Selma Blair

Selma Blair (born Selma Blair Beitner; June 23, 1972) is an American actress whose career spans film and television roles characterized by comedic and dramatic portrayals of complex female characters. She gained prominence with supporting parts in Cruel Intentions (1999), where she played the manipulative Cecile Caldwell, and Legally Blonde (2001), as the rival Vivian Kensington to Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods. Blair's other notable credits include the fantasy film Hellboy (2004) as the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman and the sitcom Anger Management (2012–2014), from which she departed amid a public dispute with co-star Charlie Sheen over production issues.

In 2018, Blair disclosed her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system, which she had experienced symptoms of since childhood but went undiagnosed for decades. Following the announcement on August 16, 2018, she underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in 2019 to halt disease progression, achieving remission by 2021, and documented her journey in the 2022 memoir Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up and the Discovery+ film Introducing, Selma Blair (2021). Her openness about living with MS has positioned her as an advocate for disability awareness, including appearances at events like the White House for Americans with Disabilities Act commemorations.

Selma Blair Beitner was born on June 23, 1972, in Southfield, Michigan, into an upper-middle-class Jewish family. Her father, Elliot I. Beitner, worked as an attorney, while her mother, Molly Ann, was a judge. Blair's paternal heritage traced to Russian and Polish Jewish roots, and despite her mother's Christian background, she was raised in the Jewish faith, observing traditions such as Passover seders and undertaking a bat mitzvah.

Blair was born Selma Blair Beitner to a Jewish father, attorney Elliot Beitner, and a Christian mother; she was raised Jewish, attending Hillel Day School and participating in traditions such as Passover seders, which have shaped her personal values.