Courtney Love is an American musician and actress who began her professional career in film in 1986 with a supporting role in Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy (1986); she had prior studied film with experimental director George Kuchar at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1984, and appeared in one of Kuchar's short films. After pursuing music and having a successful career as the frontwoman of alternative rock band Hole, Love also had intermittent roles in films, most notably receiving critical attention for her performance as Althea Flynt in Miloš Forman's 1996 biopic The People vs. Larry Flynt, which earned her a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actress, as well as awards from the Boston, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles film critics associations. Love later appeared among an ensemble cast in 200 Cigarettes (1998), as well as in a leading role in Man on the Moon (1999) alongside Jim Carrey, for which she received critical recognition.[1] She later appeared in several independent films and short subjects as well as the thriller Trapped (2002) alongside Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon, and Julie Johnson (2001), for which she received an award for Best Actress at Los Angeles' gay and lesbian Outfest film festival.
In 2014, Love joined the cast of the FX series Sons of Anarchy for the show's seventh and final season in a recurring role; this marked Love's debut role in a television series. Subsequent television work included appearances on the ABC-TV nighttime soap Revenge as well as the hit Lee Daniels drama Empire. In 2018, Love made a supporting appearance in director Justin Kelly's JT LeRoy.
Love has also appeared in a multitude of documentary films as both an interviewee as well as in archival and live footage, including the Sonic Youth documentary subject (1992); Not Bad for a Girl (1995), which focused on women in alternative music; and Hit So Hard (2011), which documented the life of Love's bandmate, drummer Patty Schemel.
| Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Club Vatican | Girl | George Kuchar | Short film | [2] | ||
| 1986 | Sid and Nancy | Gretchen | |||||
| 1987 | Straight to Hell | Velma | |||||
| 1988 | Tapeheads | Norman's Spanker | Uncredited | ||||
| 1996 | Basquiat | Big Pink | |||||
| 1996 | Feeling Minnesota | Rhonda | |||||
| 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Althea Leasure Flynt | |||||
| 1999 | 200 Cigarettes | Lucy | |||||
| 1999 | Man on the Moon | Lynne Margulies | |||||
| 2000 | Beat | Joan Vollmer Burroughs | |||||
| 2001 | Julie Johnson | Claire | [3] | ||||
| 2002 | Trapped | Cheryl | |||||
| 2005 | Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula | Caligula | Short film | [4] | |||
| 2011 | Courtney in Wonderland | Herself | Jason Bell | Short film | [5] | ||
| 2015 | Kansas City Choir Boy | Athena | Kevin Newbury | Stage | [6] | ||
| 2017 | Kitty Menéndez | Television film | [7] | ||||
| 2018 | JT LeRoy | Sasha | [8] | ||||
| 2021 | The Long Home | Pearl | [9] | ||||
| 2024 | data-sort-value="assassination" style="background:#ffc;" | Assassination | TBA | [10] |
| Year | Series | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | data-sort-value="Osbournes" | The Osbournes | Herself | 1 episode | [11] |
| 2005 | Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson | Herself | [12] | ||
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | Ms. Harrison | Recurring role; 4 episodes | [13] | |
| 2015 | data-sort-value="Hopes" | The Hopes | Chase Hope | Television short | [14] |
| 2015 | Empire | Elle Dallas | Recurring role; 2 episodes | [15] | |
| 2015 | Revenge | White Gold | Guest star; 3 episodes | [16] | |
| 2016 | Anna Faris is Unqualified | Herself | Guest star | [17] | |
| 2017 | data-sort-value="Midsummer" | A Midsummer's Nightmare | Titania | Featured role; TV movie/backdoor pilot | [18] |
| 2018 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself | 1 episode ("Tap That App") | [19] | |
| 2021 | Bruises of Roses | Lead performer | 1 episode | [20] |
| Year | Documentary features | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Herself | [21] | ||
| 1995 | Not Bad for a Girl | [22] | ||
| 1997 | [23] | |||
| 1998 | Kurt & Courtney | [24] | ||
| 1999 | Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl | Voice-over narrator | [25] | |
| 2000 | Bounce: Behind the Velvet Rope | [26] | ||
| 2001 | Eminem: Behind the Mask | [27] | ||
| 2001 | Last Party 2000 | [28] | ||
| 2003 | Mayor of the Sunset Strip | [29] | ||
| 2006 | The Return of Courtney Love | [30] | ||
| 2011 | Hit So Hard | [31] | ||
| 2011 | Bob and the Monster | [32] | ||
| 2012 | Sunset Strip | [33] | ||
| 2015 | Montage of Heck | [34] | ||
| Year | Songs | Artist(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | "I Wanna Be Sedated" | Uncredited | |
| 1992 | "Garbadge Man" | ||
| 1993 | "Beautiful Son" | Unreleased | |
| 1994 | "Miss World" | ||
| "Doll Parts" | |||
| 1995 | "Violet" | ||
| "Softer, Softest" | MTV Unplugged performance | ||
| 1996 | "Gold Dust Woman" | Recorded for soundtrack | |
| 1998 | "Celebrity Skin" | ||
| "Malibu" | |||
| 1999 | "Awful" | Live footage | |
| 2000 | "Be a Man" | Released for Any Given Sunday soundtrack | |
| 2004 | "Mono" | Courtney Love | |
| 2011 | "Samantha" | Hole | |
| 2014 | "Rat a Tat" | ||
| "You Know My Name" | Courtney Love | ||
| 2018 | "Tattooed in Reverse" | ||