Lindsay Lohan

• 1. Introduction

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  Lindsay Lohan posed for the October 2010 cover of Vanity Fair and then made a blunt request. "I want my career back," she told the magazine. She added, "I know that I'm a damn good actress." The plea carried weight because Lohan, an American actress, singer and songwriter, had once headlined a string of hit teen comedies. By 2010 she was also a fixture of tabloid coverage. This documentary asks how a child performer reached that peak, what pulled her off course, and what a second act looked like. It also follows the records, businesses and stage work she pursued along the way.

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• 2. Long Island Roots

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  Lindsay Dee Lohan was born on the 2nd of July 1986 in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City. She grew up in Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. Her father, Michael, was a former Wall Street trader who ran into legal trouble several times. Her mother, Dina, had been a singer and dancer. Lindsay was the eldest of four children, and her three younger siblings all worked as models or actors. They were Michael Jr., Aliana, known as Ali, and Dakota, called Cody. The family was of Irish and Italian heritage and was raised Catholic. Her great-grandfather, John L. Sullivan, co-founded the Pro-life Party on Long Island.

  Her parents married in 1985 and separated when she was three. They later reunited, then separated again in 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2007. In that same year Lohan described the strain of it. "I feel like a second parent in the sense that I helped raise my family... I was put between my mother and father a lot," she said. She began home-schooling in grade 11.

  At the age of three, Lohan signed with Ford Models. As a child model she worked for Calvin Klein Kids and Abercrombie. She also appeared in more than 60 television commercials, for brands such as Pizza Hut and Wendy's, and in a Jell-O spot alongside Bill Cosby. In 1993 she played a character named Chrissie in an episode of the soap opera Guiding Light. She later played Alexandra Fowler, called Alli, on Another World, and stayed in that role for a year. By the age of 10, Soap Opera Magazine said she was already regarded as a show-business veteran. She then left the show for a film role that would change her career.

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• 3. Disney Breakthrough

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  Disney's 1998 family comedy The Parent Trap gave Lohan her first film role. It remade a movie from 1961, and she played twins separated in infancy who scheme to reunite their long-divorced parents. Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson played the parents, and her brother Michael Jr. also appeared. The film earned $92 million worldwide. Critic Kenneth Turan wrote that Lohan was "the soul of this film as much as Hayley Mills was of the original." He added that "she is more adept than her predecessor at creating two distinct personalities." She won a Young Artist Award for best performance in a feature film, plus a three-film contract with Disney.

  At 14, Lohan played Bette Midler's daughter in the pilot of the short-lived series Bette. She resigned from the part when production moved from New York to Los Angeles. She then starred in two made-for-TV movies, Life-Size with Tyra Banks in 2000 and Get a Clue in 2002.

  Freaky Friday arrived in 2003, with Jamie Lee Curtis as a mother who swaps bodies with her daughter. At Lohan's initiative, her character was rewritten, shifting from a Goth style to a more mainstream one. Critic Roger Ebert wrote that she "has that Jodie Foster sort of seriousness and intent focus beneath her teenage persona." The role required her to learn guitar and to sing. She recorded a song for the film, "Ultimate," which went to Radio Disney. The film earned the Breakthrough Performance award at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards. It remains her most commercially successful film, with $160 million worldwide and an 87 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

  Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen followed in 2004 and took $29 million at the domestic box office. Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo said that was "well above expectations as it was strictly for young girls." Critics were cooler. Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Lohan would "have to do a little penance before she's forgiven for Confessions."

  In 2005 Lohan returned to Disney for Herbie: Fully Loaded, the fifth film about the living Volkswagen Beetle. She played a college graduate who finds Herbie in a junk yard. The film earned $144 million worldwide but drew mixed reviews. James Berardinelli wrote that she ended up playing second fiddle to the car. That same year she became the first person to have a My Scene celebrity doll from Mattel, and she voiced herself in the direct-to-DVD film My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie.

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• 4. The Mean Girls Moment

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  Mean Girls, released in 2004, was Lohan's first movie made independent of Disney. She played Cady Heron in a script by Tina Fey, a former Saturday Night Live writer and performer. Several Saturday Night Live performers also appeared in the cast. The film grossed $129 million worldwide and was a critical and commercial success. Brandon Gray described Lohan as the new teen movie queen. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "Lohan is sensitive and appealing, a solid locus for audience sympathy." David Rooney of Variety said that "Lohan displays plenty of charm, verve and deft comic timing."

  Four awards at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards recognized her work in Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, including Breakout Movie Star. Mean Girls then earned her two awards at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. In 2021, New Yorker critic Richard Brody placed her performance at number eleven on his list of the best movie performances of the century so far.

  Vanity Fair described how Mean Girls made her a household name. Paparazzi began following her, and her love life and partying became frequent targets of gossip sites and tabloids. That attention later became the basis of her debut single, "Rumors." Lohan hosted Saturday Night Live three times between 2004 and 2006. In 2004, at the age of 17, she became the youngest host of the MTV Movie Awards.

  The honors kept coming. Lohan appeared on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2004 and 2005. In 2007, Maxim ranked her number one on its annual list of the world's most desirable women.

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• 5. Pop Records

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  In September 2002, Emilio Estefan and his wife, Gloria Estefan, signed Lohan to a five-album production deal. She went on to join Casablanca Records. Her debut album, Speak, came out in the United States on the 7th of December 2004. It sold one million units there, making it the label's first big seller in several years, and it was certified platinum. Reviews were mostly negative. Critics said she "isn't a bad singer, but not an extraordinary singer either."

  The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and sold 261,762 copies in its first week. In Germany it debuted at number 53 and lasted four weeks on the chart. Its first two singles, "Rumors" and "Over," both did well. "Over" topped the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart for three weeks and also charted in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. "Rumors" reached number six on that chart and number 14 in Germany. Its video earned a Best Pop Video nomination at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.

  A second album, A Little More Personal (Raw), followed in December 2005. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified gold. Lohan co-wrote most of the songs, and critical response was mixed. Slant Magazine called it "contrived... for all the so-called weighty subject matter, there's not much meat on these bones."

  Lohan directed the video for its only single, "Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father)," which featured her sister Aliana. The video dramatized the pain Lohan said her family suffered at the hands of her father. It became her first song on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 57.

  Music returned in fits and starts. Her single "Bossy" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in May 2008. In 2015, Duran Duran announced she was featured on "Danceophobia" from their album Paper Gods. In June 2019 she re-signed with Casablanca Records, a subsidiary of Republic Records. Her single "Back to Me" came out on the 3rd of April 2020, her first in twelve years, and critics reviewed it positively.

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• 6. Troubled Years

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  Just My Luck opened in May 2006 with box office takings of $5.7 million. Brandon Gray said that opening broke her winning streak, and the poor reviews brought her first Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Actress. Lohan then turned to smaller roles in independent films. In Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion she starred alongside Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin. Streep said of her acting: "She's in command of the art form." In Emilio Estevez's ensemble drama Bobby she played Diane, and the cast earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

  The film Georgia Rule marked the start of personal struggles that dogged her for nearly a decade. During the 2006 shoot, Lohan was hospitalized, and her representative said she was overheated and dehydrated. Studio executive James G. Robinson wrote a letter that became public. He called her "irresponsible and unprofessional" and cited "various late arrivals and absences from the set." She lost a role in Poor Things after entering rehab.

  In January 2007, production on I Know Who Killed Me paused when Lohan had appendix surgery. While in rehab she kept shooting, returning to the facility at night. She withdrew from a film of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance. In April 2007 she was replaced in The Edge of Love, with the director citing "insurance reasons." I Know Who Killed Me premiered in July 2007 to what Entertainment Weekly called "an abysmal $3.5 million." It earned her two Golden Raspberry awards for Worst Actress, so that she tied with herself. Chapter 27, in which she played a John Lennon fan, waited until March 2008 for release because no distributor could be found.

  A slow return began with Ugly Betty in May 2008, where she appeared in four episodes as Kimmie Keegan. The comedy Labor Pains was meant for theaters but aired on ABC Family in July 2009, drawing 2.1 million viewers. Her BBC Three documentary about human trafficking in India, filmed in December 2009, drew criticism of the BBC for hiring her. In April 2010 she was let go from The Other Side, with the director saying she was "not bankable."

  Machete opened in September 2010 to mixed reviews. Lohan hosted Saturday Night Live for the fourth time in March 2012, and the episode drew 7.4 million viewers. Liz & Dick, a Lifetime movie in which she played Elizabeth Taylor, premiered in November 2012 to largely negative reviews. During production, paramedics treated her for exhaustion and dehydration.

  The Canyons, released in August 2013, was directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis. Most of its low budget came from Kickstarter. Lohan was paid $100 a day plus a share of the profits, and she was credited as co-producer. Reviews were generally poor, though Variety called her "very affecting" and Salon described her as "almost incandescent." Her legal problems continued until 2013, and 2015 was her first probation-free year in over eight years.

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• 7. Business Ventures

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  Niagara, the Marilyn Monroe film, changed Lohan's tastes during the shoot of The Parent Trap. It began a fascination with Monroe that shaped several projects. In the 2008 spring fashion issue of New York magazine, she re-created Monroe's final photo shoot, known as The Last Sitting, and called it "an honor." In the January-February 2012 issue of Playboy, she appeared in a shoot inspired by a Monroe pictorial from the magazine's first issue. Editor Hugh Hefner said her issue was "breaking sales records."

  In 2008 Lohan launched a clothing line named 6126, after Monroe's birthday, the 1st of June 1926. It started with leggings and grew into a full collection of 280 pieces. She was also the face of Jill Stuart, Miu Miu, the 2008 Visa Swap British fashion campaign, and Fornarina's Spring-Summer 2009 campaign. In September 2009 she became an artistic adviser for the French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro. A collection by designer Estrella Archs, with Lohan advising, received a "disastrous" reception, according to Entertainment Weekly and New York. She left the company in March 2010.

  Later collaborations were quieter. In 2020 she released a jewelry line with the UK boutique brand Lily Baker. In 2022 she launched a limited-edition sneaker collection with the activewear brand Allbirds. In 2023 she designed ocean-themed nursery accessories with Nestig.

  Between 2016 and 2018 Lohan launched several clubs in Greece. In 2018 she opened a beach resort on the island of Mykonos, followed by a second resort at Ialisos Beach on Rhodes.

  Her digital ventures began in 2014 with the free-to-play game app Lindsay Lohan's The Price of Fame, for iOS and Android. In 2017 she launched the lifestyle site Preemium, which cost subscribers $2.99 a month. After Studio71 signed her in 2021, she hosted the podcast The Lohdown with Lindsay Lohan. It premiered in April 2022 and ran until September that year.

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• 8. Second Act

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  The eight-part docu-series Lindsay aired on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network in March and April 2014. It followed Lohan's move to New York City after leaving rehab. In the final episode she said a miscarriage had interrupted filming. The premiere drew 693,000 viewers, and the finale only 406,000. That October she made her stage debut in the London West End production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow. She played Karen, a Hollywood executive's secretary, in a role originally played by Madonna. The Stage said she was "out of her league," while The Guardian said she "holds the stage with ease."

  Dubai became her home in 2014. She filmed the supernatural thriller Among the Shadows in Belgium in 2015, and it reached release on the 5th of March 2019 after a series of delays. In July 2018 the second season of Sick Note, in which she had a recurring role, premiered on Sky One. In 2019 she appeared in the MTV series Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club, about her ventures in Greece. She also sat on the panel of the Australian Masked Singer. In July 2020 it was revealed she could not return for season two. COVID-19 travel restrictions blocked the trip from Dubai to Melbourne.

  In May 2021 Netflix announced that Lohan would star in a Christmas romantic comedy as a hotel heiress with amnesia after a skiing accident. Falling for Christmas was released on the 10th of November 2022, her first role in a major production in over a decade. She performed original songs for the soundtrack, plus "Jingle Bell Rock." It was the most-watched holiday movie released in the United States in 2022. In March 2022 Netflix revealed she had signed to make two more films. Irish Wish, in which she played a book editor, arrived in March 2024. Owen Gleiberman of Variety said she "hasn't lost her ability to light up a scene; she has a seasoned radiance." Our Little Secret began production in January 2024 and was released on the 27th of November 2024.

  Lohan's private life also settled. She announced her engagement to financier Bader Shammas on the 28th of November 2021. They wed on the 3rd of April 2022, and their son was born in Dubai in July 2023. In April 2023 her parents and siblings gathered, reportedly the first time all of them had been together in at least seven years.

  Freakier Friday, released in 2025, reunited her with Jamie Lee Curtis. Lohan reprised her role as Anna Coleman. It was her fifth feature with Walt Disney Pictures and her first wide theatrical release since Machete. With $153 million in global revenue to date, it ranks as her second highest-grossing film. Next comes Count My Lies, a Hulu drama she will star in and produce, her first starring role in a series and set to debut in 2027.

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