
Milestone, and it changed everything. She thought she was terrible. Her teacher disagreed.
The Salvation Army
Everyday, and it changed her direction. Twenty one, in New York, in a hostel, taking classes.
A triple major, magna cum laude
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Three subjects at once, and top marks.
Seventy five auditions
Setback, and it changed everything. Seventy five nos before the first yes.
Cruel Intentions
Milestone, and it changed everything. The film that made her a name.
The 2000s
Legally Blonde
Milestone, and it changed everything. A hundred and forty million dollars, worldwide.
Liz Sherman in Hellboy
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two films, and the character was hers.
The 2010s
Fifty three episodes
Milestone, and it changed her direction. The biggest sitcom premiere cable had ever had.
A Silence Breaker
Milestone, and it changed her direction. One of the people who spoke.
Multiple sclerosis, named
Setback, and it changed everything. Ill since childhood, and nobody had a name for it until she was forty six.
Manage it, or announce it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: say it out loud, taken, or keep it between doctors. A documentary, a memoir, an award, and a change in what the illness looks like in public.
She says it in public
Milestone, and it changed everything. She went public to thank the woman who did up her coat.
The 2020s
Introducing, Selma Blair
Milestone, and it changed everything. She let a camera follow the whole thing.
Mean Baby
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Her own account, in her own order.
Dancing, and knowing when to stop
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She danced for five weeks, then said enough.
She is still working, still using a cane on red carpets rather than hiding one, still talking about the illness in the same flat practical way. What she set moving is a change in what multiple sclerosis looks like in public, because for most people it now looks like a working actress who tells you exactly how her day went.
Your turn
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Hers turned on a diagnosis she decided to say out loud instead of manage quietly. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Selma Blair: frequently asked questions
What people ask about her line.
What is Selma Blair's character arc?
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What films is Selma Blair known for?
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What has Selma Blair made about her illness?
Where does this timeline of Selma Blair's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with her.
Sources
- Selma Blair, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up, Knopf, 2022.
- Introducing, Selma Blair, the 2021 documentary.
- Her April 2023 interview with British Vogue, as summarised there.