Elizabeth Berkley on Showgirls, Reclaiming Spotlight, All’s Fair

Elizabeth Berkley is so immediately, disarmingly warm in conversation that it takes me a few extra beats to realize she’s kicking her publicist off of our Zoom call. “I think David and I are good,” she says after some preamble. The publicist takes a moment before her off-camera box disappears, and then Berkley continues: “I want to have this conversation with just you.” This won’t be Berkley’s scorched-earth Hollywood tell-all, exactly, but she has a story to tell — a new chapter to usher in — and has learned how to handle career matters on her own. She’s often had no other choice.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Showgirls, Berkley’s big-screen debut that has gone from unmitigated disaster to cult camp classic. Paul Verhoeven‘s risqué provocation starred Berkley as Nomi Malone, a Vegas transplant with nothing in her pocket but dreams of dancing and a wild drive to achieve them. The NC-17 film was roundly panned upon release, mocked across late night and in the press, and bombed hard at the box office. Berkley, who had emerged years earlier as a teen TV star on Saved by the Bell, faced critics’ unrelenting wrath and was promptly dropped by her team at CAA. She characterizes the period since as “30 years of building blocks” to right now: “In all this time, I’ve been working toward this moment.”

Last month saw the release of the indie Shell, in which Berkley, now 51, made her first feature film appearance in 15 years, opposite Kate Hudson and Elisabeth Moss. Berkley also guest-starred in this winter’s final season of Cobra Kai and in Ryan Murphy‘s just-premiered All’s Fair, a star-studded legal drama about a female-led divorce firm (she plays a client in urgent need of help). Berkley hadn’t done TV in a while, either — her most recent credit, outside of Peacock’s 2020 Saved reboot, was a 2016 episode of New Girl — but Murphy, at least, made her the offer directly. “He has a gift for seeing what someone is actually capable of; maybe they haven’t been given the chance, but he can see beyond that,” Berkley says.

And Berkley has always known what she’s capable of. She was only 21 when Showgirls was released. To prepare her for difficult interviews, publicists kept showing her clippings of reviews blatantly insulting her looks and abilities. “A lot of things went on that wouldn’t be allowed now — someone could not be pummeled to that degree,” she says. “I couldn’t understand how people could be so cruel, but I’m tough. I had to separate out what they said from what I believed to be true.” Her hyperstylized performance was shaped by Verhoeven’s direction. “I believed in my work and in myself deeply,” she says. “I’d hoped someone would stand up for me.”

Most of the Showgirls creatives fled the burning building, but Berkley toured 10 countries to meet press requirements — by herself. “It didn’t feel good, but I’m proud that I did that. I’m not a quitter,” she says. “I wanted to speak. I wanted to be heard. I had no other platform.”

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After Showgirls, she had no formal pathway to finding a gig. “For a good two years, I wasn’t allowed to audition for things,” Berkley says. “The hardest part was being literally locked out of something I loved so much.” She dove into acting and dance classes and kept her ear to the ground. She wasn’t permitted in the casting office for The First Wives Club, so she sent in an audition tape — rare in those days — after personally contacting Paramount chairperson Sherry Lansing. She won the part, one of her first post-Showgirls.

Berkley kept clawing her way back, nabbing supporting roles in indies and series and earning sporadic acclaim on London and New York stages. (Covering the 2005 off-Broadway revival of David Rabe’s Hurlyburly, Charles Isherwood wrote for The New York Times, “I hereby spread the word that she’s pretty darn good,” calling her performance “a testament to how much her talent has grown” since Showgirls.)

Meanwhile, Showgirls quietly underwent a cultural reevaluation. Critics celebrated the film as a potent, deliciously indulgent satire. Queer viewers especially connected to Berkley’s outrageous, all-or-nothing commitment. Suddenly, Showgirls was being studied by academics, filmmakers and fashion designers.

The world came to accept Showgirls as a damn good, unhinged time. This happened well before social media, so Berkley wasn’t aware of the magnitude of the shift until 2015, when she attended a 20th anniversary screening at Cinespia in Los Angeles. The reception was ecstatic. “It was such a profound moment, I can’t even tell you,” she says.

Flash-forward another 10 years, and Berkley is one with the Showgirls phenomenon. As if mounting a corrective for her lonely, punishing global press run from 30 years ago, she’s now spearheading a full anniversary tour slated for at least 10 U.S. cities. Each event includes a screening, bonus footage and, of course, Berkley. In October, at Cinespia, a full house of 5,000 screaming fans greeted her like a rock star hitting the stage. Taylor Swift isn’t the only Showgirl selling out arenas these days.

“It’s the perfect moment to reclaim my narrative, share my story and celebrate and thank the fans in person,” Berkley says.

Berkley also attended the All’s Fair premiere last month. On a recent afternoon while wandering around Beverly Hills, she saw a dress in a shop window and looked up to see the brand: Versace. Showgirls fans should know where this is going. One of the film’s most memed-to-death bits — recently acted out on Instagram by none less than Donatella Versace herself — finds Berkley’s Nomi wearing the iconic designer while cluelessly pronouncing it “Ver-sayce” over and over. When Berkley walked into the store and tried the dress on, it fit perfectly — just like what happened with Nomi, 30 years ago. “It was like Cinderella’s slipper,” she says. Then, on the All’s Fair red carpet, posing alongside the likes of Kim Kardashian and Sarah Paulson, Berkley stole the show.

Now Berkley wants to manifest what’s next. She mentions Greta Gerwig as a dream director. She thinks she’d be perfect on The White Lotus (agreed). She wants to do an episode of The Studio (get in line). You don’t often hear actors directly pitch themselves to reporters — but Berkley sells it with moving, earnest enthusiasm, having 180’d from where Showgirls left her three decades ago.

As our time together wraps, Berkley bursts into tears of pure release. Then she smiles. “I’ve had some obstacles, but I’ve never given up,” she says. “And a lot of dreams have come true — with a lot more to come.”

This story appeared in the Nov. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.